Data+Phone office wiring question.

[user1121]

I'm overseeing all the wiring, and will be doing all the future expansion of the wiring that we're having installed in my father's new office. I've done the LAN maintence at my apartment complex for a year now, and did all the technical setup and wiring when we switched this office to cat5e from the old BNC cabling it was wired with.

We're in the prebuild stages of our new small business. I need to know what to request of the builders as far as cabling goes for my office. Forums here and some internet research have led me to the following questions:

Each workstation where I'll have a computer, or possibly have a computer should get a cat6 back to the telecom closet.

Each workstation which needs a phone (On our 820 Merlin+ system) will need a Cat6 back to the telecom closet. Is this neccessary?
----I know that 8-pin voice (is the proper term for that connection PBX?) does not need cat6 quality, but is there any reason not to?

I also want each workstation to have access to two of the phone lines, on standard house phones, in case we lose our Merlin system to a power outage etc.
---When running this, can I just pull another Cat6 to the jack and wire it to 2 phone jacks, or do I need to pull a different style cable?

I'm comfortable with the LAN work needed, but plan on installing the Merlin system myself, as it doesn't seem to pay to have someone else do it, it looks like the same skills just applied differently. I see how our current office has it installed, and we've got all the manuals about the wiring patterns for the box.

----As far as the standard telephone lines, new buildings should have the co-lines come to their own block, which allows you to add more lines by just wiring to that line's block, correct? And this can all be done with cat5e/6?
I haven't done phone wiring, and I'm assuming that it's the inverse of LAN wiring. Lan needs a switch, not just a block to tie all the lines, and phones just have all the lines tied at a block, no switch neccessary.

Bottom line: I'm thinking all need to do is have 3 cat6 lines run to every location. One for data, One for the PBX, and One for both standard-phone jacks. This leaves us using 4 of the 8 lines on each strand, so we've got failsafe room in case of any single strand connectivity issues.



Thank you for reading through and checking my logic on all this. I plan to let the builder know what I want, and they'll be doing the installation, but I like to have a good understanding of it all, as we will be expanding, and any wiring that requires will be done ourselves.

Thanks- Andrew

 

[jlshelton]

CAT-6 is overkill for the Merlin and regular phone lines, but it may be simpler to install 3 CAT-6 than to install 1 CAT-6 and 2 CAT-3 4-pair wires. That gives you options of putting additional workstations in the offices.

Your backup plan for telephones sounds expensive. A Merlin 820 is now 15 years old, and if it hasn't failed yet, isn't likely to anytime soon. A replacement spare would be a couple hundred bucks, cheaper than the wiring. If power is a problem, a UPS good for 4 hours service would be cheaper than the wiring.

 

[TouchToneTommy]

You could simply repatch dial tone to the phone jacks in the event of a power failure. Have the IT room and Telecom closet be the same place, put everything on the same rack. Then just pull X-number of Cat-6's to each workstation. What you plug into the workstation outlets depends on what you patch in at the rack, and vice-versa.

 

[chiefred]

I agree that Cat6 is overkill---the questions you need to answer before you commit to the expense of Cat6 (jacks, patch panels, switches, Network Cards, i.e.) is will you be in the same location for the next 5 or more years? If yes, then spend the money.

As for the expense of Cat6 for the phone lines--If you really believe that you may one day use the extra ports for additional computers, then spend the money. You can actually justify it by saying one day you may upgrade the PBX and run VOIP phones.

Running extra cables to each station is always a good plan---and I recommend it---but it really depends on how much you really want to spend. Will you exceed the bandwidth limits of Cat5E?

Just my .02 cents

 

[skip555]

{quote} I plan to let the builder know what I want, and they'll be doing the installation,[/quote]

I would tell the builder that you will take care of it and get your own cable contractor

you never know who the builder will get to do it

 

[user1121]

Well, its a very small office, we're talking 7 computers and 9 phones. I am running with the Cat6 for computer reasons, but a picknig up a 1000' box of it for 160-ish IIRC wouldnt be a problem. I would go lower grade for the phones, but hey, I'll have plenty of cat6 left over that didn't cost me much.

The reason the failsafe phone line idea is such, is because we also need to have lines for a credit card machine, and fax. While the fax will stay in one place, the credit card machine may travel depending on staffing and where/who does the accounting, so it works out better. Plus, all the secretaries have to do if the PBX goes out is plug in a normal phone, no worrying about wiring anything.

We're possibly looking into a replacement for the phones. While the 820 is doing just fine, it is 15 years old, and replacing it may be more practical then hoping it survives a move. We're small enough that we may even downgrade to a 410-412 system, havent priced out a setup yet.

 

[jlshelton]

Check out the Partner forum on tek-tips - a good alternative to Merlin for small offices. Same manufacturer (AT&T, then Lucent, now Avaya), but much better solution for small offices. Every phone allows plugging in a standard accessory (like credit-card machine, fax, etc.) You can add adapters to your Merlin to allow plugging accessories in to a telephone, too; see the Merlin forum for advice there. I switched from Merlin to Partner a couple of years ago to get Caller ID, voice mail, and lots of other features.

 

[robertjo24]

Here is my $.02 worth.

We run two data and two phones to every drop. The two data are separate Cat5e, and the phones are on one Cat5e. The phone lines are landed on a 110 block, and we can use separate pairs for different lines, (4 pair, 4 lines potentially).

I would suggest still running the three Cat6, make two data, and split the third out for your phone lines. You can get a 6 port wall plate for no more than a two or four port wall plate.

 

[SF0751]

Plus, all the secretaries have to do if the PBX goes out is plug in a normal phone, no worrying about wiring anything.

Make sure that those secretaries can get to the extra phone jack. I've seen other places that had the same plan, only to not use it because the normal phone jack was not easily accessable (located behind a desk, etc.).

Susan
"'I wish life was not so short,' he thought. 'Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'"
- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lost Road

 

[Dexman]

If cost were not an issue and given the age of the 820, you could also upgrade the telephone system to a Partner ACS. Add a Partner Voice Messaging card and the required number of 18D telephone sets and wind up with a great small office system with an auto attendant and voicemail.

If space allowed, you install the 820 and keep it on standby should the ACS malfunction.