How to? voice/data over one CAT5e cable

[blahsome]

Hello. I just discovered that my existing in-house wiring is a star pattern that has dedicated CAT5e cables going to various rooms, one cable per room. Since I only have RJ11 plugs in every room right now, it's apparently wired only for telephone for the moment.

Is it possible to rewire the cables so that I have both telephone and Ethernet connections on one single CAT5e cable? I'm envisioning one dual-jack RJ-11/RJ-45 outlet per room.

If it's possible to do so, what speed will I get for the Ethernet part? I assume it's not going to be gigabit; can it achieve 100M?

An alternative is to leave a couple outlets as telephone outlets (judicious use of cordless phones for other rooms), and wire others exclusively Ethernet.

Sorry if it seems a lot questions. Thanks a lot.

 

[spidey07]

It's possible but highly discouraged, but if you have to do it then do it. You can run 100 Base-T as it uses the orange and green pairs in pins 1,2,3,6 of an RJ45 jack. Use the blue pair and put that in the middle pins of an RJ11 jack. 1000 Base-T is a no go as it uses all 4 pairs.

So when you punch down the jacks follow the color codes on the jack and keep the twists as close to the punch down as possible - less than 1/2". Then just use the blue pair and punch it down on an RJ11 jack in the same outlet.

 

[blahsome]

Thanks. It seems that it would allow one 100Base-T plus two phone lines, which should be very attractive for me. Can you elaborate a bit more as to why it's highly discouraged? Is it because of interference?

I did mention this alternative too: an alternative is to leave a couple outlets as telephone outlets (judicious use of cordless phones for other rooms), and wire others exclusively Ethernet.

Do you like this idea better?

 

[doan]

Originally posted by: spidey07
It's possible but highly discouraged, but if you have to do it then do it. You can run 100 Base-T as it uses the orange and green pairs in pins 1,2,3,6 of an RJ45 jack. Use the blue pair and put that in the middle pins of an RJ11 jack. 1000 Base-T is a no go as it uses all 4 pairs.

So when you punch down the jacks follow the color codes on the jack and keep the twists as close to the punch down as possible - less than 1/2". Then just use the blue pair and punch it down on an RJ11 jack in the same outlet.

I did this in my house and it worked well for 100base-T. When I upgraded to gigibit, I switched to a 4-phone cordless sytem that only needs one phone jack.

 

[jaqie]

Originally posted by: blahsome
Is it because of interference?

Yes.

If you insist on doing this, you may want to invest in a better network card, if I recall some articles I read, the intel PRO/100 cards actually are better at properly reading marginal signals, so you may wish to invest in those... however I would heartily recommend this, instead:
Run all pro/1000GTs, run pure gigabit through the house network wiring, and get one of those cordless phone systems with a single base unit, and multiple remote charging cradles and handsets that can work (in your house only) kind of similar to cellphones do, as in they never need to be directly tied to a wired connection. You can actually put the unit that is plugged into the phone line (the base station) next to the wiring box where the phone line comes into the house with this.

 

[blahsome]

Yeah, you guys convinced me not to go with option 1 (shared voice/data). I rechecked the number and location of outlets in my three-story townhouse. I believe I can rewire the cables so that there are at least one telephone jack and one or more Ethernet jacks on each floor. Although the builder didn't put in an extra cable going to each outlet, I have to commend them for having so many outlets!

I also discovered that I was mistaken earlier about the type of the existing jacks. They are not RJ-11; they are already RJ-45s punched in as T568A, I believe. This is going to make my life so much easier. I guess the easiest thing to do is to yank the cables that I need as Ethernet from the phone board (where they're current punched down) and re-punch them down to a patch panel?

So here's my current shop list. Any problems with these?

12-port CAT-5e patch panel
8-port gigabit Ethernet switch
CAT-5e patch cables

Thanks.

 

[NickOlsen8390]

I think jaqie has a great idea. Save the Ethernet for network. And put a base station where the phone comes in and put extra handsets all over the house.
But remember if you use the same cable and "steal" a pair from the network for pots you cant run gigabit over that line. If i read above correctly.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: NickOlsen8390
I think jaqie has a great idea. Save the Ethernet for network. And put a base station where the phone comes in and put extra handsets all over the house.
But remember if you use the same cable and "steal" a pair from the network for pots you cant run gigabit over that line. If i read above correctly.

I agree. You've been given a great opportunity to re-terminate as network, I'd get those cordless phones and keep the standard 4 pair network wiring. Once you set it up as standard wiring, you can get dongles and adapters and use the ethernet for security cameras, CCTV, HDMI, the sky is the limit there.
The only possible shortcoming is the fax machine. If you need a fax in a certain room, you will either have to run a seperate wire for that or give up the 4 pair network wiring on that run.

 

[ScottMac]

There are also some powerline-based telephone extension transceivers available (RCA's retails for ~US$60.00 a pair). They are frequently used for satellite installs to provide a phone jack to the receiver without pulling additional cable.

So, put in a pair and use that jack for the FAX.

 

[blahsome]

Originally posted by: skyking
I agree. You've been given a great opportunity to re-terminate as network.

Thanks. So does the following shopping list make sense?

12-port CAT-5e patch panel
8-port gigabit Ethernet switch
CAT-5e patch cables

 

[jaqie]

You would know better then we would, you are the one who has physical access to it and sees how it looks, and knows what you want to end up with.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: blahsome

Originally posted by: skyking
I agree. You've been given a great opportunity to re-terminate as network.

Thanks. So does the following shopping list make sense?

12-port CAT-5e patch panel
8-port gigabit Ethernet switch
CAT-5e patch cables

if you have 12 or fewer drops, that sounds fine.