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TCB
join:2014-05-06

TCB

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how to wire multiple phone jacks (wired with CAT6)

Renovations are wrapping up on my house

Currently, I have 1 phone line coming in, with a POTS splitter. I have 1 functioning phone and modem

However, I've got >1000' of CAT6 wired throughout the house, which I'm gonna use for internet and phone. The CAt6 is just dangling out of the walls and gathered in the basement

I can handle the LAN part

I have little idea what to do with the phone!

I figured I'd need a BIX block and punchdown tool, so I bought those

This is where I'm stuck... Let's say I isolate five CAT6 drops to be phone lines. How do I connect the 5 lines plus the service line to get a dial tone in the 5 jacks?
notfred
join:2012-09-15

notfred

Member

Wire all the Cat6 as you would for Gigabit Ethernet with RJ45 sockets at the end.

In the basement again terminate all the Cat 6 in a bunch of RJ45 sockets again. Label as to where they end up!

Incoming phone line goes to POTS splitter, DSL side to modem and router, phone side to distribution block. Router goes to gigagit Ethernet switch.

Plug short jumper wires between RJ45 sockets that go to the rest of the house and either phone distribution block or gigabit Ethernet switch.

Plug in phone (RJ11 plug fits in RJ45 socket) or computer to the socket in the house depending on what you wired it in the basement.

F100
join:2013-01-15
Durham, NC
Alcatel-Lucent G-010G-A
(Software) pfSense
Pace 5268AC

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For the phone distribution block, I've been contemplating getting this and wiring as notfred suggested. »www.tselectronic.com/sho ··· P%29/928

I'm pulling all cat 6 and coax to each location and terminate in a closet like your setup. Everything can go on the same patch panel. The just use network patch cables to connect your patch panel to this telephone block. On the wall jack, you can use Cat6 RJ-45, RJ-11 for telephone, or a USOC Jack (8p*C) that is similar to a Network jack with 8 conductors for phone. Best is just use regular network with both ends wired as A pattern. It would match the phone block and be good for both phone and network. You could use a different color jack at the wall if you didn't want to get them confused.

The only issue with network jack vs telephone with 4 or 6 conductors, is that some pins in the network jack may get bend by the phone plug such that they don't make good connection if you use them for computer later. Good quality connectors usually survive but if you leave slack, you can always punch down a new one if needed.
TCB
join:2014-05-06

TCB to notfred

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to notfred
said by notfred:

Plug short jumper wires between RJ45 sockets that go to the rest of the house and either phone distribution block or gigabit Ethernet switch.

You lost me here. Is the distribution block like the one F100 gave a link to in the next reply? Does your setup require a patch panel? The only dot I can't connect is from CAT6 (for phone) to distribution block

Obviously, I've never seen a distribution block before

F100
join:2013-01-15
Durham, NC
Alcatel-Lucent G-010G-A
(Software) pfSense
Pace 5268AC

F100

Member

said by TCB:

said by notfred:

Plug short jumper wires between RJ45 sockets that go to the rest of the house and either phone distribution block or gigabit Ethernet switch.

You lost me here. Is the distribution block like the one F100 gave a link to in the next reply? Does your setup require a patch panel? The only dot I can't connect is from CAT6 (for phone) to distribution block

Obviously, I've never seen a distribution block before

Yes, from the wall jack where they come out in your basement, just punch all Cat 6 down into a patch panel. I used this one from Monoprice and it works nice. »www.monoprice.com/Produc ··· format=2

Somewhere near that you have the phone distribution block I mentioned. It can be punched down with the line from the telephone NID on the side of your house and will distribute your line to up to 12 jacks. It can distribute up to 4 lines to all 12 jacks. If you had a VOiP adapter like me, you just plug it into the side and it does the same to all your phones.

This block has 12 outputs that will take a Cat6 patch cable directly. Just plug in one to the block and the other to your network patch panel. That makes that jack in the room have telephone service. It will only be using the middle two wires for one phone line.

This device is great as you don't have to punch down or splice a bunch of wires. It takes your lines in and splits them out using network jacks. After it's setup, all you need is a network cable to change the setup between the telephone block and the network patch panel. You just need to get your phone brought into the same location as these wall jacks in your basement.

BIX
@173.206.73.x

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The OP said he already bought a BIX block and punchdown tool, why would he need anything different?? (That's exactly what I'd use in my house)

Once you've mounted your wafers and terminated all the CAT5, it's very easy to connect. If you have a [properly grounded] NID outside, the entrance wire obviously goes into the POTS splitters "Line" input. The Phone out will go to all of the first pairs of the CAT5, just make sure you turn the black dial so your punchdown tool doesn't cut, only at your last pair do you want it to cut. Then for the modem, just run another jumper from the POTS splitter to the second pair.

Crappy illustration..


notfred
join:2012-09-15

notfred

Member

That means that you need to re-punchdown if you want to swap an outlet from phone to network. I'm suggesting bringing everything to RJ-45 jacks in a wiring closet so you can easily switch with patch cables.

