First, let me thank you all for the education I've gotten reading this forum. You've saved me from, among other things, the "structured cable telephone distribution panel" nightmare. Very briefly, I've been a "wire guy" (comm, data, electricity) since I first figured out that the dark green van with the bell on the side had all sorts of cool stuff in the back, and can find my way around a 66-block pretty well for an amateur.
Here's the question: I'm in the final planning stages of the telephone and data wiring upgrade in my home/home office. Thanks to this forum it is two separate concurrent projects, which should result in better results and fewer headaches all the way around.
Does anyone see any reason to run more than 2 pairs of cat3 to the phone jacks? There are only 2 CO lines available at the house without a very expensive engineering project. No KSU system planned at the moment. Thanks in advance.

I'd personally arrange to have one CAT3 cable at every outlet along with one CAT5e. There is no realistic cost savings in providing only two pairs for voice since two- or three-pair cable is pretty much going out to pasture. You are correct in your assumption that structured wiring panels are a big waste of money that almost guarantees lack of flexibility.

"Dark green vans.........." is funny. While not necessarily true, the old Bell System did operate with military precision to say the least.

Thanks for coming here to ask. We'll work with you in your quest to provide a technician-friendly wiring system in your home. Just remember that your needs today may change in the future, not to mention the needs of a potential purchaser of your property.

Nope I see no need for a four pair wire. If you plan on using more than two lines at any given location. Then I would suggest different.

Being a wire guy. Why not just play it safe and run voice and Data at the same time. It will be no less hassle than just running a data wire?

Thats my two cents

Ed way typing at the same time. Umm Ditto.

Thanks, Ed. The plan for the residential part of the house is exactly that, one cat3 + one cat5 at each outlet, with stouter data wiring in the office area. You're thinking 4 pair cat3? If so, would you terminate on an 8p8c jack or something different to distinguish from the LAN other than color code?
________
My first house in NY came with a 1A2 in the basement and I thought I was in heaven!
"Dark green vans"... well, it _was_ a long time ago.

Right on. Two four pair cables, one CAT3 and one CAT5e, both terminated with 8P8C jacks. There's no reason to use different-colored jacks unless you want to. That's pretty much a matter of personal preference since you will be in charge of things anyway.

I see that just a little different. I would rather you use a 6p6c jack. I have too many customers that plug the keysets into the wrong jack or vise versa. The resulting service call cost more than a single digit difference in price for the jack.


Sorry no ditto here

True on that note. That happens more than I care to mention, Waine. That's the way I do things here too with regular customers, but I figured that in a residential environment where the installer is in control, such risk would be minimal.

I would use a 6-wire RJ11 jack (is the correct name RJ11C?) also because if you decide to install a two-line phone, you will not have to deal with the 568A/568B issue, since the blue pair and orange pair will always be the first two lines on the voice jack.

You should be ducking right now..
RJ11 and some other designations are the scheme or wiring patern. NOT the jack or plug that everyone seems to make it out to be. Other similar Registered Jacks include RJ14 for a 2-line telephone jack, RJ25 for a 3-line jack, all of which utilize 6-position modular connectors.

That's why I included a question mark!!!!! Thank you for educating me. RJ25 is probably what I would install.

:thumb:

Master Ed is however the guru on the subject without a doubt. I yield to his mastery of the art of telecom.

I'd use an rj25 and land the brown on an rj11 or two rj11s; two pr. each. If you add more co lines or stuff like door phones then a ksu is probably a logical choice. The extra rj11 could be used with a balun for a camera feed or anything like that. Wise staying away from the structured trash cans !

An RJ11 is a 6P6C jack with one pair connected.

There is no such thing as an RJ11 with two pairs connected. Those configurations would be RJ12C through RJ14C, depending upon the application.

A single four-pair cable could be terminated on two 6P6C jacks, each wired in the nominal "RJ14" configuration if desired.

Doesn't the suffix "c" in rjxxc indicate a ceiling mount plate?

Edit: nm. Ed covered this. Major brain fart on my part. I was thinking about W for wall, and C somehow became ceiling, which is an odd place to mount a jack. Anyway...

Like Wrichey wrote, I'd go with 6p6c on the phone lines (same color as the wallplate) and 8p8c on data (any different color) for ease of identification. If you go 8p8c on all jacks/keystones, buy the inserts that don't allow an 8p plug to go into a phone line.

I know I'll catch flack for this, but if this isn't a big job and you haven't already bought the materials, I'd go with cat6 for data. If you're only talking about one or two boxes of wire, the additional cost over cat5e isn't too much to handle. And if you ever sell the home to a data guru, he might pay a few extra grand for it. Needless to say, all wire runs should be home run.

Welcome to the boards!

I'm just gonna echo what others have said...cat3 for voice, cat5e or 6 for data. Run extra just in case you might need more later on.

Thanks everybody. I think I'll go with 6p6c jacks for the phones. Having both phone and network jacks the same just gives me the willies for some reason, even though I'd like to think _I'd_ never make that mistake. :scratch:
Am I right to assume that I should punch down all four pairs on the block, though, in case something changes in the future?

-Douglass

Yes always terminate all four pairs. Good luck on your project.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to a fun-filled weekend with the Black Widows under the house!

Better than the brown recluse in the attic.

And, at the jack end, neatly wrap the white/brown pair around the cable jacket, rather than wad it up, or worse, cut it off! John C.

Yessir!

DON'T CALL ME SIR, MY PARENTS WERE MARRIED! John C.