Professional Network Cabling Installation Done Right
Yes, you may be surprised to hear you should trust an electrician for network cable installations!
Electricians have extensive training in everything electrical. Other companies may charge you a high hourly rate than an electrician but send someone who may not actually understand what they are doing.
Structured cabling refers to the use of cables and wires inside an office or building for the purpose of enabling cables and wires to transmit signals from one device to another. The main components of a structured cabling system are cables, wall plates, patch panels and outlets.
Running network cabling long distances can turn into a more expensive project than necessary without structuring the project.
The steps we take are:
- Figure out what we want to accomplish.
- Calculate how much cable we need, and what kind of cable we’ll need to get there.
- Plan our wire path through the building, taking into account where we want to put our boxes (switches and routers).
- Plan an anchor for each end of the run, so that we can string the wire between them later on when we have time and everything is in place.
- Run the wire between the two anchors, in a temporary form that will be easier to work with than a single long spool of cable would be.
What Cables do I use for Networking?
There are many types of network cable, but for the sake of simplicity, we’re going to divide them into two main categories: unshielded twisted pair (UTP) and fiber-optic cable.
The vast majority of networks use unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable. UTP is less expensive than fiber-optic, easier to work with than fiber-optic, and can carry data fast enough for most purposes. But there are a few problems with UTP.
Shielded Twisted Pair Shielded twisted pair (STP) is a variation on UTP that uses a metallic shield to protect the wires inside from interference from external sources. The advantage of STP is that it reduces electromagnetic emissions. This makes it useful in environments where electronic interference from other devices could cause problems. The disadvantage of STP is that it’s harder to install and more expensive than UTP.
Fiber-optic cable provides more bandwidth and requires less signal amplification than UTP or STP. It tends to be pricier than UTP as well, but not as pricey as some other forms of fiber optic technology.
Fiber-optic cable consists of threads of glass or plastic with varying numbers of strands. The more strands there are in the thread, the more accurate the signal that is transmitted is (less noise) and the faster it can be transmitted (more bandwidth).
Options for network cable types are Ethernet cable, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a, Cat7, and as mentioned, Fiber Optic.
There are two types of computer network devices: NICs and hubs. NICs are used for personal computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, gaming systems, home theater systems, printers, security cameras, etc. Hubs are used to connect networks together. You can have multiple hubs connected together with one or more network cables.
Network hubs are also called switches because they “switch” the signal from one port to another port on the same hub or on another hub in the same network or between networks. Switches can also filter traffic based on MAC addresses (an address like 00:01:02:03:04:05) and IP addresses (an address like 192.168.0.1).
This is important for security reasons if you want to make sure only certain computers can access other computers on your local area network or other devices on your local area network like printers and servers.
Our network cable specialists are highly experienced and knowledgeable about the electrical industry. You can rest assured that your data cabling project will be completed correctly the first time around, saving you time and money in the long run.
We can deliver any service ranging from site preparation, trenching, conduit bending and pulling, installation of conduits & cables, termination of equipment including data points & multi-ports, testing service, and more.
Contact us to discuss your network cable installation services in Niagara Falls, ON.
