Voice and Data Cabling – Is There Still a Market?

Is voice and data cabling still a key facet of providing IT services, now that wireless technology is ubiquitous?

Then and Now

Up until a few years ago, cabling offices was an integral part of setting up a business network and a service most IT service providers would offer or outsource.

Now, some smaller businesses wonder if they can work without a cabling infrastructure.

While to a limited extent they can, there are still important reasons why voice and data cabling is something that all but the very smallest businesses will need to think about.

Addressing the Practical Reality

For a start, businesses still need phones, which have to be cabled into a PBX system. Secondly, despite faster wireless technologies such as 802.11n, no widely available wireless standard comes close to offering the network bandwidth available through gigabit Ethernet.

While Wi-Fi may work perfectly in a home environment with a few computers, its limitations will still be quickly apparent as soon as five or more computers try to connect via the same router.

With all this in mind, it’s fair to conclude that there is still a market for voice and data cabling. IT service providers should therefore make sure that:

1. They have the knowledge and expertise to lay cable runs and splice network connections.

2. They are capable of installing a professional Cat5/6 cable infrastructure, or

3. Have partnerships with cabling companies who can do the necessary work and (ideally) pay them a commission.

Do you offer voice and data cabling services? Share your tactics in the Comments box below.

And to follow-through on the tips introduced in this short article, be sure to download your free copy of the special report on IT Service Contract Secrets for Getting More Repeat Clients and Recurring Service Revenue.

Creative Commons Image Source: flickr dmitrybarsky