Hurricane Irene

Found this interesting:

The governor declared a state of emergency and the state's Office of Emergency Management has increased staffing in its underground bunker.       

If they anticipate the possibility of FLOODING, why would they be increasing staffing at an UNDERGROUND bunker? Shouldn't the resources be diverted elsewhere, such as high ground?

I have got another (aprox.) 60 cable job that I recently pre-wired for new construction. I did not get photos of the cabling portion of the job, but will make an attempt to get images of the completed project once they finish the drywall.

UPDATE 9/1/11: Here it is: http://blog.nyphonejacks.com/2011/09/yes-i-really-am-that-busy-57-runs.html

pre-wire 86 cables.

Pre-wiring 86 cables for a new construction. Office is on the 2nd floor, data closed will be located on the first floor where the current phone system is located. Several thousand feet of wire, aprox. 1-1/2 day labor to get all cabling installed. 

86 cables pulled. 

Another view of the 86 cables. 

Strapping the cables up, getting ready to bring them downstairs.

1/3 of the cables run down one side of the ceiling. 

1/3 of the cables run down the other side of the ceiling. 

pre-wired for a door phone + access control. 

Pre-wired for voice and data jacks.

All 86 cables pulled into what will become the network closet on the first floor, and rolled up. 

17 jacks, 4 cameras + access control install

[EDIT: Wiring diagram to connect PAP2 to RC2a and E20B doorphone can be found HERE] 

I had initially put in a bid to install a rack mount for the patch panel and network equipment. The customer decided that they wanted everything on a shelf. CAT5 runs to 9 locations, each location, except one, has 2 CAT5 drops. Since I used 2-12 port patch panels I labeled one panel "A" and one panel "B" and punched down each location with the same jack number on each panel.

The monitor has been wall mounted, but has not been photographed (as of yet). The customer provided the hardware for the door phone, but all other hardware is new. There is nearly 2,000 ft. of wire run on this install with very little excess.

Awaiting electrician bringing power to the network shelf, and for the cable company to install the cable modem. DSL jack was pre-wired to NID, but likely will not initially be used.

I wanted to install a rack mount, but the customer wanted a shelf.
Monitor has since been mounted, have not photographed yet.
Network equipment not yet installed awaiting electrician and internet service.

2 - 12 port patch panels.
Viking RC2A door controller.
Linksys PAP2.
Duplex jack for DSL and door phones.

4 output camera power supply.

Each location has 2 CAT5 jacks.
To right wall mounted jack.
To left cabling pulled with electrical conduit on brick wall, surface mount jack.
Wires have since been strapped to conduit.

One of the 4 cameras. 

E-20B door phone. 

Customer provided door phone, relay, door strike (not photographed) and PAP2.

  















UPDATE: 9/1/11 Got another photo of the completed network shelf and mounted monitor.

Everything installed - going to need an additional switch.
Still awaiting DSL and Cable modem installation,
oh... and my payment. 

3 referrals to get $25 credit for boost mobile

UPDATE check the comments for latest codes! If you have a code, add it to the comments!!
CHECK THE DATE OF WHEN COMMENTS WERE POSTED!!


Are you considering getting a boost mobile phone?

I have 3 2 referrals that will provide you with $25 in credit (may be expired, if you are interested email me and I will verify if they are still valid)

email me at boost@nyphonejacks.com  to get a referral code, then follow these simple steps:

I no longer have any more Boostmobile codes, as I am no longer a subscriber - but many readers have been posting codes in the comments!! If you have a code to share, post a comment. If you used one, or tried one post a comment to let others know it is no longer valid. Latest codes will be posted for 30 days, or until someone mentions code is no longer valid, at top of all pages on this site! 

Go to boostmobile.com OR to a select retailer ONLY to activate.
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One of my customers network equipment

This photo was sitting on my phone. It is of one of my customers network racks. It is nearly impossible to trace any of the patch cords. I had to pull several CAT5 drops for VoIP phones into this patch panel. Perhaps someday when things are slow or on the next service call to them I can have some time to clean this network up.
  
















I generally do not identify customers for their privacy and security. So I will not identify this customer other than to say they are located across from the UN building and are a member of the UN.
Sent from my BlackBerry® by Boost Mobile

Installing 4 door phones and relays + overhead paging

[EDIT: Wiring diagram to connect PAP2 to RC2a and E20B doorphone can be found HERE] 

This job is not yet complete. Wiring was pulled by someone else. I just snaked it down the walls at the doors, and have installed the relays and the door phones.

