Switched from cable testers to tone tracing and solved a nightmare in 20 minutes

I used to swear by my cheap cable tester for finding breaks in network runs. Then last Tuesday I had a client with a 40-port switch where half the drops were labeled wrong and a few were dead. After 2 hours of frustration with the tester giving me false passes I grabbed a Klein toner and probe I'd been ignoring in my bag. Traced every run from the patch panel to the wall jack in 20 minutes flat and marked them with a label maker. Has anyone else had a similar experience where a tool you dismissed saved your tail?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesley_fox922d ago

That line about "a tool you dismissed" hits close to home. A buddy of mine who runs his own cabling side gig had a Klein toner sitting in his truck for like two years before he finally used it. He was working on this old office building where someone had punched down all the jacks but never labeled a single one. He spent a whole Saturday swapping ends with a cheap tester and getting nowhere. Finally grabbed that toner, and he said he had every port mapped out and labeled in under an hour. Now he swears by it and tells everyone to skip the tester for finding the right cable, just use the tone.

wendygrant2d ago

Did he ever figure out why he ignored the toner for two years? I'm always curious what makes someone finally crack open that tool they've been lugging around. Seems like once you use it properly, you never go back though.