How many wires (out of 8) are used in Cat 5 in a typical network?

[tm37]

Originally posted by: gopunk
hmm, my first guess was 5

Cat 5 referrs tto the number of twists per inch

 

[0roo0roo]

hah, if your going 10mbs u might as well go wireless almost. kinda weird anyone would suggest tapping into a cat 5 cable for phone signal unless sure owner never wanted broadband.

 

[Beau]

10BaseT = 4 (wires 1,2, 3, 6)
1000BaseT/X = all 8

 

[LAUST]

Originally posted by: d33pt
there are 8 wires in a cat5 cable, but for 10baseT and 100baseTX, you only need pins 1,2,3,6 and the rest aren't needed so he can use the other 4 wires if he wants for phones if they get the pairs right. just make sure you use a pair for 1&2 and another pair for 3&6 and you'll be just fine. any other questons just PM.

 

[xchangx]

well, phones only use 2 wires, depending on the debate, if 100 base-t uses 4 you can use 2 for the phnes have have 2 left over. I heard somewhere that 1000 base-t uses all 8 and that if you use cat-5, but cat-5e has a separate shield.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon

Originally posted by: BillGates

Originally posted by: d33pt
i think his situation is that there is already existing cat5 pulled, but 4 of the wires have already been taken up for phones...and he wants to use the other 4 for data. I say, try it first and see how it works...if you get packet loss then run new wire.. but since there's existing wire it doesn't hurt to just try it

He's right - there was Cat5 run throughout the house when we built it with the knowledge that home networking is something that would become more common (and desireable) in the future.

My uncle is an electrician and recommended it be done, and so it was. I guess it can't hurt to try wiring up one jack and see what happens. I also suggested wireless, but he isn't ready to drop that much cash yet - cable internet is already a nice jump for him...

go wireless 2.4ghz on the phones.. removing the phone system from the cat5 ...

You know this isn't too bad of a trade-off. Convert the Cat5 back to data and buy one of theose 2.4ghz setups with one base and a bunch of charger craddles. How many phones are we talking about?

 

[ScottMac]

"Cat5 refers to the number of twists" - No it doesn't. Every manufacturer has their own formula for twists-per-pair. In most cases, the twists from one pair to another is different, it help to suppress crosstalk.

Cat5e uses a shield - No it rarely, if ever, does. Cat5e is pretty much all UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair). The "e" (generally speaking) refers to making sure (hitting a specification) for the pairs used by 1000Base-T are also at a level to support the traffic. Since traditional Ethernet over UTP usually only uses 1&2, 3&6, the other pairs were optimized for other applications. The "e" spec provides a level of service that can support the use of all four pair (Gigabit Ethernet both transmits and receives on all four pair in both directions at the same time). There are some white papers on Anixter.com that makes a case that the characteristics that makes the cable good for Gig may make it less than perfect for 10/100.

There is much more potential for bad performance on shielded cable: if the shield is not properly terminated, it will add noise to the channel. Shielded (non-coax) cabling for Ethernet is pretty rare.

Shared cable is a bad idea regardless of the Category rating.

FWIW

Scott

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: Jellomancer
8 are used. Twisted pairs... 4x2 = 8.

Go back to school.

 

[spidey07]

Oh my lord does the misinformation flow in this thread.

Thanks for the clarification ScottMac.

Last bit of clarifiction - There are NOT 8 wires. There are four pairs. When ever you start thinking there are 8 wires and quit thinking of "pairs" of wires then you lose sight of just what UTP is.

Unshielded TWISTED pair.

 

[BillGates]

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon

Originally posted by: BillGates

Originally posted by: d33pt i think his situation is that there is already existing cat5 pulled, but 4 of the wires have already been taken up for phones...and he wants to use the other 4 for data. I say, try it first and see how it works...if you get packet loss then run new wire.. but since there's existing wire it doesn't hurt to just try it

He's right - there was Cat5 run throughout the house when we built it with the knowledge that home networking is something that would become more common (and desireable) in the future. My uncle is an electrician and recommended it be done, and so it was. I guess it can't hurt to try wiring up one jack and see what happens. I also suggested wireless, but he isn't ready to drop that much cash yet - cable internet is already a nice jump for him...

go wireless 2.4ghz on the phones.. removing the phone system from the cat5 ...

You know this isn't too bad of a trade-off. Convert the Cat5 back to data and buy one of theose 2.4ghz setups with one base and a bunch of charger craddles. How many phones are we talking about?

This is actually an interesting idea. He picked up a large Panasonic 2.4GHz base station earlier this year and also has 2 separate cordless ones that are set out in other places of the house. I'll have to have him check that out. Thanks again for the ideas; keep them coming!