Cat 5e/6 tester question 14

[annacat]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the TEST-UM and BYTE BROTHERS testers. We were looking for an additional inexpensive tester and I recently saw these. The byte brother model was around $600. Both have some neat features for the price. I am not so sure if they really provide true certification (no NEXT). Anyone have any experience or thoughts on these. Thanks

 

[johnspeterson]

Is it ethical for Test-Um to call the Validator a "Cable Certifier" when manufacturers don't recognize the results for warranty? It sounds fraudulent, or at the very least, deceptive advertising. I use Ideal's LANTEK cable certifiers and simply do not see how you can compare these two types of instruments... it is silly.

 

[taylorph]

Very interesting thread! I have a Validator NT950 and have been asked to assess the quality of an existing installation of Cat3 data cabling. By custom-defining a new category of cable, "Cat3 data" (using the default Cat5 criteria as a template, but adjusting the capacitance-setting-for-length measurement as per the printed Manual), the Validator is showing pass results at 100Mbps for all the RJ45 points that I have so far tested (including up to 40-meter runs). Am I being stupid here to start thinking that this Cat3 installation might allow all my customer's 100Mbps equipment to run happily on it? (Or to put it another way, are the test results invalid for Cat3 cable?)
Any comments gratefully received!
KT