"Ignoramus23410" wrote in message

I am wondering if all 8 wires on a cat5e cable are used for
Ethernet purposes, and if that is not the case, is there a couple I
could use for phone. That way I could save $$ and time by running one
cable instead of two.

No all 8 wires are not used. An Ethernet patch cable has only 4
conductors - there should be a hint in that.

You mention a router... are you using only one port on the router? Not sure
what your plans are.

Rich

Cat5 only needs two pairs of wires, but make sure you reserve color pairs.
If you strip back enough of the outer sheath, you'll find that wire pairs
are visible. Each color pair, like blue and white/blue is twisted and this
is important for the cat5 spec.
bill

"Ignoramus23410" wrote in message
...
I need to run about 100-120 feet of cat5e cable to connect our bedroom
to the utility room where the network switch, DSL router etc is. I
ALSO need to run a phone cable, from utility room to the same
bedroom. I am wondering if all 8 wires on a cat5e cable are used for
Ethernet purposes, and if that is not the case, is there a couple I
could use for phone. That way I could save $$ and time by running one
cable instead of two.

i

Ignoramus23410, 6/6/2005, 9:58:12 AM, wrote:

I need to run about 100-120 feet of cat5e cable to connect our bedroom
to the utility room where the network switch, DSL router etc is. I
ALSO need to run a phone cable, from utility room to the same
bedroom. I am wondering if all 8 wires on a cat5e cable are used for
Ethernet purposes, and if that is not the case, is there a couple I
could use for phone. That way I could save $$ and time by running one
cable instead of two.

i

CAT5e cable is usually used for 100Mbit connections which require only
four wires. However this cable has also been used for 1000Mbit
connections which do require all eight conductors. If you don't plan
on using Gigabit then you should be okay.

--
No matter what happens, someone will find a way to take it too
seriously.

100base-T uses two of the four pairs. However, if you're thinking of
upgrading to 1000base-T, you'd be out of luck - gigabit ethernet uses all
four pairs and requires cat6.

I'd choose one of two options:

- Go wireless for both the phone (800mhz/2Ghz) and network (with
encryption)

- Run two separate cables (one being cat6) and be done with it

http://www.zytrax.com/tech/layer_1/cables/tech_lan.htm

AL




"Ignoramus23410" wrote in message
...
I need to run about 100-120 feet of cat5e cable to connect our bedroom
to the utility room where the network switch, DSL router etc is. I
ALSO need to run a phone cable, from utility room to the same
bedroom. I am wondering if all 8 wires on a cat5e cable are used for
Ethernet purposes, and if that is not the case, is there a couple I
could use for phone. That way I could save $$ and time by running one
cable instead of two.

i

It is common practice to terminate both an ethernet jack and phone line
using one cat5 cable.

"Ignoramus23410" wrote in message
...
I need to run about 100-120 feet of cat5e cable to connect our bedroom
to the utility room where the network switch, DSL router etc is. I
ALSO need to run a phone cable, from utility room to the same
bedroom. I am wondering if all 8 wires on a cat5e cable are used for
Ethernet purposes, and if that is not the case, is there a couple I
could use for phone. That way I could save $$ and time by running one
cable instead of two.

i

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 22:34:41 -0400, Unrevealed Source wrote:

It is common practice to terminate both an ethernet jack and phone line
using one cat5 cable.

Not in my house, it isn't.

--
If you're not on the edge, you're taking up too much space.
Linux Registered User #327951

Ignoramus23410 wrote:
I need to run about 100-120 feet of cat5e cable to connect our bedroom
to the utility room where the network switch, DSL router etc is. I
ALSO need to run a phone cable, from utility room to the same
bedroom. I am wondering if all 8 wires on a cat5e cable are used for
Ethernet purposes, and if that is not the case, is there a couple I
could use for phone. That way I could save $$ and time by running one
cable instead of two.

i

You can use the center pair of wires (I'm not sure what the color code
is) for telephone. That's why a RJ45 ethernet connector uses pins
1,2,3,6. 4 and 5 were reserved by the old "Starnet" (Xerox?) standard
for telephone. You can plug an RJ11 telephone line into a RJ45 socket
wired this way to get a telephone signal. I have one jack in my
basement wired like that, but I generally run a seperate CAT3 cable for
telephone.

Bob