Design Install

Pound foolish: Cabling photos

April 16, 2021

There's a British saying that often applies for ICT industry stakeholders encountering misbegotten mountains of "cable fail."

Matt Vincent

For ICT industry stakeholders encountering misbegotten mountains of "cable fail," as seen on social media at Reddit's sub-community for the trade, there is a British saying that often applies: “Penny wise, pound foolish."

Meaning, to make a seemingly frugal decision to expend only a small amount of money (as in pennies), that ends up making bad business sense affecting a much larger amount of money (as in Great Britain's standard currency denomination, the pound).

But also...there's a meme in here somewhere about people pounding their heads against the wall...of an IT closet...

"Only the 'perfectly adequate' server room of a customer, as he says, who does not want to invest money..." -- Reddit/Cablefail OP [orig. poster]: u/eclipse-313

"This is hanging on by a drywall anchor..." -- Reddit/Cablefail OP: u/27lerriuqsrepus

"Once upon a time this meter cabinet and power supply cabinet were at waist height. Now that new construction has finished and we failed to relocate it, I’m kind of screwed. Awesome." -- Reddit/Cablefail OP: u/INGR355

"Fun day troubleshooting a large-scale fire system and a Banks security system!" -- Reddit/Cablefail OP: u/NateSteeez

"I knew it would be a fun day after popping the first ceiling tile." -- Reddit/Cablegore OP: u/Integr8shun

"Hospital IT closet." -- Reddit/Cablegore OP: u/TechSpecalist

Send your must-see cabling photos to [email protected].

About the Author

Matt Vincent | Senior Editor

Matt Vincent is a B2B technology journalist, editor and content producer with over 15 years of experience, specializing in the full range of media content production and management, as well as SEO and social media engagement best practices, for both Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine and its website CablingInstall.com. He currently provides trade show, company, executive and field technology trend coverage for the ICT structured cabling, telecommunications networking, data center, IP physical security, and professional AV vertical market segments. Email: [email protected]