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From: jcrowder@GroupW.cns.vt.edu (Jeff Crowder)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: 10Base-T hubs
Message-ID: <1582@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>
Date: 8 Apr 91 19:59:03 GMT
References: <1991Apr03.004515.12021@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu> <1548@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> <1991Apr08.171237.19978@shl.com>
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In article <1991Apr08.171237.19978@shl.com> phil@shl.com (Phil Trubey) writes:
>>>thinwire cabling costs but I lose $1000+ on a hub... I think that
>>>10Base-T's economic advantages are a bit overblown given the current
>>>prices; am I right?
>>
>>I think this is a salient point.  I keep wanting to go with 10Base-T for
>>all the obvious reasons (we already have good UTP installed, the
>>aesthetics are much better, cable fault isolation and tolerance,
>>management, etc.).  But I just can't get the numbers to add up.

>As others have pointed out, the cost savings aren't in physical 
>capital costs - they are in people time saved from not having to 
>fix and diagnose broken segments.  This is a *major* cost for any
>network over a few dozen nodes.  Add to this the fact that the dozens

Well, I can appreciate that a manageable hub should provide better fault
isolation and diagnostic capabilities.  In real terms, however,
we've had only 3 physical layer failures which required dispatching a
diagnostician within the last 14 months on a campus wide network
connecting several thousand machines.  Thinwire coax *installed
properly* (i.e. good stress relief and careful connector installation)
is quite reliable.  Of course, a modicum of user training is
recommended; it does not help to have a geology professor unplug the
cable from the tee on his machine.

I might also mention that the vast majority of responses I've received
via e-mail have indicated that the authors had already come the
more or less the same conclusion I had.  (threads of paranoia showing
thru)

>As fas as the hype being invented, every new installation that I've dealt
>with (I work for a systems integrator) in the last year has been 10BaseT.
>The *only* place where I would recommend coax is in a lab environment
 
Do you SELL the hubs you install by any chance ... ??? In any event,
I'll bet you haven't helped out with many installations at state
supported universities in states where very scarce funds are being
channelled out of education and into a presidential campaign fund...

>Phil Trubey                     |  Internet: phil@shl.com      

Jeff Crowder, Network Guy and Grass Mower
Virginia Tech
jcrowder@GroupW.cns.vt.edu