Misinformation and disinformation

[Bogey]

Out of curiosity, what is the best disinformation you see about telecom technology? It seems a lot of sites rely on expert knowledge to inform people but it seems near impossible to actually get core information about simple things like USOC codes and basic technical terminology.

DS1 is almost always called a T1. They're treated as if there's no difference between them. Poor RJ11C, RJ14C, and RJ11W might as well be the same. 8P8C, RJ44, RJ31X, and RJ45 are all just thrown out for anything that needs eight conductors. Cat5, ethernet cable, and patch cable all mean the same thing too apparently.

Everyone calls things whatever they feel like and nobody seems to understand how the networks are built and operate together.

Maybe we ought to build a compendium of telecom knowledge that is on the outs in terms of common knowledge? Is there one out there? Because it seems only real telephone men actually know this stuff.

[Deep Thought]

That is actually a very good idea.  I've seen some sites which have compiled old Bell System tech standards as a museum exhibit but not really so much as a living reference.  And the knowledge is dying out...the proliferation of consumer networking, cable and VoIP "phones" and their attendant "whatever works" attitude has pretty much obliterated what used to be considered best practice.

I've still got the broadbandcraft.com domain on this server.  It could easily host such a site in wiki form or something more suitable if you think a wiki would be too limiting.

[Bogey]

Well, I'd throw in a little bit. It's a pretty big endeavor to undertake though.

[burner50]

I love how people always think that a T1 is the fastest thing available...


Welcome to 1990


"This 50mb package is almost as fast as my T1 at work! At work I can download an entire movie in about 2 minutes!"