Why network cables colourful and why this matter?
With network cables they come in a range of colours and lengths. However why network cables colourful? This is a question we get asked when our team are out on site installing new equipment or doing a network refresh. The simple answer is it helps us identity quickly what each cable purpose is for. As an example we use black cable for Voip phones and for an unsecure device we use blue for internet. A red cable for us means secure connection for us like a computer accessing a server. Other colours like yellow can mean printer to us or green is infrastructure.
If a customer has a managed network as a help desk this can be a very quick troubleshooting step to help isolate issues. When you say to I have plugged my laptop in to a blue cable but I can access the internet but not the server, this tells us you’re on the wrong network. When we set up on a structured network the cable colour applies to both the patch panel and the switch. For example it if we are patching a phone this will be a black cable from the phone to the wall socket then from the patch panel to the switch this will be a black cable.
All of these steps are how we as a team help manage networks. This is a small step but at the same time plays a key role. All of our team go boxes contains at least 2 of each colour in 5 different lengths.
To answer the question Why network cables colourful in a few words, This small step helps improves the network
Fun fact as a team we can get though over 20km of patch cables a year. Most common reason for a cable to be replaced is a damaged plug clip.
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