That along with the fact that Commscope's 4-pair CAT3 cable is now CAT5 cable that fails certification testing.
I've noticed that with some other manufacturers, Paul. I suspect that this is cable that failed factory testing, the process was set up incorrectly, or anything else that would cause it to not meet specs. Since CAT5 is the new norm, I suspect that they just sell their products that fail to meet this spec as CAT3.
Personally, I hate working with CAT5 or above for voice use, but the reality is, voice and data are now the same by industry standards, so we have to adapt. CAT4 and above wasn't ever meant to be used with voice systems.
There aren't a lot of suppliers that stock CAT3 cable in the four pair size anymore, at least not in large quantities. A few of our suppliers offer to sell us CAT5E for the same price as CAT3 just to avoid the hassle of a special order from the factory.
