10/100 cat 5 wire configurations? Which 4 wires does my network use? 1

[johningram]

Ive been told that our 10/100/1000 network at work only uses 4 of the 8 wires found in the cat5 cable we use.
I was curious which four it is.
I know that it will vary with the different wiring schemes that people use so heres ares.
Our cables our in the following order.....
white-orange
orange
white-green
blue
white-blue
green
white-brown
brown

Thanks,
John

 

[jimbopalmer]

it is always Pins 1 & 2 and Pins 3 & 6, so in your case:
white-orange,orange,white-green and green

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[johningram]

Ok thanks.
So if i wanted to run say a 2nd pc at one of our desks we could split the cat 5 wire into 2 wires since were actually only using 4 pins out of 8. Right? Or woud it cause some sort of interference or something. I doubt it.
Im surprised more people dont think of doing this when they cant get another wire to another part of the office. It makes it so much easier to add a 2nd line to a desk than to run another completely seperate wire!

 

[jimbopalmer]

It is only my opinion, but it is way more sensible to do ANYTHING (4 port hub, pull more wire, steal your neighbors connection) than to leave the wiring WRONG and hope some poor tech after you will ever figure out why you shafted him.

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[johningram]

I agree.
Its only that we have 3 techs here and im probably the only one to switch jobs anytime in the future.
Also we have every single line labled and numbered and in a access database. If i wanted to i could walk into one of the server rooms and unplug anyone individually that i want by number of desks. And we have around 135 desks here. And if we split a wire at the switches and then left it there after we removed the special patch cord from the users desk then someone could walk up and be confused because its not working. However, as soon as they went to where that desks wire connects to our switch they would see that it is split into 2 plugs going into 2 seperate nodes on our switch.
That would be pretty obvious then.
Also we would only do it in extreme cases where we had to.
Also if you think about it we could leave it the same wiring scheme and only change the other 4 pins. Then even if we forgot to remove the wierd connection in the server room then it would still work fine. Were only using the 4 wires that it doesnt use right.
And from the wall plate to the users pc would have the special patch cord that converts the 1 wire back into 2 so that is obviosly not a standard cable with 2 plugs coming out of it amd if its simply replaced and nothing on the switch end is replaced or re-wired it will still work since the 2nd connection only comes in on the 4 pins it doesnt use. Anyways, it wouldnt confuse anyone here but it would have the potential elsewhere.

My only question now is if it could cause any interference from one connection to the other on the same wire?

 

[Waidesworld]

It shouldn't but I am assuming that running an extra cable is a pain in the ass, otherwise you have done it a long time ago.

 

[johningram]

Running a second line to someones desk is horrible sometimes. Sometimes the only room through holes and things is already taken by there first wire.

Anyways i made 2 wierd funky doo hickies that solve this whole problem. I made a 2 male to 1 female.

I use this where are line goes into the switches. It merges the 2 plugs into 1 wire and ignores the 4 wires on each that are useless.
Then i made another Y doo hickey. This one is 1 male to 2 females. I plug this into the wall jack at each desk and it converts it right back into 2 complete female jacks ready for pc's to plug right into.

Its perfect i just put one at the switches and one at the users desk and its done and converted to 2 wires at one desk. Its so perfect. I suggest others do the same thing. It works perfectly easily and takes no time at all to set up if you have a pair of these doo-hickeys i made.
Whats best is if some tech who doesnt know anything about this sees one of these at the users desk and wonder what the heck it is he will fin another at the other end where the switches are and he would immediatly remove them.
Also if the one only at the users desk is removed and not the switch side then it will still work!!! Because 4 of the wires stay the same. And that would be those four.