Just lost a full day's pay over a bad coax barrel connector

I was finishing a job in a big apartment building downtown and the wall plate was a tight fit. I grabbed a cheap coax barrel from my truck instead of the good ones I keep in my main bag. The signal looked fine on my meter at the outlet, but the customer called back two hours later with pixelation. Had to drive all the way back, redo the connection with a proper connector, and retest everything. That one bad part cost me about $150 in lost time and gas. Always check your fittings before you seal up a wall plate. What's the worst connector fail you guys have seen?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucasschmidt2mo ago

Oh man, that hits home. I once had a whole house rewire fail because of a single bad RJ45 connector I crimped in a hurry. The homeowner's internet kept dropping, and I spent half a day re-testing every run before I found it. It was the very first jack I'd done that morning. The shame of having to explain that to the client was almost worse than the lost time. You just can't rush the basics.

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gavinb972mo ago

Yeah, "the shame of explaining it" is the worst part. @lucasschmidt, did you just eat the cost for the extra time or what?

lopez.quinn2mo ago

Totally get that, rushed a cable once and killed a whole office network for hours.