Residential cabling is growing more and more popular by the day. But the roadblocks to its installation remain costly testing devices, builders' misconceptions about structured wiring, and contractors lack of training.
These are the predictions of four people who will address the challenges of residential cabling during the Cabling Systems Conference & Exhibition 2003 in Anaheim, CA. The event takes place Sept. 22 -24 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The speakers will give their presentations on Sept. 24, beginning at 8:30 a.m. All four speakers agree that residential structured cabling is a rapidly growing market which is being driven by the Internet, entertainment and home automation needs. But most also agree that today's builders and contractors have much to learn as they attempt to get into this arena.
"I think the builder thinks if they are installing Category 5 or RJ46 in a home cable run, then that's what structured wiring is," says Terry Wolfer, Southwest Regional Sales Manager for OnQ Technologies (www.onqtech.com), based in Harrisburg, PA. "It's much more than that. They are starting to learn that there is a whole mixture of it out there."
Parks Associates reports that nearly 45 million households in the U.S. will have broadband service by 2006, compared to some 25 million households who have it today. Fifty six percent of all new US housing starts now offer structured cabling. And by 2004, according to Parks Associates, this sort of cabling will be standard in more than 50% of new housing starts.
Drivers for this growth include home theater, audio, and security systems. Wolfer points out that between 35 and 42% of builders will put in structured wiring this year as they construct new homes. "This growth is happening because of consumer awareness," says Wolfer.
Contractors who have worked in the commercial cabling market have been prompted by a lagging economy to try their hand at residential installations. But even before they throw out their first bid, they are running into problems.
One barrier for the cabling-installation contractor is the bidding estimating process and its conventions. Wolfer says one of the main problems is that builders have a misconception of what structured wiring truly is. This breaks down and blocks input from structured cabling experts even before they enter the bidding process.
"Somewhere out there there is still this evolution curve happening between the builder who went from replacing old cable with new cable," says Wolfer. "So the question is, does the system take full advantage of today's technology?"
Once they are in the bidding process, today's cable contractors find themselves bidding against others who specialize in residential projects. Consultant Richard Anderson argues that they are ill-prepared to properly bid and estimate these projects. In his presentation, he will show how contractors can better prepare themselves by getting to know their clients, asking questions prior to the bid, and developing a better understanding of labor costs.
But even if they win the bid, many contractors alike are falling short in their knowledge of what the installations entail, and how to perform them. Mark Johnston, strategic alliance and planning manager for Fluke Networks (www.flukenetworks.com), based in Everett, WA, points out, for example, that many installers are not aware that the FCC has a requirement that any twisted pair in a home must live up to Category 3 UTP minimum performance standards. "No one is doing that right now," says Johnston. "No one has told them to."
This Cat 3
This may be about to change. Standards now exist for residential cabling, but they are evolving. The TIA-570-A standard is now moving toward a 570-B standard. John Pryma, vice president and general manager of Genesis Cable Systems (www.genesiscable.com), based in Pleasant Prairie, WI, is part of the subcommittee that is working on the 570-B standard.
Pryma, who will also speak in Anaheim, says the committee is now adding three addendums to TIA-570-A. These will address security cabling, home automation and whole home audio. Pryma also says the revised standard will say that Category 5e cabling is required for residential cabling, but Category 6 cabling is recommended.
"We've recommended Category 6 for various reasons to be a good medium for this because it future-proofs the house the most," says Pryma. "And we've added mandatory testing."
In his presentation, Pryma will address grades of cabling, demarcation points, and the proper distribution points contractors should consider during installation. Contractors attending Pryma's presentation will learn about installation precautions, such as the importance of separating low voltage cables from high voltage cables and from power cables to the house.
Pryma says installers must learn, for example, to separate UTP and Coax cables by 12 inches from parallel runs of power cables. When they are crossing power cables, they must cross at right angles and maintain a 2-inch space.
The new standard will also include a series of testing requirements. But Johnston says this is the very area that is causing the most problems for contractors.
In his presentation, Johnston will argue that residential cabling systems must be tested upon installation. He
asserts that many residential installers now need better education on traditional structured wiring practices, and while testing is required, it is not consistently performed. This problem becomes even more prevalent when commercial cable installers try to make the jump into residential cable installation.
Johnston points out that the TIA-570 standard requires certification of cabling to the level of cable installed, be it Category 3, 5 or 5e. But herein lies the problem. Johnston says one of the major drawbacks of certification is that the tools themselves are so expensive. Part of his presentation will look at the tools used for this certification - including wiremap testers, TDRs, simple hub/switch port testers and signal detector/identifiers.
The expense for some of these tools can be astronomical to a residential cable installer, says Johnston. He points out that a micro scanner can cost between $100 and $500, while a Category 5e certification tool can cost $6,000. "This is to people who are used to spending $100," he says. "They are not conditioned to spending that kind of money on testing tools.
"The bandwidth content on a cable can't be determined without those lower-end tools," says Johnston. "Unfortunately, to make the proper judgment on Category 5e, it takes a significant amount of hardware to make those measurements."