sharing 10/100 cable with phone lines?

[un0]

maybe someone can help me with this one...

since 10/100 networks only require 2 of the 4 pairs in a normal cat5 cable, can the other 2 pairs be used for phone lines? since the middle pair (blue in my case) isn't used by the network cards, it could be possible to use those for a phone line and plug the phone directly into the rj-45 jack. right? i've also noticed that some NICs don't even have conductors on their jacks for the other pairs, only on pins 1,2,3, and 6. could the phone cause interference on the network? lemme know what y'all think. thanks.

un0

 

[FUBAR]

As far as I know, 100Mb networks use all 8 wires, if not for transmission, then probably for shielding from crosstalk. For example, the 10Mb laptop cards all came with the 4 wire cables you are talking about but the 100's came with thicker cat5 style cable.

Either way, I think you're asking for trouble if you are also looking to run 100Mb.

 

[obenton]

You can do it, but it violates Cat5 specs and will cause packet loss and network slowdown.

 

[Vegito]

Should do it but it can be done. Like everyone said, cross talk..

 

[Akash]

voice over ip is differnt than shareing a dataline with a phone line... VoP is datapackets not electronic signals...