Need help with phone cabling

[systemx]

The circled portion on the image below is for a phone jack. I'd like to replace it with a standard Cat5e keystone (bottom image), how do I go about it?

Any ideas?

Complete newbie to phone cabling.. thanks in advance!

 

[Eminence_Front]

White-orange - orange, white-green - blue, white-blue, green, white-brown, brown - 568b Cat5 cable jack



Just match the colors up, and punch down. If you're making a cable, use the above code, into the connector, and crimp tool, to make a 568b cat 5 cable.

Of just google (568a / 568b cable pinout) and there should be plenty of help available.

 

[Blue Fox]

Wire it up however your phones are wired? Majority of your phones presumably aren't using 8P8C connectors anyway. If you're reusing this jack for ethernet however, well, then you still need to figure out how it's wired on the other end and then spend some quality time with a multimeter or the likes.

 

[goodcooper]

White-orange - orange, white-green - blue, white-blue, green, white-brown, brown - 568b Cat5 cable jack



Just match the colors up, and punch down. If you're making a cable, use the above code, into the connector, and crimp tool, to make a 568b cat 5 cable.

Of just google (568a / 568b cable pinout) and there should be plenty of help available.

Wire it up however your phones are wired? Majority of your phones presumably aren't using 8P8C connectors anyway. If you're reusing this jack for ethernet however, well, then you still need to figure out how it's wired on the other end and then spend some quality time with a multimeter or the likes.

yea, you gotta know what the other side is... a lot of phone vendors use the a standard, not the b... like most network guys... check the punchdown block...

 

[FndTheRver]

I would also recommend a continuity tester so you can check that the cable is punched down correctly on both ends. The contractor who built my building did a shit job punching things down correctly. The continuity tester was extremely handy in troubleshooting.

 

[dandragonrage]

Your current jacks do not make sense in the wiring colors, so I think whoever installed that was an idiot. You will definitely need to look at / rewire the other end.

If you are using CAT-5/6/7 and RJ-45, there is only one way to wire it correctly and that's the 568B method. There is no valid reason to wire it in any sort of proprietary way. Some people do wire them incorrectly as seems to be the case here, and you should rewire it properly on both ends if possible. In either case you would need to see the other end or use a continuity tester if you wanted to keep the current wiring non-standard.

 

[bman212121]

Your current jacks do not make sense in the wiring colors, so I think whoever installed that was an idiot. You will definitely need to look at / rewire the other end.

Actually that sequence is correct for the back of a patch panel. It all depends on how the wires are laid out inside of the jack. If that jack is modeled after a panel jack then they most likely used the 568B standard.

@system: If you're doing single line analog phones the only pair that matters is the blue pair, which is the two center pins 4 and 5.

 

[/usr/home]

Your current jacks do not make sense in the wiring colors, so I think whoever installed that was an idiot. You will definitely need to look at / rewire the other end.

If you are using CAT-5/6/7 and RJ-45, there is only one way to wire it correctly and that's the 568B method. There is no valid reason to wire it in any sort of proprietary way. Some people do wire them incorrectly as seems to be the case here, and you should rewire it properly on both ends if possible. In either case you would need to see the other end or use a continuity tester if you wanted to keep the current wiring non-standard.

I'd argue 568A is the better way. Fully supports phone lines on the same jack. A is the better standard on new installs.

 

[hawk82]

What you have there is a NORDX/CDI 568A 8 Position Jack with BIX termination. A bit uncommon here in the US, but from what I have learned, BIX is very common in Canada. I am not sure about the rest of the world. It looks like it is terminated properly, though not 100% sure. The top part of the jack does appear to be broken off. This jack could be easily rewired to be a standard data jack since it is 8 Positions. All you need to do is trace the jack to back to the termination point, remove it from that, and rewire to a patch panel or terminate with a 8P8C end connector. Make sure to follow the same color code on both ends (appears to be 568A in the jack).

 

[goodcooper]

I'd argue 568A is the better way. Fully supports phone lines on the same jack. A is the better standard on new installs.

why is A better or worse than B?

just because phone guys put the oranges for L2 usually?

i don't think it matters either way... i wire up phone systems with the B standards, don't care... i've recently run phone into patch panels, and then just patch into a punchdown block, that way all it takes for somebody to use data on that wire is for someone to patch a port on a patch panel into a switch instead of a punchdown block

 

[/usr/home]

why is A better or worse than B?

just because phone guys put the oranges for L2 usually?

i don't think it matters either way... i wire up phone systems with the B standards, don't care... i've recently run phone into patch panels, and then just patch into a punchdown block, that way all it takes for somebody to use data on that wire is for someone to patch a port on a patch panel into a switch instead of a punchdown block

Mainly yes. It's also what almost all new construction in Canada uses.

We do something similar. Any drop can be data or phone, just have to swap patch cables in the closet. Either patch it to a switch or patch it to another patch panel that has a 25 pair terminated on it which goes back to the PBX.

 

[dandragonrage]

If you're using it for phone and data, you can only do 100Mbps, no? Gigabit uses all 4 pairs. Or does the NIC/switch filter out the analog stuff anyway (I'm assuming not, but let me know if otherwise).

I use 568B mainly because that's what I was taught back in high school and it seems to be the standard used on nearly every other cable I see.

My wall plates must be labeled differently than these if these aren't wired incorrectly.

 

[goodcooper]

If you're using it for phone and data, you can only do 100Mbps, no? Gigabit uses all 4 pairs. Or does the NIC/switch filter out the analog stuff anyway (I'm assuming not, but let me know if otherwise).

I use 568B mainly because that's what I was taught back in high school and it seems to be the standard used on nearly every other cable I see.

My wall plates must be labeled differently than these if these aren't wired incorrectly.

i'm sure he didn't mean simultaneously... no modern professional worth his salt ever runs voice and data over the same cat cable (or two 100mbps data runs for that matter)

also, he's in canada, everything is backwards up there

and yes, the actual jacks can have different internal wiring from manufacturer to manufacturer or model to model.... you have to find a label or just tone it out...

 

[/usr/home]

Not at the same time. Basically every drop is a regular CAT6 drop but we patch them for data OR phone. There's no phone jacks. This also makes the transition to IP phones super easy as there's already a drop there for the old phone. Just have to patch it back to data in the closet. Phones cables fit just fine the Leviton jacks without damaging them.

I have nothing against B but do A on new installs as that's the "standard" here. I'll do B if it's B already.

 

[systemx]

Thanks for everyone's input, really appreciate it.
For those wondering, I wired both the data and voice with 568A and it works fine.