The power still needs to be connected to the door strikes (probably going to have to do some wiring for that.) and the hardware for the overhead paging, and the SPA 8000 VoIP adapter is on order due to be delivered in the beginning of the week Will try to get photos of completed job and update this post when done.

Setting the DIP switches of the relays. 

Relays mounted, and partially wired up.

This wiring is newly installed by the customers IT contractor.
Notice how messy the patch cords are,
compared to the installations that I have completed and posted  on  this blog. 

small network in 2 trailers

I have been working on a small network installation for 2 adjacent trailers for the last two days.



One trailer had 3 runs, the other trailer had 7 runs, and there is a single run between the trailers.
They originally had 2 separate DSL lines and networks. One for each trailer. I moved both DSL lines into the first trailer, and installed a dual WAN router for load balancing, and fail over.

Some of the inserts that I had did not fit the surface mount jack covers, so I had to get  creative. 

Side view of the "modified" surface mount jack covers 

I installed everything here, except the gray wires going into the old partner system ,
that you can see the bottom of on the top right of the image. 

First day live the left DSL modem was not in sync.
The DSL was restored today, but the modem still was not providing an IP
so it has been replaced with a similar model as the one on the right. 

Another view of modem + routers.

Second trailer is fed from first trailer.
The wireless router has DHCP turned off and is acting as a switch.
I realize that the switch looks crooked, it was leveled after photo taken. 

NO PAKING

This and other images that I have taken with my cell phone has led me to create a photo blog. You can view FunnyCellPix.blogspot.com by clicking HERE 

This is painted on the curb in front of the Brooklyn Public Library located on 86th street by the Municipal parking lot at the corner of 18th ave.

Netgear N300 - WNR2000 Repeater mode installation

EDIT:This installation was completed, and post made when the older firmware was on the routers. A recent firmware update for these Netgear routers has changed the entire GUI that Netgear has used for the last few years. I have not played around with the wireless repeater functions under the new firmware as I only have 1 of these devices in my home and the routers that I wanted to use the repeater mode are connected as APs that I wired with CAT5. I do not know if the newer firmware solves any of the difficulties, or problems that I had when I installed these. 


Today I am installing WiFi in 3 restaurants in NYC. The customer wants 2 APs at each location, because they claim that a single AP will not be enough to cover the entire area that they want covered. While I feel that with proper placement of the APs a single AP should be enough to cover the area that they need, adding an second AP to each location should provide more than enough coverage for all of their patrons.

I choose these routers because I recently purchased one for my own LAN and have so far been satisfied with its performance (other than losing the SSID broadcast if the channel is set to AUTO), and the fact that they have a wireless repeater function. Unfortunately the wireless repeater function is not well documented in the manual, so it took nearly 5 hours, including over an hour on the phone with tech support (from India) just to get the first set programmed as BASE and REPEATER. Then another 2 hours or so to get the other 2 pairs set up as BASE and REPEATER.

Setting routers up as BASE and REPEATER in the home office.

Several hundred dollars worth WNR2000v3 routers ready to go.

N300 - WNR2000v3 programmed and ready to install. 

Now all that is left is to install them at the locations. Some settings are going to have to wait until the devices are on site, such as setting up the WAN side of things.

These routers have a wireless isolation feature, which is great for a hotspot router, because it will prevent wireless devices from accessing the LAN devices, as well as other wireless devices, preventing anyone from attempting to hack the LAN or other wireless devices connected to the network.

I will update this post once everything is installed.

UPDATE 8.7.11 9pm:
Completed 1 of 3 installations.
Everything worked fine, until the customer decided that he wanted to secure the wireless. This was installed for customers, so was designed with WiFi being open, and wireless isolation turned on, so that wireless devices could not access any devices on the LAN including the APs web configuration. The documentation states that WEP is the only security option that is compatible, enabling WEP does not allow me to access the SSID that the repeater has been assigned.

I would not recommend setting this up as a wireless repeater unless you want to run your WiFi open. You CAN set MAC filtering if you have a list of devices you want to allow, but that is not a good security policy in general, especially not for a restaurant where you do not know the MAC addresses of the devices that are going to connect ahead of time.

I will be returning to the location that I completed, and will be moving the "repeater" router from the main floor where the base router has sufficient coverage, and pulling a CAT5 from the main floor, to the basement where there is an office, and changing the settings on the router. I will likely be setting the SSID to the same as on the main floor, with the same WEP key, so that anyone who has a device that connects to the 1st floor AP can access the device in the basement AP.

I will likely set up the other 2 locations the same way, and forget about this whole repeater mode that I spent so much time configuring..

