Shocked to learn that 60% of office network downtime is caused by bad patch cables

I read this stat in a White Paper from Fluke Networks last week while troubleshooting a slowdown at a client's site in Austin. It made me realize I've been blaming the switches when it's probably just a loose crimp or a broken tab. Has anyone else found cheap patch cables causing more problems than they're worth?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_chen358d agoMost Upvoted

It's always the cheap stuff that ends up costing you more in the long run.

the_blair8d ago

Laughing at that stat because it hits way too close to home. I've literally spent a whole afternoon swapping out switch ports thinking a port was dying, only to find the real culprit was a half-crimped patch cable I'd made myself in a hurry. Cheap cables are like the fast food of networking - they look fine going in but give you grief an hour later. The amount of times I've found a broken tab or a kinked wire from a bad bend radius is just sad. Guess I need to stop being cheap and buy proper molded cables instead of relying on my questionable crimping skills.