14.9. Building the Cabling System

Once you've decided to install a structured cabling system, your next decision to make is: Who will build the system? The logical choices are build it yourself or hire a professional contractor. Which approach you choose depends on the size and complexity of your cabling system, your budget, and the hardware skills of your staff.

At one extreme, a twisted-pair cabling system for a small workgroup is easy to set up and run. Twisted-pair Ethernet components can be very easy to work with. You can buy a small repeater or switching hub and some ready-made twisted-pair patch cables with eight-position plugs already connected. The patch cables are used to hook the stations to the hub ports, resulting in a complete network. If you need to install twisted-pair cabling for a whole floor or an entire building, however, things get more complex.