Contributed by Haresh Karamchandani
An NGO
client contracted us to plan, implement and build their Local Area
Network at their office in Monrovia.
The
estimates were prepared according to our regular template and after
several follow up emails by our Marketing consultant the client
confirmed that they had approval and allocation in their budget to
issue the work order.
SATURDAY:
We
decided to do this job (which can get very noisy and messy) over a
weekend. Armed with all the necessary materials and power tools our
team headed for the clients’ office on a Saturday morning. We began
by drilling the screw holes in the walls to lay the cable channels
and RJ45 wall jacks as per the planned layout. This took us the whole
of Saturday and we ended the day late at about 8 PM.
SUNDAY:
We
decided to go back the next day, Sunday to continue and finish off
the rest of the job. Being a Sunday 2 of the team members decided to
come late, (one wanted to wash her clothes, the other wanted to drive
his aunty to church!). So we started off short staffed, and ran the
CAT6e cables inside the ceiling. This was a very difficult task to
carry out as this building’s ceiling was very shallow and the boys
had to literally crawl on their bellies to get the job done.
Eventually by 6 in the evening we had managed to get all the cables
sorted out in the ceiling and also managed to terminate the wall
boxes. The only thing left was to put up the rack and switches and
connect the cables respectively before carrying out routine tests. We
decided to end the day at 6 and continue the next day, so that we
could watch the UEFA cup Finals over a cup of hot chocolate/cold beer
after a hard grueling day’s work.
MONDAY:
The next
morning we were back again and installed the rack neatly, crimped the
cables and connected the switches to the routers. We worked the whole
day, quietly, and were able to complete the job by late evening. We
decided to hand over the project to the client the next day.
TUESDAY:
The
terminals were checked one by one and all were found to be properly
working and we handed over the project to the happy client.
WEDNESDAY:
I get a
call in the morning from the client, complaining that some of the
users are not able to connect to the internet!! We dispatched our
technicians to go and check it out and after some trouble shooting it
was discovered that the switches were interlinked and then connected
to the router. This was not working therefore we decided to link the
switches individually to the router directly. On doing so all the
users were able to browse.
THURSDAY:
I get a
call again from the client complaining that some users are not able
to browse. We again dispatched out able technicians to the site to
check what may be the issue. Our Head of IT, came up with the
diagnosis that the original EDIMAX routers that were installed by the
ISP were substandard and were not able to carry the load of the
network and kept crashing. He recommended that we change the routers
to CISCO Linksys routers which are more reliable and sturdy. We
explained to the client and they agreed and gave us the go ahead to
get the routers replaced and configured. We did so. And everything
was working well.
FRIDAY:
I get a
call again. Some users could not browse!!!! This was getting
frustrating as we had done many such jobs in the past and NEVER had
to face so many obstacles. This time around I decided to take along a
fellow Indian friend and technician to check and confirm if the job
was done correctly and if there were any errors somewhere. The fellow
checked all the settings and he confirmed that all was done according
to the norms of networking. He asked to re-set the routers and
reconfigured them. We did that. Everything seemed okay.
SATURDAY:
I get a
call again! The client said that 1 user was not able to connect to
the internet. I decided to go and check it out myself. On checking we
realized that the drop down cable from the Jack to the users computer
had come loose from the Jack. This may have happened when the sweeper
must have pulled on the cable whilst sweeping in the office!! We
connected the cable back firmly and the client could browse.
Its been
4 days since the last call out and we have been following up 2 times
daily to check if everything is fine. So far so good. No complains.
And, while concluding this blog I just got a call from the client
asking us to send our invoice for payment! ANOTHER HAPPY NATC
CLIENT added to our list!!
