sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring How do you rate cable products? (patch panels, jacks, etc)

We have had the best luck with ICC, primarily because just about every supplier sells it and they are willing to compete to get the sale. Their stuff is fully compatible with other manufacturer's "keystone" jacks, so we don't have to pay for a big electrical name, like Hubbell, Leviton, etc. This compatiblilty also lowers our inventory requirements since the ICC modules fit so many other brands.

Their rack and shelving components are rock-solid, made in USA and well-packaged. They also have an interesting array of module and face plate types, making for a really flexible system with a clean look.

We have been using their products for about 12 years now and have never seen a defect or out of box failure. The price seems right on most items. I am happy with their products.

Been using ICC for years.
Easy to find. Reasonably priced and haven't had any trouble with.

Sometimes we have to use Avaya.

I use Leviton for everything now, I get good pricing from my distributor. I have tried just about every brand. I like Panduit and ICC, don't have much experience with Siemon or AMP, but I'm not a fan of the Systimax or Nordx stuff. The Nordx MDVO jacks were a pain in the you-know-what. But I got a lot of samples from manufacturers over the years, as well as freebies from my dad's work. So I shouldn't complain.

ICC, been using it for years.

I was of the opinion that ICC was junk because it was the lowest price and made in China as I recall.
I'll reconsider it. I do like that fact that you lay the pairs inline, makes it easier to install.

I've been using Leviton for about 10 years. It seemed to be the middle of the road on quality and price. Easy enough to install. Mostly though, in a pinch I could run down to Home Depot and get it.

Richard

But is everyone basing their preferences off their supplier and how fast they get the product? Or are they basing their preferences off quality, amount of installations, etc.?

When I hear people like Leviton because you can get it down at Home Depot, kind of leads me to believe that these were for small installations. If I was doing an install for 1,000 locations, with multiple pulls and 20+ IDF rooms.... what does it come down to? quality? availability? ease of installation of the product?, etc.

Thanks much for everyones feedback!

The thing I never liked about Leviton was that you had to split the two pairs to lace the jack. I find it much easier to lay the pairs over a pyramid and terminate them. I have to agree with Tommer, and not base what I use on availability. I can get Leviton two places within 2 miles of my office; Siemon, AMP and/or Hubbell I have to order from suppliers 45 miles away. We usually have a couple hundred jacks on hand at any time.

Don't believe the propaganda.

I have used various brands as dictated. I have done the full range of installation. Try 6 jacks per seat in a call center of 335 seats. That's a lot of jacks and 3/4 million feet of wire. Or 13 buildings as one complex consisting of 109 floors, some with multiple IDFs per floor.

I've done the government bit, the owner's rep bit, and the contractor bit. It all comes down to ease of installation, duribility, and availability. Your supplier is your friend. A good one will take your requirements and bid them, stock them, get you in bed with the manufacturer if necessary to get the sweet BIG jobs you are inferring.

If your jobs are wide spread, like nation wide, get a readily available product nation wide. Set a price level for material cost. Verify ease of installation as this affects labor cost due to time requirements.

It's a bit of it all. See where you need to be for criteria, and move forward.

Good Luck,

KLD.

Hey, Richard M.

Leviton has been made overseas pretty much since day one of their entry into Telecomm. That's actually the reason that I never elected to use them. At the time, we had access to and sole-sourced AT&T's full line, all U.S. made and that was important to me. That was in 1984. Today, Ortronics jacks are made overseas, as are Sprint's, Graybar's (Allen Tel), Unicom and others. I think that there are plenty more. Yes, many of ICC's products, to include their jacks, are made overseas.

Here's the problem: Where it's made can't really be a determining factor any more because just about everything we buy these days (at least as consumers) is made overseas. I haven't found much of anything made in U.S.A. at a local Target, Wal*Mart, Best Buy or K-Mart in years.

I got a bit concerned when I saw electrical supplies (circuit breakers, switches, receptacles) made in Mexico a few years back. When that stuff started coming out of China, I thought to myself "when will it end"? Yes, I went to buy a Leviton brand Decora dimmer and you guessed it...Made in China.

If a jack module fails due to poor import quality, that just means an inconvenience and a bit of lost money. On the other hand, what happens when that 100 amp circuit breaker feeding your furnace locks up and doesn't trip due to poor quality? Yikes!

I think it really just comes down to what your local supplier carries (and stocks) and of course, your level of comfort in using that product. Being able to get what you need, and get it quickly is where you really save money. We used to stock thousands of modules and faceplates of virtually every brand known so we could "match an existing face plate". Bull. Half the time, they are hidden behind furniture or in the floor anyway, so who cares? Usually not the customer.

We standardized with one brand, stock a thousand parts instead of ten-thousand, and save money by standardizing. On the rare occasion where a specific brand is required, we just buy the "37" of them for the project and price the job accordingly.

Simple, stick to Keystone jacks. We moved to Leviton once the local supplier refused to carry Ortronics anymore in stock. We used to use ICC, never had a problem with those either. The nice thing about Leviton is that frigging Home Depot carries them in a pinch.