Sacramento Premier Turnkey Network Cabling Contractors
Connected Communications, Inc. is your one-stop solution for a “Turnkey” network cabling contractor. With a simple meeting to discuss your network requirements, we can create a custom solution to fit your business and your budget. We offer a 20+ year warranty on all of the structured cabling projects that we design and install. We will go over some of the different solutions and methods that can help you, the business owner, office manager, or IT professional.
Category 5E Vs. Category 6 Cabling:
The best way to describe the difference between cat 5 or cat 6 is to imagine a train leaving the train station every 15 minutes. We will call this train 5E. Now that is a quick train, with speeds up to 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, or 1000 Mbps. Which will work for some networks with a few employees. Now picture cat 6 leaving the train station every minute. With a speed of 1000 Mbps, and with high bandwidth speeds at distances around 160 feet, that number can be 10 times greater. That’s right, you can push 10 Gbps through a category 6 cable when the cable distance is around 150 feet. And up to 1 Gbps for cables that are 300 feet.
When determining the right cable for the job, I would recommend looking at network size, your internet service provider, and your network requirements. Does the staff download large files? How about Zoom meetings? If the answer is yes, then the category 6 cable might be the best option.
Telephone System
NEC telephone systems have been around for over 100 years. They have an onsite phone system package for all sectors. From small business to healthcare, to hospitality. An alternate option for phone systems that we see pop up more and more, is the cloud phone system.
With a cloud PBX VoIP phone system, you get a ton of options.
- Auto-Attendant
- Call Routing
- Toll-Free Numbers
- Video Conferencing
- Local Numbers
- Screen Sharing
- Call Recording
- Advanced Voicemail
You get all of these features billed monthly. You can even integrate some systems into cell phones. This type of system is growing in popularity year over year.
Fiber Optic Cable
Fiber optic cable is a great tool for any size business in any industry. Basically, what fiber does in a nutshell, is it transfers large amounts of data to and from your network switch. Then you can either have copper lines like the cat 6 mentioned above, out to the phones and computers. Then the computer sends and receives the data back to the network switch. The network switch bundles the information and sends it to the network provider.
MM vs SM
Depending on what application you’re using for the fiber, the general rule is, MM (multimode fiber) is used for short distances. SM (single-mode fiber) is used for long distances. MM fiber is used to connect IDF’s to a local network. SM is used by service providers to bring service into a building.
SM fiber uses lasers to shoot light over long distances while MM uses LED lights to shoot over short distances. When working with network switches and fiber optic cable, a pro tip is to look at what SFP you would need for what type of fiber you are using. An SFP converts your fiber signals to your copper signals. They come in different ranges, such as 1 Gig or 10 Gig.
Choosing An Installer
When choosing an installer there are a few key things to look for. Since low-voltage startup companies have a low cost, a lot of people think they can run a successful company. But not all companies or material is created equal. When setting up a commercial network, time is money, latency cost bottom-line dollars. I was on a call the other day with an employee of a company. And all I could hear was static. I have a strong hunch that the static is caused by a poor install. If your wires are not separated at the connector, you will get a lot of feedback, cross-talk, or static. And possibly lose customers.
We do have different network package solutions for each budget and network requirement. Hospitals and data centers get the best of the best. Small to large businesses to commercial-grade material without the high cost. There are many great telecom manufactures, Commscope, Panduit, Leviton to name a few. Anyone of these manufacturers offers quality products.
Certifications
Manufacturer certifications are a great way to vet a company before install. For instance, we are a Panduit Certified company. We offer a 15-year warranty on Netkey parts and a 25-year warranty on Mini-Com parts. Both are commercial quality, but slightly different in terms of speed. If a company is worth working with, they will have paperwork showing they meet the requirements of the manufacture.
Connected communications, Inc. is a Sacramento, CA, and surrounding area, one-stop-shop for all of your low voltage needs. If you need consulting, design, or installation, you can call me directly at 916-504-7540 or email me directly at joe@connected-com.com. To check out some of the scopes we cover, check out the links below.