Phone versus Network Cabling

[sbaldy]

I just bought a house I will be using for an office. Cables for networking and digital phones will need to be installed (will use cat 5e). I’m a little cash strapped and will be installing the cables myself. I went to get the cable from Home Depot and the electrical guy told me network (or computer) cables need to have one pair switched at one end (i.e. blue/white to white/blue and white/blue to blue/white) and voice cables have the same pattern on both ends.

I typically don’t buy into advise from “experts” at Home Depot, but he did get me concerned. Do I just need to follow T568A or T568B wiring schemes or is there something else to it? HELP!!!!!!!

 

[smah]

It depends on exactly he was talking about connecting. You would use a cross-over cable only when connecting 2 similar devices (like 2 hubs) and neither of these devices has a cross-over or uplink port. Basically he was wrong except under certain conditions.

Use the same termination method at both ends for straight through cables. T568B is more common. Here's a very informative site about cabling.

http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/cable/cable1.htm

 

[daronwilson]

Data cables are commonly refered to as straight, because the terminations are done the same at both ends. Patch cables between the wall and the device are also straight. You can search the forum here for crossover and find many discussions on this as well as information on how to (and when you need to) build your own.

Voice (telephone system) cables from the outlet to the device are rolled or reversed. That is to say pin 1 on one end goes to pin 4 on the other, assuming a 4 wire cable. Electronic telephone equipment requires this to keep things right, and if you want the polarity correct on your regular telephone service you need to do this also.

Gotta love Home Depot!

Good Luck It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[Bobg1]

Your jacks should all be wired straight through. Analog phones that require the pair to switch, should have this in the cord that connects from the phone to the jack. Most of the modern day sets are not polarity sensitive like older units were.

 

[sbaldy]

Based on your info and some research on my part, I will be installing straight runs for both phone and cable. Thanks for the info and timely reply guys.