In the process of forming a LAN, people often spend a lot of money to buy high-end network cards, switches, and routers, and ignore this "inconspicuous" network cable quality. In fact, the quality of network cables has the most direct impact on the transmission performance of LANs. Therefore, testing network cables is a very important part of the process of purchasing network cables. Only by looking more and testing more can you choose products that really make you feel at ease in the mixed network cable market. Only by testing more can you get a real feeling about network cables. For this reason, I will talk to you in detail about how to conduct comprehensive testing of network cables.
1. Test the speed of the network cable
Testing the transmission speed of network cables is the most effective way to identify the authenticity of network cables; in order to be closer to the actual usage environment and reduce external interference during the test, the author recommends that the dual-machine direct connection be carried out. At the same time, in order to ensure the accuracy of the test, try to use brand network cards of good quality to ensure that there will be no hardware bottlenecks during the test; at the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the computer system is clean, tidy and runs fast, otherwise the running speed of the computer itself will affect the network cable transmission speed. In addition, when connecting network cables, try to use good quality crystal heads, and ensure that the cable heads are made in standard. Only in this way can the impact of external factors on network cable transmission speed be minimized.
2. Check the flexibility of the network cable
The design of good quality network cables takes into account the convenience of wiring and try to be very flexible. They are very convenient no matter how they be bent, and they are not easily broken. At present, many unscrupulous merchants in the market have included other cheap metal components in the network cables that were originally pure copper quality, so that the cost of the network cable will decrease, but the quality and performance of the network cables themselves are very different. The phenomenon shown is that the texture of the network cable is no longer so soft, and the transmission speed of the network cables is greatly reduced. If such a network cable is repeatedly bent during wiring, the copper cable inside the network cable may be broken. Of course, if you find that the network cable is too soft, you should also note that it may be a counterfeit product.
3. Test the combustibility of the network cable
Generally speaking, the materials that make up the network cable must be combustion-resistant, otherwise, if a fire occurs, there will be heavy losses. Therefore, when choosing a network cable, you must check the combustibility of the outer shell of the network cable to distinguish the authenticity. During the specific test, you can first use scissors to cut the outer skin of the net cable about 2 cm, and then use a lighter to burn against the outer skin. The outer skin of the genuine net cable will gradually melt and deform under the barbecue of fireworks, but the outer skin will definitely not burn itself; if you find that the outer skin of the net cable cannot withstand the test of fire and burn at a glance, then no matter how high the transmission speed of the net cable is, you should give up the choice. After all, such a net cable is very unsafe in wiring projects, and using it will leave great safety hazards. The author once found a genuine network cable and a fake and inferior network cable, and lit them with a lighter at the same time. He found that after 6 seconds, the genuine network cable only emitted white smoke and gradually melted and deformed over time. The fake and inferior network cable was easily ignited in less than 2 seconds, and it was accompanied by a large amount of black smoke.
4. Test the temperature resistance of the network cable
In wiring projects, there are quite high requirements for network cables to resist changes in external temperature. Not to mention that they can resist any environmental changes, at least the network cables cannot be softened or frozen in high or low temperature environments. In order to ensure that the performance of the network cable is not affected in a high temperature environment, the outer skin material used in genuine network cables can withstand high temperature tests up to about 50 degrees, and there will be no similar phenomenon of the network cable being softened or deformed. If a small section of the outer skin of the mesh cable is intercepted and placed next to the stove for a period of time, and find that the outer skin is softer than the normal skin, it means that the quality of the mesh cable is definitely not hard.
5. Identify the logo on the outer skin of the network cable
When actually selecting network cables, sometimes there is a lack of testing environment or conditions, and the quality or material of network cables cannot be tested through the above method, you may wish to identify the authenticity of network cables by observing the mark on the outer skin of the network cable. Generally speaking, regular brand network cables have type of network cable logos and manufacturer's trademarks on the outer skin. For example, the CAT5 logo means that the network cable is a Class 5 cable, and the CAT6 logo means that the network cable is a Class 6 cable. If the outer skin of the network cable is not marked, everyone should be vigilant and find ways to create conditions to test and identify the network cables according to the above method.
6. Test the winding distance of the network cable
As we all know, ordinary twisted pair wires are connected by four groups of intertwined network wires. The so-called winding distance of the network cable is actually the length of the network cable. People usually use the winding distance to indicate the tightness of each pair of wire pairs. In order to minimize the crosstalk between each pair of wire pairs, the wire pairs are often wound closely together in a counterclockwise direction, and the winding distance used by each pair of wire pairs should not be the same. However, in order to reduce the production process and reduce the process costs, many lucrative merchants often wrap four pairs of wires at the same winding distance. Even the winding distance of many inferior network cables is as high as a few centimeters. In this way, the crosstalk between wire pairs increases greatly, seriously affecting the performance of the network cable.
7. Test the stretching of the skin
Considering that network cables often need to bend during wiring, many regular manufacturers have left a certain degree of stretch to the outer skin when making network cables to ensure that the network cables are not damaged when bending. Therefore, when everyone pulled the regular network cable with both hands, they found that the outer skin was stretchable. If the outer skin of the mesh cable is broken with force, or there is a crack under the action of external force, it means that there is a problem with the quality of the mesh cable.
I believe that after reading the above content, many friends will definitely be surprised. They may never care about the quality of the network cable, but they did not expect that there are so many "mysteries" in the small network cable. I still remember a friend of mine once spent 250 yuan to buy a box of net cables, and he was proud of the internal price. As a result, those network cables can only reach a speed of 1MB/S at a distance of about 30 meters, which is obviously a fool of a profiteer! Here, the author calls on all friends to be vigilant when choosing online products in the future, especially when choosing products or equipment that have always been or rarely cared about quality, and to be more careful and considerate.
Article entry: dnbm Editor: dnbm