Structured and low voltage cabling in Durham Region
Data drops, fiber backbones and racks for businesses from Pickering to Newcastle, installed from our base in Oshawa. Every run is labelled at both ends and tested before the job is signed off, and one account manager stays with it from the site survey to the hand-over.
At a glance
- Based in Oshawa, on site across Durham Region
- Cat6, Cat6A and fiber, in new builds and retrofits
- Labels and continuity testing on every run, included
- Office hours Mon to Fri, 8am to 5pm. Installs often run evenings and weekends.
Network cabling, from the wall plate back to the rack
Most jobs start with a count. How many desks, printers, phones, Wi-Fi access points and cameras need a wired connection, and where the rack is going to live. Each of those becomes a data drop: one cable from a wall plate or ceiling location back to a patch panel.
Cat6 is enough for desk drops in most offices. Cat6A is worth the extra where runs are long, cable paths are crowded, or you expect to ask the building for 10 Gigabit later. The trade-off is laid out in Cat6 vs Cat6A.
Past copper's 100 metre limit, up a riser between floors, or across to a second building, the backbone becomes fiber. Fiber optic cabling covers how that is spliced and loss tested, and when fiber is worth it covers whether your building needs any.
All of it ends at a rack. Patch panels, switches and the cable management around them decide whether the next person to open that rack can find a port without unplugging the wrong one. What a messy rack costs puts numbers to that.
Labelled and tested as standard
Two things come with every run at no extra charge. A label at each end that matches the port list, and a continuity and wire-map test that shows every pair landing where it should.
Certification against the full category standard is a separate test, quoted as an add-on. It is worth paying for when a manufacturer warranty, a landlord or a consultant wants the report in writing. Cable testing and certification explains when that applies, and tested vs certified explains the difference in plain terms. If your job does not need it, we will say so.
Who calls us for cabling
We cable for small and mid-sized businesses such as dental and medical offices, warehouses, trades, retail and professional services. The call usually comes at one of three moments. The business is moving or fitting out new space, something on the network has stopped working, or the person who used to look after it has left.
In a shared or multi-tenant building the landlord usually decides where cable is allowed to run. That approval belongs at the start of the schedule, because it cannot be hurried at the end.
Builders and electricians bring us in as well, usually when a project needs data cabling in before the drywall closes. If you run a trades business yourself, we also set up ServiceM8 job management software as a registered ServiceM8 partner.
What low voltage covers here, and what it does not
Low voltage is the wiring that does not carry mains power. Data and fiber cabling, plus the cable that feeds Wi-Fi access points, security cameras, access control readers and audio/visual equipment. As a low voltage contractor, Redsilicon installs all of that itself, along with the racks and switching it lands on.
Three kinds of work sit outside that line. Line-voltage electrical, such as a new circuit for the rack, is done by a licensed electrical contractor we bring in and coordinate. Fire alarm systems go to a ULC-listed fire alarm contractor, because Redsilicon is not one. Core drilling and structural penetrations go to a licensed specialist trade.
You still deal with one account manager for the whole job. How we work names who performs each part.
Cabling across Durham Region
Oshawa is our base, and Whitby is close enough that no regional travel charge applies, so this is where we know the buildings best.
The employment lands in Ajax run to high-bay warehouses built for tall racking. Pickering leans more to offices and engineering suppliers, some of which need test reports for their own clients.
In Clarington, covering Bowmanville, Courtice and Newcastle, heritage main streets sit next to rural properties where the link between two buildings is fiber rather than copper.
Towns further out, north to Port Perry and east along the 401, are on the service areas page with how visits there are scheduled.
What a cabling job includes
Included as standard unless the line says otherwise. Add-ons are quoted separately and named as add-ons.
- Site survey & drop countIncluded: done before the quote, not after it.
- Cat6 or Cat6A dropsIncluded: chosen per run for its length and the speed it has to carry.
- Fiber backboneWhere the job needs it. Between floors or buildings, with every strand loss tested.
- Racks, patch panels & cable managementIncluded: terminated to standard and dressed so the rack stays workable.
- Labels at both endsIncluded on every run, matched to the port list.
- Continuity & wire-map testingIncluded on every run.
- Qualification or certification testingAdd-on. Quoted separately when a warranty, landlord or 10G plan calls for it.
- Label schedule & as-builtsLarger projects, or priced on request for smaller ones.
- Electrical & fire alarmNot performed by us. Mains work goes to a licensed electrician we coordinate, fire alarm to a ULC-listed contractor.
How a job runs
The same order on a six-drop office and a whole building. Only the size of each step changes.
Site survey
We walk the space with you, count drops, and check ceilings, pathways and where the rack will sit.
Quote
Scope and price in writing, with any add-ons named. Nothing is ordered until you approve it.
Scheduling
The install window is agreed with you, and with the landlord or other trades where they are involved.
Install
Cable pulled, terminated at both ends and dressed into the rack.
Test
Every run continuity and wire-map tested, and any fault fixed before we move on. Certification runs here if it was quoted.
Documentation
A port list that matches the labels, plus a label schedule and as-built drawings on larger projects.
Hand-over
A walkthrough of what was installed, then sign-off.
Planning cabling somewhere in Durham Region?
Tell us the address and roughly what needs connecting. A site survey comes first, then the scope and price in writing.
Before you call
Is low voltage cabling the same thing as structured cabling?
Not quite. Structured cabling is the organised data side: drops, patch panels and backbone, installed and labelled to a standard. Low voltage is the wider family of wiring that does not carry mains power, which also takes in the cable to cameras, access control readers, Wi-Fi access points and audio/visual gear. We install both. Mains wiring and fire alarm sit outside it.
Is there a travel charge inside Durham Region?
There is no regional travel charge in Oshawa, which is our base, or in Whitby, which is close enough that none applies. Mobilisation still applies on an install in both, and it appears as its own line rather than buried in the hourly rate. Ajax, Pickering, Bowmanville and Newcastle are inside our regional travel band: one flat charge per site visit, shown on the quote as its own line before you agree to anything. Courtice borders Oshawa, so ask when you call whether that charge applies at your address.
Will the install get in the way of our working day?
It should not. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, but most commercial cabling we do happens evenings and weekends, and the window is settled before anyone arrives.
Do you install fire alarm cabling?
No. Redsilicon is not a ULC-listed fire alarm contractor, so fire alarm systems go to a contractor who is. Where access control has to release a door on a fire alarm signal, we wire the door side in coordination with that contractor, and the fire system stays theirs.
Who do we deal with while the job is running?
One account manager, from the site survey through to the hand-over, and still the person who answers when you call about it later.
How do we get a price?
Call or send a message with the address and roughly how many connections you need. A site survey comes next, then a scope and price in writing. For a rough count before you call, try the network drop estimator, and what moves the cost of cabling explains why two quotes for the same drop count can differ.