cost of testing existing cable?

[Crazyfitz]

I have recently taken over an existing network which has been having "connectivity" problems for over 6 months. This network has 42 drops teminated on a patch panel and patched to a HP Procurve 4000m switch. Several of the ports keep reporting CRC and Alignment errors. The majority of the cable is CAT5 with a few newer runs of 5E.

My boss wants to test all the drops and replace any bad cables.

Could someone give me an idea what the cost should be to contract the testing out to a cabling company?

Thank you

George
MCSA +Messaging (Win2k) A+, Net +

 

[franklin97355]

What are the quotes you've gotten so far?

The answer is "42"

 

[Crazyfitz]

I recieved one quote so far. (If you can call it a quote). At $125 per man per hour, and "hafta use two guys to do the job, maybe two, three hours" I don't have a lot of confidence in this company. Three hours, two men, $750. Not counting pulling new cable at $110 each plus $.35 per foot of cable. Sounds a little funny to me.

George
MCSA +Messaging (Win2k) A+, Net +

 

[skip555]

Id call around a bit

 

[TouchToneTommy]

How accessible are the jacks at the workstations? How well are they labeled? Do you have a map, showing all the locations? Is this being done during the business day, or after hours? Are your people going to be trying to use the network during this time, do they have to wait for users to log off and get out of the way each time as they move from workstation to workstation?

Personally, to Certify 42 Cat-5 drops (not repulling or reterminating anything that doesn't pass), it would take 2 techs 2 to 3 hours, during normal business hours, with your users not on the network and out of the way, not having to move file cabinets, heavy desks, etc., and having a decent floor plan to work from.

Printed or electronic results, $170/hr and $10/jack.

 

[Crazyfitz]

Thank you for your responses. I will be getting 2-3 more quotes before having this done.

George
MCSA +Messaging (Win2k) A+, Net +

 

[hawks]

I just had 60 Cat5e certified that we pulled and terminated. I was charged $500 and it took 2 techs about 2.5 hours. But remember this was in a wide open environment nothing in their way and everything was labeled correctly.

 

[oldtimerbob]

To save you money I would set up the testing for a time when nobody is on the network first of all.
Second,make sure they have easy access to the jack locations and you have a good up to date location map of where all the jacks are located.
Just to test then, will not take too long but it will take two techs,one on each end.
Once you get the results of the passes and fails (or marginals) you can determine what to replace then,or to up grade,or if just re-terminating at the panel or jack ends will fix the problem (which I have found to be a majority of the problems in most cases).
NOTE: Even old cat5 may pass if terminated correctly.

At least a test of the cabling will let you know if it is indeed the cabling at fault or not.

The quote for the man hour charge is quite high for what you have stated you want done. The price quoted should be for two men per hour. At our company we would also charge $5.00 per test to provide documentation per cable tested.
We would also charge at a T&M rate, with your approval,to fix the fails,re-test and document.
( I say T&M because you never know if they will have to replace a cable or not and if they do,how long it will take,some may be easier to do so than others and what other materials may be needed such as new jacks,or other items).
Good Luck

 

[ddools]

Where are you located? (state)

 

[pbxn]

If there is not a need to certify the cables, go and buy yourself a cable tester and put in some overtime. I have a decent one I purchased to test my cables for under a 100. bucks.
If you have to certify try to track down the original cable installer, they may give you a cheaper rate to hook up their Fluke.

 

[Crazyfitz]

ddools, most of the time I'm in the state of confusion, however, I live in Florida.

pbxn-- I did discover that we have a Fluke MicroScanner but it doesn't find the "little" things that cause "big" problems.

to All: Your imput has helped me convince the boss to purchase a Test-Um NT950 kit ($883 on EBay).

Thanks again for your time and comments

George
MCSA +Messaging (Win2k) A+, Net +