Clean cabling costs once. Improvised cabling costs on every visit, for years.
That is the calculation that decides it, and it is rarely made. In an equipment room where nothing is labeled, the smallest change starts with half an hour of unplugging cables to see what goes off. Multiplied by every visit over a decade, the extra cost far exceeds that of an installation done properly at the outset.
It is the step people skip when they are in a hurry, and the one that costs most afterwards. Labeling means unambiguously matching each wall socket to its port in the cabinet, with a tag at each end and a written record of which goes with which.
In practice it means that adding a machine or moving a printer becomes a two-minute job, with no blind testing. And that if we are no longer around, any technician finds their way immediately.
The rule learned in the field: run more cables than necessary while the work is being done. The marginal cost of an extra socket while you are already in the conduits is small; the cost of one added two years later, with the walls closed up, is not small at all. We always advise providing for the likely spots: one more machine, a Wi-Fi access point on the ceiling, a camera, a screen in the meeting room.
A question that always comes up, and the answer is less complicated than it looks. For the vast majority of business and home installations, category 6 cable amply covers current needs and those of the years to come, servers included.
Higher categories are justified for links between heavily used equipment or over long distances. Paying for category 7 to connect an office machine to a switch brings nothing measurable - and we will say so rather than inflate a quote.
The choice depends on the volume. A wall enclosure is enough for a few devices; a floor-standing cabinet is justified as soon as there is a server, a UPS and several switches.
Three points matter, and are often neglected: ventilation, because enclosed equipment heats up; power, with enough sockets and ideally a UPS; and accessibility, since an equipment room you cannot get into is an equipment room where nothing gets done.
A frequent request, and often the most worthwhile. An equipment room built up over the years generally holds cables leading nowhere, equipment replaced but never unplugged, and no labeling at all.
The work consists of identifying every link, removing what is no longer used, reorganizing the patching and documenting the whole. It takes half a day to a day depending on the scale, and it transforms every subsequent visit for good.
Testing each cable is not an administrative formality. A tester tells you far more than “it works or it does not”: the real length of the link, whether a pair is broken or crossed, and the maximum speed achievable.
That is what lets us tell someone their machine is slow because their wall socket has had a damaged pair for years, and not because their computer is getting old.
A useful possibility to know about: some switches power devices directly over the network cable, which saves providing a power socket. It is particularly handy for a Wi-Fi access point on the ceiling, a camera or a desk phone. To be planned when choosing the switch, not afterwards.
Running the cables accounts for most of the time, and it depends entirely on the premises: existing, accessible conduits change everything compared with solid partitions. For business premises of an ordinary size, allow one to three days, patching, labeling and testing included.
We organize the work to limit the disruption: the machines stay usable while it goes on, and the final switch-over happens in a slot agreed with you, often at the end of the day.
Cabling is not just for businesses. A single link between the router and a study upstairs often settles for good a problem three successive repeaters had failed to solve. See Wi-Fi setup and network installation.
Rarely. Testing the existing links shows which are usable. You then add what is missing rather than starting over.
Category 6 amply covers current and future business and home needs. Higher categories are only justified on particular links.
Often yes, by reusing existing conduits or running trunking along the skirting boards. We look at that during the site visit.
Two at least: one for the computer, one spare for a phone, a printer or a second screen. The extra cost during the work is marginal.
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Labeling, tidying and a cabling plan: every subsequent visit benefits.
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