Tripp Lite24-Port 1U Rackmount Cat6 110 Patch Panel 568B, RJ45 Ethernet(N252-024)

The first patch panel I purchased had angled punch down tabs that didn't play well with a normal punch-down tool. I should have purchased Tripp Lite in the very beginning. I purchased their light products when I was a kid (I'm 66 now). They just make a dependable product that works. They have support behind it, and they have a history. The clips that come with this are a little fragile, but the block itself is solid. It is actually 3 blocks attached to one plate, but that matters little. What does matter is that it is a good, solid product that works well, and doesn't break the bank.

Tripp Lite usually makes good quality stuff and this was no exception. There are several great features in these that most patch panels don't have like the removable blocks of ports. However, I do cabling professionally and I would warn about this model as we had a very difficult time seating the individual 23 gauge Cat 6 wires in the 110 IDCs. Not easy at all as I believe the plastic is beefy, way to tight or too narrow for this gauge wire. We were using multiple brands of cable and they all had issues so it wasn't the cable. Punching was off too as the punch surface to cut the wires seems a bit low causing double punching, to seat then cut the wires. After reading some the other reviews, I agree that it might be a good quality device for a home or where you have a lot of time, but not in the office environment where you're doing many terminations. After punching the first panel, if time would have permitted, I would have returned the rest of them that I purchased.

This is basically what you expect from the photo. This is actually a metal frame that holds three individual 8-port blocks.One plus not listed in the description is that there is a retaining clip on one end that can be easily removed to allow the three 8-port blocks to be separately removed, which makes it easy to mount the panel first and do the punch-downs later. Just make sure that you run all of your cables through the proper route so that you can reattach the block.The biggest negative aspect is the poor quality cable management clips. There are three (one for each of the sub-blocks) and they are made of a very hard, brittle plastic. I would highly recommend attaching these only after ALL cables have been run to the block, since there is no way to get a punch down tool lined up when the clips are installed. Detaching the clips without breaking them is quite a chore. Depending on how you like to organize your cables, this may also require some planning so you can run the cables through the clip prior to punching them down.

I bought one of these as part of a wired home network install. I'm very happy with the overall build quality of this patch panel. I know Tripp Lite makes professional quality products, so I was willing to use their product in my home build. The setup was easy and straight forward. This used a 110 style punch down tool, and I had no problems with wiring this up.I would buy this again and would recommend it to anyone looking for a patch panel like this.

Three important observations about these panels:1) Be aware: no mounting screws are included. You will need to provide your own screws. Not a big deal, but can be frustrating if you expected them in the box.2) Physical dimension seemed a bit out of spec. I could barely get rack screws through the holes at the widest point of both sides.3) Construction says metal frame, but the ones I received seemed like they were plastic, or had a plastic coating over the metal at the mounting points. Combined with the mounting holes almost not being wide enough, it made the panels feel slightly fragile, and poorly made.I had no issues with the punch slots with 24AWG wire, so the back side seemed OK quality - I only had issues mounting. I did not use the plastic cable manager clips. Overall, the issues were tolerable for the price paid, as many panels I have used cost twice as much (or more).