ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Cat 6 testing

I'm bidding a job which has some Cat 6 tel/data wiring in it (approx. 25 locations). We are required to have the wiring tested and certified by an approved contractor (I am not certified to do this). Does any one have any experience with this? Is this a big deal? Big $$?

We have done a fair share of Cat 5 cabling without too many problems in the past and it has worked out fine. How much of a leap is it from Cat 5 to Cat 6? Is there much difference regarding the installation?

Thanks in advance.

This may help you. http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/category6/

I did (well was in charge of our data installers) a CAT 6 install two years ago. It's not much different that you have done before. It just takes an investment in the right test equipment and software.

If you had your CAT 5 installations certified then you should have no problems with CAT 6 as long as you are a careful installer.

If you are asking about certification, IMO it is just another way for those IT types to make sure they are getting their money's worth and hold you responsible. If you do a careful job it's not going to make a bit of difference whether it's certified or not to their computers but chances are certification testing will force you to go back and replace some runs or reterminate some jacks.

If you want to spend 5 or 6K you can get your own test gear and do it yourself (no such thing as being "certified" to do this) but having it done by an independent company keeps honest people honest and is better than you spending money on equipment that will be an expensive door stop in a few years when CAT 7 is introduced.

If you haven't got the message by now I stay far away from those jobs that want their wiring certified. It's not that we are concerned about our work but we just don't need the aggravation, especially for only 25 locations.

-Hal

Bid the job as specified using a another company's price (subbid) to certify the system. Then offer a deduct to remove the certification requirement. If the owner is like most of the ones around here, they will take the deduct.

[This message has been edited by nesparky (edited 06-01-2004).]

[This message has been edited by nesparky (edited 06-01-2004).]