[nzlug] long wire: cat5 or phone?

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, 25 May 2007 18:27, you wrote:
> Just to take this one step further (in the idea of wiring up a house)...
>
> I have intended (for a while) to wire my house, and have just had the
> following thought:
>
> If I do this sensibly, where all the CAT5e cables go back to a central
> patch panel, and I setup another patch connected to the incoming phone
> line, I can then use any network wall socket (with the correct adapter)
> to plug a phone/modem/router/whatever into, providing I then connect the
> correct patch port in the central location to one on the phone patch.
>
> Is the above a correct statement?  I only ask, because I believe it
> would have some advantage for me to be able to put a phone anywhere in
> the house that I want where there is a network port.
>
> It's also occurred to me that whilst running the network cable, I should
> be re-doing the phone stuff as well, as it is old wire, and the upstairs
> phone is connected via 3 wire cable somehow piggy backed onto a 2 wire
> socket downstairs.  Obviously the above would save me that extra job :-)
>
> Andrew

Yes, I have done exactly this, and I do exactly that.

My phone line was only had about 6m to run from the eaves to the phone 
point, but it was made up from short lengths of speaker wire, mains cable, 
oh, and a few bits of 'proper' phone cable.  They were connected with screw 
terminal blocks, twists and tape and other means.  I pulled it out and 
replaced it with phone wire, and the 'master' socket is now next to my 
patch panel.  New Zealand domestic phone lines are all 'two-wire' now, and 
the old master/sub (three wires) is gone.

When you put cables in, with neat-o RJ45 wall plates, put at least two in 
at every location.  Your future self will thank you, although you can get 
adapters that allow you to run two ethernet services down a single Cat 5e 
cable.

Watch out for the spiders under the house...

A
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