Data Cabling and You

Haha I used to be the same. In fact I had a bulky iRiver originally because of all the extra functionality it had. But as you get older/busier, you end up just preferring the easy road with technology. Especially when you're working with it all day.

You can plug USB into an iPad too now! With an overpriced adapter from Apple It doesn't let you do that much though because obviously most things you'd want to use like webcams or printers won't have drivers

The sad thing is that most companies are going down the road teching DOWN there tablets and making them as small as smart phones, pretty much making them redundant. I want a tablet to replace my (imaginary) laptop, but doesn't need to replace my desktop. Pretty much, give me an 11" 'flip' laptop from Dell or something and I'll be a happy camper.

If you get a ticketed cabler to run the cables, is it ok to connect them to the wall plates yourself?

no.. just running the cables is a small part of the job.. and hiring a cabler means you geta full warranty on the entire install

Pugs,

You could get it cabled by a professional though and terminate yourself if you wanted to though.

The advantage of getting the whole job done by a professional is clear but to save a few dollars this could be done?

no.. it would be Ilegal... so if a probloem comes up who gets the blame the cabler for the install or a customer who temrinated it incorreclty?

OK ... I will bite!

How is it illegal?

I think a large part of the (perceived) problem is that, as a general rule, people frequenting forum threads such as these, and asking intelligent questions about data cabling options are (probably) reasonably competent to throw a few data cables around a building frame, and possibly even terminate them themselves.

However, they see what a roll of cable costs and get (IMHO justifiably) emotional about BEING FORCED to pay (say) $10 / meter for someone to install it when they know it's costing around $0.50 / meter.

Likewise, they might not mind paying a fair and reasonable rate for someone to do "technical stuff", such as designing or commissioning their data network, but don't see why they should BE FORCED to pay someone experienced technical rates for what they perceive to be the "dogs work".

If this perception is incorrect, maybe some of our data-cablers could explain the "technical" aspects of cable-tossing that untrained people either cannot do, or would not be able to do with a simple six-point checklist ?

P_D

the rules and regs that need to be adhered as in distances form other services and such..

easy if you don't want to pay someone for the Job.. don't get it done

You're not helping your cause here Pugs !!!

I don't have an issue with paying good money for good advice and technical expertise, but you're still not explaining why it's worth $100 / hour to run data cables in a simple domestic installation.............

P_D

Please don't laugh at me


more like 20- 30 point check list...


Because I have Done a course and have a licence/ ticket to install cables and you don't.. I know all the Regs.. you don't ... I can sign off knowing the full install is completely Installed accoring to the Regs, even doing half the work and singing off on that part isn't good enough for the ACMA.., it isn't just for while one "person" lives in a house.. what about the next people they move see data points "assume" it was installed bya pro.. and then find out it wasn't due to issues with the runs of cable..

One of the issues with Internet forums is that it can be hard to gauge a persons actual meaning, hence my use of the "LOL" emoticon to convey my post was meant in good humour.

It was not intended to cause offence, but as it obviously has please accept my apologies for the offence so caused.

P_D

too late....

Obviously I have caused offence, hence the proffered apology ................

P_D

Not this old chestnut.

The bottom line is that it is illegal to install data cabling without having had the appropriate training. It's exactly the same as installing electrical wiring without a ticket, or gas plumbing without a ticket. Sure, you could argue that they are potentially more risky for novices, but at the end of the day if you lay some cat6 over a pre-existing live electrical cable and cop a boot it's still gonna be nasty. Not to mention the potential for any errors one makes with the indisciminate running of cables to cause a fire hazard in the future.

I don't understand why this is always source of arguments. You simply need to be licensed to run cabling. That's it. There's no middle ground.


...also I'd also say that referring to someone's chosen vocation as "dog's work" is a bit rough, even I take offence to that, and I'm not a data cabler. Cabling is skilled employment which at the very least takes good technique and skill to gain a desirable end product. I guarantee that I could tell the difference between an unskilled cabler and a skilled one, both visibly and through network performance.

And that we all know and agree with, but you (and everyone else) must admit that there seems to be a fair bit of anguish about this topic, hence my post, trying to explain things from the "other side".......
I make no apologies for presenting MY OPINION on both sides of the argument ......

If I've been mis-understood on this point, then I do apologise, be assured no offence was intended.

What I was trying to say, obviously with limited success, was that in many (most ??) professions there is the "skilled, technical work", and then there is the "mundane, everyday" work that is frequently done by others.

As a few examples, brickies have labourers to mix their mortar and cart their bricks, and I think no less of brickies labourers then I do of brickies, I recognise that they are different jobs, each worthy of respect. We give our garbos and posties a six-pack of Coopers Pale Ale each Christmas, and have done so for as long as I can remember, again worthy jobs deserving of respect.

More examples ??

When was the last time a dentist cleaned your teeth ? For the last 10 or more years he has got the "Dental hygienist" to do that for you. Got an injection from your local doctor lately, or did they get their nurse to do it for them ?

Many (most) large mechanical workshops have TA's to assist their mechanics, and I hope that you'd think no less of the TA's then you do of the mechanics ?

My point is though, if the hygienist cleans your teeth you don't expect to be charged the same rate as if the dentist cleans your teeth, you expect the doctors surgery to charge you less for seeing the nurse then the doctor, at the pathology centres the RN takes your blood sample not the doctor who will analyse it, and if the TA paints your tyres (showing my age now) you don't expect to be charged full mechanics rates ............

And getting back to topic, I hope that this explains a bit where I'm coming from ?

So, again, sorry if I offended by my (poor choice of) words, but hopefully this can help to explain the "view from the other side" ?

BTW, I aplologised twice to Pugs, but I think he's taken my words to heart, notwithstanding my explanation of the emoticons.

I am sorry for the offence I caused him (and any others), we had communicated via e-mail a couple of times regarding data-cabling for my new house, so while I don't know him personally, I have no reason to doubt his skill, abilities or professionalism, but I do hope that we can all agree that it would be a sad world if others cannot put their thoughts forward when they disagree with someone else.

P_D

What I said yesterday !!!!

P_D

I understand where you're coming from, but the literary sledgehammer you used possibly wasn't the tool for the job.

I also got carried away and missed you major point which was why have a pro come and charge labour on top of what would otherwise be a cheap (and in your eyes, easy) job. I was going to just mention plumbing as an example where you get charged an extortionate amount to have a hairy-knuckled monkey come out and put a new u-bend under your sink which requires little skill short of cutting PVC and using a swab of plummers glue. (If you're a plummer by trade, this will be a most ironic post!). Cablers by comparison charge peanuts for labour, and they're not even the monkeys!

Get a wireless connection to the outside world and do all your own data cabling. Just make it impossible to electrically connect to the outside world and, unless I see specific legislation otherwise, I don't see any problem with this. Remember, specific legislation that says I can't do this - no airy-fairy stuff or I know.

I guess I'm breaking the law for plugging my 1 meter CAT6 from my PC onto my Router (TPG's IPTV doesn't work very well on wireless).

Does anyone know if I'm breaking the law by plugging my 1 meter toaster chord onto the wall socket? I don't have an electrical certification.

Hilarious. We're talking about fixed data cabling in walls and roof spaces though.

If you made you patch lead yourself though, there may be some issue. But of that i'm not sure.