Monday, February 3, 2020

Cable Installer Certification

When it comes to testing a cabling installation, there are essentially three choices--verification, qualification and certification.
While some features overlap between test tools as you move up the hierarchical ladder from verification to certification, each type of testing answers one of the following questions to help you make the right choice.

Is the Cabling Connected Correctly?

Verification testing answers this question. For copper cabling, these simple-to-use, low cost tools perform basic continuity functions such as wire map and toning. Wire mapping will tell you that each pair is connected to the right pins at plugs and jacks with good contacts in the terminations, cable installer certification while toning is used to help identify a specific cable in a bundle or at the remote end.
Some verification testers like Fluke Networks' MicroScanner2 Cable Verifier include a Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) feature to help determine the distance to the end of a cable or a trouble spot. It can also detect if a switch is connected to the cable under test. 
For fiber, a simple Visual Fault Locator (VFL) can serve as a verification tool as it verifies continuous fiber connections to help find breaks, connectors and splices. It also verifies the proper polarity and orientation of fibers within a multi-fiber connectors.
While verification is ideal for troubleshooting and really the first line of defense in finding cabling problems, most cable testing requires more than simple verification. Hence it is rarely the only method used--unless testing POTS (plain old telephone service) voice-only applications running over simple voice-grade cable like Category 3.
Verification testing alone will not verify the ability of the cabling to support specific applications. And it certainly won't result in the ability to ensure the standards compliance required for a manufacturer warranty.

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