F100
join:2013-01-15
Durham, NC
Alcatel-Lucent G-010G-A
(Software) pfSense
Pace 5268AC

F100 to BIX

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to BIX
said by BIX :

The OP said he already bought a BIX block and punchdown tool, why would he need anything different?? (That's exactly what I'd use in my house)

Once you've mounted your wafers and terminated all the CAT5, it's very easy to connect. If you have a [properly grounded] NID outside, the entrance wire obviously goes into the POTS splitters "Line" input. The Phone out will go to all of the first pairs of the CAT5, just make sure you turn the black dial so your punchdown tool doesn't cut, only at your last pair do you want it to cut. Then for the modem, just run another jumper from the POTS splitter to the second pair.

That bix block will work. I'm not knocking it. It's just not as flexible as what notfred and I am suggesting and since the OP is working with a clean new setup, why not make it easier for years to come. Then changing the setup at any point is easy. Change a port, easy. Change to VoIP, easy. Change a jack from phone to LAN, easy. Just swap patch cables.

If you wire with the A pattern, the first two lines will match telephone wiring colors and it should never be a problem for the tech to figure out the setup. Just pull a Cat 6 cable or two from the outside phone block (NID) to this same location and everything you need is in one place. Having any coax terminate there would be a great idea too.

If you use the bix block, I would still just terminate the lines from the wall jack to RJ-45 ports or a patch panel and then use a patch cable to punch them into the bix block, with one end cut off for the bix insertion. That still lets you easily change what is active in any room or convert it to a LAN port later if you want. For a few dollars per port, seems to be worth it if you are doing it yourself.

There is nothing wrong with setting up phone stuff using older phone techniques. But networking is going to be used much more often so why not set it up as network compatible and then tie the phones into it that way using a more modern technique. That has all the advantages for both phone and networking. Otherwise, CAT 6 for phone was a waste of money for phone. At least leave plenty of slack for future changes at the jacks and basement no matter what.
TCB
join:2014-05-06

TCB

Member

Thanks, all, for taking the time to explain, draw diagrams, etc

I'll be setting this thing up soon, even if it is to get just a few drops active. Will post findings and pics of setup when done

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Personally, I would NOT terminate phone lines in RJ45 outlets. While some RJ11 connectors will work in RJ45 jacks, they do not reliably do so ... their not being held rigidly is a problem. If you want to terminate your in-wall wiring with RJ45, then get some in-line RJ11 sockets and wire them, colour matched, to RJ45 plugs.

It can also cause confusion in the future unless adequately labelled.

In general, for 2 lines, line 1 is the blue/white pair, line 2 is the orange/white pair.

jmck
formerly 'shaded'
join:2010-10-02
Ottawa, ON

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personally for a new house, i would wire 2 pairs of cat5/6 to each room while the walls are open.

F100
join:2013-01-15
Durham, NC
Alcatel-Lucent G-010G-A
(Software) pfSense
Pace 5268AC

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Please post your pictures when you get your setup.

Here's a link to the kind of cables sbrook suggested. That is actually what I am going to do. »www.amazon.com/Telephone ··· -6169011

jmck is spot on. I am doing 4 cat 6 and 2 coax to most rooms that have TV, computer, phone, ect. I hate using wireless for anything that doesn't actually move around. My house was built in the 80's but no structured coax or phone was installed.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

That's what I mean And yeah, you can buy them, or if you've got the crimpers and fittings, I tend to do such things myself.
TCB
join:2014-05-06

TCB

Member

Click for full size
The reno is finally nearing an end, and I've finally finished wiring up my comms panel, while doing 1,001 other things

Thanks, all, for your advice. I spent a lot of $ on cable and tools, but I'm sure it'd have cost me way more if I hired 1 or 2 techs to do this

Attached is the final result, with a couple of items annotated:

1) POTs splitter

I ran some of the cat6 to a bridged telephone module (2) supporting 6 phone jacks, but most of the cable went to a cat6 patch panel (3)

4) modem

5) network switch

6) Over-the-air antenna cable going into a distributor\amplifier box

For anyone else thinking of wiring up your own house with ethernet like this, I have only one piece of advice... Buy the patch panel! Yes, it's optional, and yes it's an extra $50~$60 bucks (plus $20 for patch cables), but after trying to terminate a few lines with RJ45s, my hands were KILLING me, and half of them were really crappy jobs. The patch panel was instantly a no-brainer decision; I stopped what I was doing, went back to the the electronic supply shop, and happily plunked down and extra $100 for the panel, frame, and patch cords. Then it became one of the easier parts of the job

Thanks again for everyone's advice
TheVedge
join:2008-03-06
Gatineau, QC

TheVedge

Member

You'll like the patch panel even more as soon as you need to move some things around.

Well done! Much cleaner than my own ghetto getup!
BrianON
join:2011-09-30
Ottawa, ON

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Wireless phone sets are more popular than a bunch of wired phones these days. Base station uses a wired jack and each room just has a recharging stand with a phone in it.

It can be nice to move around while talking vs being leashed by the cord. Also can more easily change which rooms have phones and where they are in those rooms.
TCB
join:2014-05-06

TCB

Member

yes, we have 1 base + cordless sets already; I wired in the jacks just cuz I was running wire anyway. Truth is, I'm considering cancelling my land line altogether.
notfred
join:2012-09-15

notfred

Member

If you go VoIP then you just put the ATA in the same place and drive all your existing phone wiring.