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Taking Your Questions to Another Hardware Vendor

If you’re looking for guidance on a new technology, or troubleshooting a piece of hardware that your company inherited before you found a vendor, the system in question may not be the strong suit for your current hardware vendor. In this case, you need to find a new hardware vendor. The world of telecom vendors isn’t that immense, and so your vendor may even refer you to another vendor for information about your specific system.

Tip If your hardware vendor doesn’t know anyone or is less than inclined to give you a referral, contact the manufacturer directly for a list of authorized sales and service companies. Hint: You can usually find such lists on manufacturer Web sites.

Starting Over

Problems and inquiries grow like insulating foam, taking up space wherever there is the less resistance. Checking all variables is wonderful, but if you’ve ever lost your car keys, you know that the first place you looked (if stomping your feet and throwing stuff around in a frenzy because you’re late constitutes “looking”) is usually where you end up finding the keys.

The point is that you can easily overlook something when you’re in a panic that is clear as day when you’ve calmed down a bit. People commonly troubleshoot a problem for days on end, only to find out that there was something as simple as a configuration issue to blame.

Tip When you are at your wit’s end, stop, bring all the key players together for a conference call, and slowly go over all the information about your service. Start with how the service is configured, move on to a discussion of the hardware you are using, and move on from there by describing the specific issue and sharing the most detailed information you have about the variables you believe could be affecting the issue. Maybe it’ll be news to someone that you changed your configuration from ISDN to loopstart last month — and that breakthrough could be the spark that solves the issue.

Remember This same approach also works when you are reviewing new technology. Don’t try to make your application fit the new technology. Instead, objectively see whether the technology can successfully fulfill your application needs. You may think that some complex technology like MPLS or VoIP sounds very high speed and sexy, but if neither option solves your problem, it is just a burden .

Appendix: Making a Loopback Plug

In This Appendix

Introducing male loopback plugs
Setting up female loopback plugs

A loopback plug is the cheapest piece of test equipment you can own. It consists of a small plastic connector and about 10 inches of wire. The loopback plug assists in insolating problems within your circuit and provides a device for your carrier to run to during intrusive testing. This appendix gives you all the information you need in order to get a functioning loopback plug. Check out Chapter 13 for more information on using a loopback plug to facilitate troubleshooting.

Making a Male Loopback Plug

The male loopback plug for a T-1 circuit consists of an RJ-45 connector with pin 1 connected to pin 4 and pin 2 connected to pin 5. You can easily make your own male loopback plug — or have your hardware vendor make one for you.

Tip The next time a technician from your hardware vendor is in your office, have the technician make a loopback plug and leave it hanging on a nail in your phone room. If the tech is feeling generous, he or she may even make both male and female loopback plugs.

Here’s what you need to make your own male loopback plug:

RJ-45 connectors: You can buy packs of RJ-45 connectors from any electronics, hardware, or home improvement store for anywhere from $5 to $10.
Crimping device: This tool enables you to secure the wires into the RJ-45 connector and costs between $20 and $55. Nicer crimping tools also allow you to work on RJ-11 connectors, which are used for standard telephones, fax machines, and analog modem lines.
Wires: You use wires to input into the connector. You can cut them from any flat phone or modem cable. After you cut a 6-inch section of cable and remove 2 wires, you need to insert them into the RJ-45 connector (see Figure A-1).

Figure A-1: The pin configuration for a male RJ-45 plug.

This configuration allows you to connect the transmit wires 1 and 2 to the receive wires 4 and 5. After inserting the wires into the slots, simply crimp down the copper blades in the connector to secure the wires and complete the connection. You now have a male loopback connector.