Top 10 most painful cable fails: Cabling photos

Feb. 17, 2023
The most painful information and communications technology (ICT) cabling and connectivity fails, as seen in Reddit's social media subgroups devoted to sharing "gory" photos from the trade, may, as the saying goes, "make your eyes hurt."

Some of the images in this top ten roundup of the most painful information and communications technology (ICT) cabling and connectivity fails, as seen in Reddit's social media subgroups devoted to sharing "gory" photos from the trade, will, as the saying goes, "make your eyes hurt" (1) -- if you're a conscientious professional.

Prospective ICT and IT system deployers may also take note how, as a first step in becoming a doctor, medical students must swear to, if not embody, the Hippocratic Oath: "First, do no harm." Good food for thought -- but especially if you're deploying in a hospital (2).

Pre-terminated nodes in a new build with single fibers presented in the riser doesn't sound like a punch in the mouth, until you're the tech sorting it out (3).

Meanwhile, the neglected prospect of another corporate IT server dungeon (4) is always a house of pain.

And atrocious is not too strong a term for a bizarre hydra of a GbE patch cable with twisted pair entrails festooned across a laptop keyboard (5).

Was it a "sparky" who made such an unspeakable mess out of a wall jack using a block (6)?

How painful? Here's a direct quote: "Sociopaths...I swear they don't cut their zip ties flush on purpose (7)."

Elsewhere, they've been waiting for the boss to buy them a rack for 6 months, and yes, it's an eyesore (8).

Some clients definitely have a love/hate relationship with their cabling installers, based on what they find in the cabinet -- and sarcastically call out on social media (9).

It all winds up with a vomitous scene of commercial fiber spaghetti, in this week's edition of the top ten most painful cable fails.

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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]

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