what is a "drop box"

[vshah]

i've never heard of such a thing...

context:
" Intro
" Networks
o Radios, antennas and Subscriber units
" Our equipment - Proxim Tsunami MP60 and MP11(a)
o Routers
o Firewalls
o Switches, hubs, drop boxes and cables
" The computer
o Components
o Troubleshooting
" Peripherals
o Printers
o Scanners
o Other

things my friend has to explain in some manual she's writing...

wtf is a drop box?

 

[Ramma2]

Usually a wire that is dropped from the ceiling then has an outlet box attached to the end where you can plug in a cable.

 

[tami]

it seems to be a specific term for certain networks, not a commonly used term.

perhaps this?: Drop Box - The common term for our portable fiber termination outlets. Drop boxes are used in the laboratory areas of the Media Lab, typically open areas where tables and machines move fairly often.

i really have no idea.

 

[Ramma2]

For example, in our big warehouse where there are no walls for cables to run inside, we have power, phone and network cables that drop from the ceiling to the shipping desks. There they are connected into plugin boxes, cat 5 boxes, etc.

If you still don't get it I can take a pic and post it.

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: Ramma2
For example, in our big warehouse where there are no walls for cables to run inside, we have power, phone and network cables that drop from the ceiling to the shipping desks. There they are connected into plugin boxes, cat 5 boxes, etc.

If you still don't get it I can take a pic and post it.

thats what I was thinking as well...a vertical tunnel for all the wires so they don't get chewed or whatever...

but the fact that its mentioned on the same line as switches/hubs etc...

no idea really...

 

[Manchurian Candidate]

i was gonna come in and talk about dead drops etc etc. oops

 

[Ramma2]

Not even a tunnel really, there's no conduits that hold our wires, they're just zip tied together. Having them "free" enables us to move them around easily if we need to.

And if you take in the whole like, its the basic hardware of a network. Just odd to see dropboxes on there.

 

[mobobuff]

Well, maybe because a drop box can still be a hub or switch or some other kind of port replicator, it just doesn't necessarily HAVE to be, generally it's just something to house a connector dropped from a line running through the ceiling.

 

[EyeMWing]

I've heard dropboxes in two contexts:

First, a write-only share. You can drop stuff in, you can't get it back out again. Used for, say, turning in work for a class.
Second, when you have to do a network drop in the middle of a room, it's the "box" on the end.

 

[mobobuff]

So something like this

I'm not sure if you'd still call it a drop box if it's a type of port replicator or router.

 

[spacejamz]

so your friend is writing a manual on a topic that she doesn't know about?

she must have written some manuals we have around my workplace also...

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: spacejamz

so your friend is writing a manual on a topic that she doesn't know about?

she must have written some manuals we have around my workplace also...

yup, she's working for a non-profit agency that sets up wired/wireless networks for schools etc in the pittsburgh area... she writes the manuals...

 

[91TTZ]

That's where Al Gore puts the key. Or is that a lock box?

 

[spaceman]

a patch panel?