UPDATE:
All 3 locations have been installed. I had to use them as regular APs and do away with the whole repeater mode feature of the routers. Once WEP (which is the only security supported in repeater mode) was enabled I was unable to see both SSIDs, so each router is wired to a CAT5 and is set up as a regular AP.

I will probably not ever use Netgear APs again for a commercial installation. 

Chase bank sucks!

[UPDATE 8/5/11 7:40pm - response was received today, further info added to end of this post] 

I was banking at Bank of America for the last few years. I opened an account there because my employer at the time had his payroll checks drafted off of a Bank of America account.

Recently my current employer switched banks to Chase, so I followed and opened a Chase account.

When I used to deposit my payroll checks into a Bank of America ATM machine $300 was made available immediately, and the remainder of the check was available the following day, regardless of what time I put the deposit into the ATM machine, and regardless of if the following day was a weekend or holiday. This includes checks that I deposited that were not drawn on Bank of America accounts.

When I deposit checks into my Chase account using the ATM machine, I need to make the deposit before the end of the banking day for the deposit to count as being deposited on that day, otherwise it is not credited until the following BUSINESS day. Only $100 is immediately made available, and a hold is placed on the remaining amount for several days - INCLUDING my payroll check that is drawn on a Chase account.

This is absolutely unacceptable. On more than one occasion I have had to waste time sitting down with the bank manager, who obviously needs to call some office somewhere to resolve the issue, and clear my funds.

Chase should make more than $100 available immediately upon an ATM deposit, and should NOT place a hold on ANY check drawn from another Chase account - especially not a commercial or business account that is used for payroll.

EDIT: Here is the E-mail that I have sent to the CEO of Chase

I opened a Chase account because my employer had moved his business accounts over to Chase. So I ignorantly assumed that I would have easier access to my money by banking at the same institution as the payroll checks were drawn on. 

I have not been a customer with Chase for very long, but it appears that Chase does not want to retain their customers by treating them the way that I have been subjected to since opening this account. 

Before I go further in this email, I would just like to advise you that I filed a complaint with the Federal Reserve prior to drafting this e-mail. 

Depositing my payroll check into a Chase ATM only makes $100 available immediately. When I was banking at Bank of America $300 was made immediately available.

When I deposit my check in a Chase ATM after banking hours my deposit is not credited until the following day. When I was banking at Bank of America my deposits were credited the same day, regardless of the time that I put the deposit into the ATM machine.

When I deposit my check into a Chase ATM there is a hold of several days - even though the check is drawn on another Chase account. When I was banking at Bank of America ALL checks were made available no later than the following day, regardless of what bank the checks were drawn on.

I have been forced to take time out of my busy schedule to visit a teller to "cash" a check before depositing it to ensure that I have total access to money that I have earned, of which you are NOT entitled to. I have been forced to take time out of my busy schedule several times to have to sit with a bank manager who in turn has to call someone above him to resolve this issue to make my funds available. 

It is HIGHLY unethical, and in my opinion bordering on illegal to place a hold on funds for any check that is drawn on another Chase account, especially a business account. 

I request that you review your hold policies, especially the policies regarding checks that are drawn on other Chase accounts with priority taken for checks drawn on business accounts. 

Let's see if Chase customer service is as good as BoA was when I had to contact the CEO office of BoA for an issue that I had with them once. I actually received 3 follow up calls from BoA from when I wrote to the CEO over there. I only sent this last night, so I will give them a day or two to review it and provide me with some type of response.

UPDATE 8/5/11 7:40pm
The reply that I received had the standard non-disclosure crap at the end of it, so at the current time I will not post the email, or quotes from the reply, however I will say that the email contradicted my experience. It claims that ATM deposits are treated as same day deposits if made by 9pm, my ATM deposit was made about 6pm and treated as it was deposited the following day. It also falsely claims that after July 17th $200 will be made available immeaditely and not $100. My deposit was made on Aug 1 and only $100 was immediately available.

The email also claims that my funds were made availabe the following business day. They sure were, because I had to sit down with a bank manager and have him call some office somewhere to get the funds released.

Stay tuned, I will be making a reply email back to the CEOs office.

Update: Aug. 27, 2011
I received a letter in the mail from the people who regulate banks in regards to my complaint several days ago that they were looking into my complaint, and just today received a letter from Chase stating that they were reviewing my complaint. Any further information will be updated here as it becomes available.

Get $40 credit for signing up with Zip Car

Zip Car is providing a promotion this month where they are offering $40 of driving credit to people who sign up with a referral from a Zip Car member.

If you would like to get this credit please email me at zip@nyphonejacks.com  and I will send you a referral email.

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You will still get driving credit if you apply other months, but there is a special promotion this month offering $40 of free credit!