REPOST: Messy Com Closet

[DaveThePhoneDoctorLV]

I wanted to post this one on it's own:



One other note on this site. I have been in many com rooms that are a real mess a lot of old work over old work etc. This is a 50 year old installation with layers of old cabling.

Everything works but the customer wants all this old work cleaned up. What is your feelings about digging into such a mess. I am concerned that it will cascade into a lot of problmes throughout the building once I start cleaning up everyting.Is it just best to leave it as is?

 

[Sympology]

I've done it dozens of times before. Best method is trace and retrace.

e.g 1 goes to 50
then
does 50 go back to 1?


Your be amazed how many times you miss trace.

Just explain that there is always the risk that something may go wrong and are they willing to take the risk.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[trvlr1]

You may also want to document everything you can as it stands now. XL spreadsheets make it easy to search for specific information, you can also give it to the customer when you are finished and have cleaned it up, always a good customer service option!

 

[peporter]

I agree with trvlr1, just take your time and trace everything, document everything and after your clean, when your fixing the problems that Did occur, you can look back at your notes and fix it fast. Then compelete your documents and place in a nice folder and hand it over to the customer or place back into the switch room. This will be fun for you. I had the same type of job for Bosch Tools in Louisville and let me tell you it was a great job, took 2.5 days strait. No sleep to get it done. Once we started we HAD to finish it with not breaks. But all worked great due to documentation. Especially once your wipped and can't make heads or tails out of the jumpers any longer.



Phillip E. Porter
Senior Systems Engineer
Telecommunication Solutions Group, Inc. (TSG)

 

[skip555]

do let the customer know that its going to take a lot of billable hours to do it right

In a situation like this I label each cable on each end before I remove it

I'm finishing one up today that the customer is very pleased with the results..now when she gets the bill

 

[trvlr1]

Another good option is to build your own patch cables to the exact length required for the route you decide on. It does add a little more time, but the results are well worth it.

 

[SYQUEST]

Making your own patch cords for Ethernet is NOT a good idea!!

It takes proper tools and test equipment to meet the standards and performance requirements necessary to not have any problems... Not just anyone can do it!!!

....JIM....

 

[DaveThePhoneDoctorLV]

A lot of billable hours is exactly what I see on this project. What rates do you guys charge for something like this.

 

[peporter]

Are you sure your a vendor? What rates do you charge at your firm? Minus the overhead that you do not have as a personal runner. Because it sounds like to me that you might be a bit over your head on this one. My opion is soly based of course on the conversations above and other posts from you. Don't want to offend you, but think about what your really getting into and ask yourself that question.



Phillip E. Porter
Senior Systems Engineer
Telecommunication Solutions Group, Inc. (TSG)

 

[skip555]

you bill at at T&M normal Labor rates plus material used

 

[cwc3]

cleaning up 50 year old cabling is a joke !!! rewire the whole place or don't get involved you are asking for trouble!

 

[letman2]

test every x-connect with a volt ohm meter. If you see opens on the x-connect remove it.I have never had a problem with this method and I have cleaned up 100s of rooms. after that rerun all the messy x-connects. Now dress up the cable and the room will be better. The room will never be perfect by todays standards.

 

[TomMills]

cleaning up 50 year old cabling is a joke !!! rewire the whole place or don't get involved you are asking for trouble!

i wouldnt agree with that, take your time, document everything and you will be fine.

I fitted a new pbx onto old school bt wiring at the weekend because the customer didn't want to rewire, waiting for their lease to expire then moving.

http://www.twitter.com/tem1985

 

[kwbMitel]

NortelNate,

Mess is a relative term.

I define mess as: It is no longer possible to work effectively with the wiring without the risk of accidently breaking something.

Another factor, you mentioned the size and scope of this project in another post but not this one. Are you talking about a 60 room hotel here?

My 2 bits, Hotel's do not generally require there wiring to be changed in any way. Unless you are getting lots of faults with the wiring, leave it alone.

On the flip side, 60 room hotel's do not typically have a lot of connections and should be relitively easy to clean up. Be careful.

As for time to redo this, I would estimate 5 minutes per jumper. Make sure to include jumpers in sub panels. Each phone can have 2 or more jumpers.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[DaveThePhoneDoctorLV]

This location added another building bringing the total to about 180 rooms. The com closet is layered with old croiss connects over old cross connects and misc. cables. It looks like a spider web of HORROR!

 

[kwbMitel]

When you find wiring loosly bundled in the ceiling and literally (yes LITERALLY) being a rats nest (well mouse anyway) and covered in assorted animal feces (SITE was local SPCA) requiring the use of a HASMAT suit to work with (Asbestos may have been a factor as well) then we'll share horror stories.

'till then you simply have an inconvenience.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.