Cat5/6 cable testers

H

Helge A. Bentsen

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Jan 19, 2011
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Oslo, Norway, Norway
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There is an increasing demand for Cat5/6 cables in our business but the cable testers are still hugely expensive, at least the ones from Fluke I know about. I have no doubt about their performance, but spending the equialent of $9000 to test a $90 cable seems like a lot.

Are there any cheaper options out there or is it a classic case of "buy once, cry once"?

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Re: Cat5/6 cable testers

There are 3 types of network cable testers I'm aware of. The cheapest is the simple continuity tester which tells you about opens, shorts, and miswiring, but can't tell you anything about the cable performance. These can be had for under $100 in the US.
The next step up is a cable qualification tester, which adds some basic performance (go/no go testing) to everything the continuity tester does, and often also has a TDR function. Last I priced these out, they were ~$1k for the Fluke Networks version.
The most expensive version is the cable certification tester, which gives you full performance data for the cable. These are typically in the several $k range

The cable certification testers are probably overkill for anything shy of an established rental or repair shop, but the qualification testers are worth the extra over the continuity boxes.
 
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