Clearnet was requested to complete the specified work at the standard time and materials rates, but additional travel time was not approved and so a different contractor was awarded this work in early September 2022.
Clearnet was solicited by the same customer to troubleshoot and repair a down internet circuit at the Tacoma Mall
A Clearnet technician was dispatched to site and began investigating the outage. Upon arrival, the technician confirmed that the circuit was not working and requested information from the site contact regarding the outage.
The customer stated that a different contractor had been on site to pull a new cable to install the new internet circuit, but that the previous technician did not successfully complete the scope of work. The Clearnet technician began to investigate further by tracing the recently installed cable to determine where it originated from.
With multiple Demarc closets in the mall, it appeared that the previous installer ran the cable from the nearest Demarc closet and left the cable at both ends. The new circuit was never connected to the new cable because the circuit was located in a different Demarc closet from the one that the first cable was ran from.
A call was made to the project manager and details regarding the previous installation were provided to illustrate why the circuit was not working and what would be required for the circuit to be correctly connected to the customer’s network equipment. Upon being made aware of the situation, Clearnet was authorized to dispatch two technicians to perform the work, with additional travel approved.
Plenum rated Cat 6 Cable pulled end to end, terminate RJ45 outlets at both ends
Must terminate near customer’s circuit in Demarc closet
Must extend to customer’s network equipment rack
Must patch into internet provider’s hand off in Demarc
Must patch from new cable to customer’s network equipment
Must prove internet access with surf and speed test
Must test, label and photograph all work
A new Cat 6 cable was pulled in from the Demarc where the customer’s internet circuit was located, to the customer’s network equipment rack within their suite at the mall. This required additional length of cable and added time to complete because of firewalls, occupied conduits and limited access in the back corridors of the mall.
This work was to be performed at a local area mall with multiple (15) Demarc closets located throughout the mall due to size and cable length considerations, ideally with customer Demarc hand offs provided nearest the customer’s suite.
Once the cable was terminated, tested and labeled, the circuit was extended to the new cable via Cat 6 patch cord in the Demarc and another Cat 6 patch cord was connected at the customer’s equipment rack to connect the new cable and circuit to the customer’s firewall, enabling the internet access in the suite as requested.
Clearnet’s team of technicians have experience to know not to pull the cable to the closest closet if that’s not where the circuit originates from. In this case, Clearnet’s installers would have saved the customer time, money and anxiety from going without internet access for weeks after it should have been working. We recommend using Clearnet for all Demarc extensions in malls and other office environments where multiple tenants are served and connection points are not always obvious.
