How Can One Piece Of Cabling Halt Business Productivity Of Your Entire Office?

Do you know that every telecom circuit has to have a demarc extension? A demarc extension is not only the most important piece of cabling within a building's telecommunications infrastructure, but it is the transmission path in which information is shared and business is conducted. A bad demarc extension means a bad connection and will immobilize a business until the issue is resolved.

Problem:
Everyone depends on reliable internet connectivity to connect to the network and the outside world. In an office building, there are numerous employees that rely on their connection to remain productive and to drive business forward. If one computer goes down, that single employee can't connect and productivity is lost until the issue is identified and resolved. If the whole building goes down, which will happen with an improperly installed or maintained demarc extension, nobody in the company can get a connection and business comes to a crashing halt.

Solution:
Often trivialized and overlooked before the installation of network services, a dependable demarc extension is essential to business operations and productivity. When a telecom circuit goes down, it can take much finger pointing to finally figure out that in the end, it was the fault of bad cabling. To save time, money and frustrations, it is essential to have the demarc extension installed reliably.

Circuit Down- It's an Inside Wiring Problem:
To resolve circuit problems that are directed at the demarc extension the onsite field technician must come prepared to test not only the cabling and equipment (repeaters, media converters, etc.) that make up the demarc extension, but the circuit as well. This will expedite the diagnosis of the problem and, if the demarc extension is at fault, resolve the customer's connection. Otherwise, without circuit testing, another dispatch may be required by the carrier or local access provider and will consequently increase the time to resolve the problem.

Telecom Circuit Isolation is required when demarc extension testing indicates no issues, which may be extensive depending on distances, connection points and equipment used. After the demarc extension is determined not to be at fault, then an onsite technician must go to the local access providers circuit demarcation point and separate the demarc extension. Then, the circuit must be tested with high level test equipment or a low level testing device at the demarcation point to determine if the circuit is at fault.


1. High Level Testing requires expensive test gear and trained personnel to
operate the test equipment, this is typically not particle or cost effective
for the contractor unless they install hundreds or thousands of demarc
extensions yearly.

2. Low Level Loop-Back Testing requiring patch cables or specially configured
connectors, plugs and/or devices to loop back the transmission path from
access provider's local loop is a particle solution for contractors not
equipped with high level test gear.

NOTE #1: It is important to understand that firms providing demarc extensions be well versed in circuit testing and eCPE to expedite the fault resolution for a telecom circuit.

NOTE #2: eCPE may also be used for testing at the local access provider's handoff if eCPE is in question.