Shoutout to that $200 'professional' cable tester I bought off Amazon

I thought I was being smart splurging on this fancy cable tester to save time on network installs. Turns out the thing gave false passes on like 30% of my cat6 runs. I spent a whole weekend chasing ghosts in a office building downtown because the tester said all my terminations were good. Customer was already mad about the delay, and I had to eat the cost of ripping out and redoing about 50 feet of cable. The cheap $30 continuity checker I had before never lied to me, just took a bit longer to use. So which is the better move, spending big on gear that might be junk or sticking with the basic stuff that works? Anyone else get burned by trusting a flashy tool too much lol?

2 comments

2 Comments

xena_hernandez9813d ago

Yeah that "false pass" thing is a nightmare, I feel your pain.

angela72811d ago

I know what you mean @xena_hernandez98, but I actually see the "false pass" thing a little differently. For me, it's more about people not paying attention than some big conspiracy or game mechanic. Like when someone waves you through at a four-way stop but you both just sit there looking at each other, that's not a "false pass" to me, it's just awkwardness. Or at crosswalks where drivers stop but then gesture you to go even though they have the right of way, I think they're just trying to be nice even if it messes up the flow. The real nightmare is when nobody goes and you're stuck in that weird standoff for way too long.