Cable Certification VS Transmission Testing
Distinguishing between when to use a cable certifier or a transmission tester can make selecting the right tool challenging, particularly when there is conflicting information in the industry.
To help simplify things, we have listed out the key differences between certification and transmission testing. Essentially, cable certifiers only need to be used if required by a cable manufacturer’s warranty, or specifically stated in the job specification. In all other scenarios, a transmission tester is the most effective and economical way to provide proof of performance to an international standard.
Cable Certification
When required by the project specification or a cable manufacturer warranty is required, a certifier remains an essential part of an installer’s kit. The test and accuracy requirements for cable certifiers are defined by ISO and TIA cabling standards. All certifiers must meet certain criteria and an examination of the literature for a few key terms will help identify a certifier from other testers. Look for:
- Meets ISO/IEC 61935 and TIA 1152-A accuracy requirements
- ETL Level III/IIIe verified accuracy
- Measures NEXT, PSNEXT, Return Loss, Insertion Loss and ACR-F
- Specifies a test frequency range of at least 500 MHz
A certification tester must test for all the distinct parameters required by the standards in order to certify a link. When it comes to TIA and ISO standards, certification gives testing results in a “Pass” or “Fail” result based on the category or class of cabling tested.
If a job calls for a cable certifier, the LanTEK III is the best tool to guarantee installed cabling meets the stringent performance requirements defined by the ISO/IEC and ANSI/TIA standards bodies. They find faulty components, sources of installation mistakes and help ensure that the materials are genuine quality products.
Transmission Testing
Where cable manufacturer warranties are not required, the SignalTEK NT is a cost effective way of proving your copper and fibre networks provide error-free performance. By simulating network traffic users are able to test and document network and data cable performance to the IEEE802.3ab Gigabit Ethernet standard.
Automatic pass/fail test reports are generated in PDF or CSV format using the free IDEAL AnyWARE™ app. These reports are used to support the cable installers own warranty and prove the installation was completed successfully, therefore future call backs would be chargeable. What’s more Transmission testers are very easy to use compared to a certifier and don’t require annual calibration.
For more information on what cable certification and transmission testers are available to you, visit https://www.trend-networks.com/.
