Ar#se - Data / Voice Cabling

Author
Discussion

fish

Original Poster:

3,976 posts

284 months

Thursday 9th October 2003
quotequote all
Right any thoughts. I may have been lead down the garden path so:

Can you use one Cat 5 cable for both Voice(1pair) and Data ( 3 pairs) with no probs on a 100mb network

If so what pairs do you use for what?

thanks in advance

joust

14,622 posts

261 months

Thursday 9th October 2003
quotequote all
Yes - that's why it is called "structured" cabling

Here you go - you can either buy the adaptors, or just cut off the BT sockets and stick RJ45's on, following the wiring diagrams

www.hodgers.com/ali/electronics/cat5.shtml
Surrey Uni put up all sorts of useful things

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/freshwater/rj45.htm

You can buy pre-wired adaptors at RS

www.rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/browse/Module.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1767879681.1065717288@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccgadcjifhlmficfngcfkmdgkldfhm.0&cacheID=ukie&3243170136=3243170136&catoid=-78814291
(You will have to cut and paste that URL).

J

agent006

12,055 posts

266 months

Thursday 9th October 2003
quotequote all
Go on, buy an IP phone system, y'know you want to.

Mrs Fish

30,018 posts

260 months

Thursday 9th October 2003
quotequote all
James speaking:

Joust thanks for the input but could you clarify...can I use 1 4pair CAT5 cable and split it to TWO sockets using 3 pairs into the RJ45 socket (leaving 2 pins empty) and use the final CAT5 pair to the RJ11 socket for the phone(digital). ie I'm using one length of CAT 5 cable for both the phone and network AT THE SAME TIME.

Does it work if so which pair do you use for the phone?

OR is the above cr#p and I still need to install two cables one for each socket(phone and network). I think it would definately work for 10 baseT as that only uses two pairs leaving spare pairs for the phone.

Any thoughts I'll stop now as I ramble on...

joust

14,622 posts

261 months

Thursday 9th October 2003
quotequote all
Mr Fish said:
Joust thanks for the input but could you clarify...can I use 1 4pair CAT5 cable and split it to TWO sockets using 3 pairs into the RJ45 socket (leaving 2 pins empty) and use the final CAT5 pair to the RJ11 socket for the phone(digital). ie I'm using one length of CAT 5 cable for both the phone and network AT THE SAME TIME.

Er - you might get away with it on a 10Mbps network over short distances, otherwise no. Also it would be a seriously bad idea from a circuit protection point of view, phone T-R has 50V on it which won't do much to your network card if you had a short!

You need one run for the network, one run for the phones (in effect you "waste" the other pairs for just normal phone)

Mr Fish said:
Does it work if so which pair do you use for the phone?
OR is the above cr#p and I still need to install two cables one for each socket(phone and network). I think it would definately work for 10 baseT as that only uses two pairs leaving spare pairs for the phone.
Any thoughts I'll stop now as I ramble on...
You got it - but see above, mixing phone and data in the same cable is a bit brave, and I wouldn't recommend it.

Two runs, and keep phone and data separate (and so if it's a small installation it'll be cheaper to run CAT5 for the network and bellcore phone cables for the phones - the only reason you do it onver CAT5 is in big buildings where it would be more expensive to run two types of cables, and you may want multiple ethernet or phone connections to a single desk.

J

>> Edited by joust on Thursday 9th October 20:54

Mrs Fish

30,018 posts

260 months

Thursday 9th October 2003
quotequote all
Fish says:

Thanks very much for your help.

apeebles

267 posts

286 months

Friday 10th October 2003
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Don't split the cable! ISDN does not work over split cables even when designed for data.

fish

Original Poster:

3,976 posts

284 months

Friday 10th October 2003
quotequote all
Thanks everyone...I shall now be doubling the cabling up and will cause myself aload more problems but I shall have words with the person who led me astray.

Cheers folks

joust

14,622 posts

261 months

Friday 10th October 2003
quotequote all
How did it go?

J

Mrs Fish

30,018 posts

260 months

Saturday 11th October 2003
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James speaking:

Not been done yet, but I'm sure it'll be fine thanks for the thoughts guys.