Making Your Own Network Cables, and the Crossover Story
August 22, 2026 · 6:36
Prefer YouTube? Watch this episode on the channel — comments and questions live there.
About this episode
Crimping your own cables looks frugal and usually is not: solid and stranded conductors terminate differently, a mismatched plug fails quietly months later, and a factory patch cord costs less than one diagnostic session. This episode covers when the crimper still makes sense, what the solid-versus-stranded distinction means, and the full story of the crossover cable — why it existed, how auto MDI-X made it obsolete, and what to do when you find one in a ceiling.
The Frugal Admin position: terminate horizontal cable to jacks, buy factory patch cords, and at gigabit rates remove the crossover cables you inherit.
Chapters
The same chapters as on YouTube, so you can find your place in either player.
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:02 Cold open
- 0:08 Crimping: a field repair skill
- 0:22 Solid conductors
- 0:38 Stranded conductors
- 1:03 The mismatch
- 1:23 The symptom
- 1:50 The reliable practice
- 2:10 The temporary field repair
- 2:28 The inherited drawer
- 2:59 The crossover story
- 3:15 Two port wirings (MDI, MDI-X)
- 3:39 Straight-through: computer to switch
- 3:53 Like port to like port
- 4:05 The crossover cable (T568A / T568B)
- 4:27 Auto MDI-X
- 4:46 Gigabit and the four pairs
- 5:16 Two practical notes
- 5:52 Two habits
- 6:05 Outro
Standards referenced: ANSI/TIA-568.2-E (T568A/T568B), IEEE 802.3 (auto MDI-X Clause 40.4.4; 10BASE-T Clause 14; 100BASE-TX Clause 25; 1000BASE-T 802.3ab).