atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Using a 66 Block to Distribute Line

Does anyone distribute a line of phone to several rooms in a method other than below using a 66 block?

IE..

Terminate cables from all rooms to right side of block.

Terminate phone line to left side of block and punch down from 1 pin set to the next and clip across to corresponding "rooms"?

It depends on what the phones are. Standard slt phones I would do it that way but if you use the non ksu phones then you need to watch the total wire length

Using Cat5 cable, what would the limit on the rooms be if the average cable run was say 40 ft, would it follow the standard networking rule of 300 ft?

This concept recently came up in my head in that I have been considering using levitron structured wiring kits, however I don't know if their room distribution units are doing anything more than what I am doing on the block and they don't seem to indicate any type of limit and press the fact that they are expandable (12+ rooms).

For a a POTS line there isn't any distance limitation, and certainly not something you would have to worry about in residential construction. The only thing I would avoid is CAT5. Long runs can attenuate a DSL carrier due to the tight twists. Use CAT3 like you are supposed to, save the CAT5 for the computers.

I think what you are thinking about doing with a split 66 block is fine. I would stay far away from any kind of structured wiring product. Much easier and cheaper to do it the tried and true way and when the next guy comes along he won't want to rip it out.

-Hal

The distance limitation you run into is with non-ksu multiline phones, like the AT&T 954's, or whatever they are called these days.

If you have a lot of wire between sets, they become unreliable with the lights and intercoms.

You obviously have a lot more wire involved with home runs, although I'd never recommend looping wiring these days.

They will sell or mail you a "filter" that you install between the MPOE and the wiring block that helps compensate for excessive wiring.

You've stated this before, and I'm curious to know how you determined this to be the case? (That, given equal length runs of Cat3 and Cat5, the Cat5 would attenuate the signal more).

Spec sheets are no help. At 1MHz, they claim Cat5 has less attenuation than Cat3.

Thanks for the replies, I don't really due non-ksu multiline installations in anything but small offices where i highly doubt any distance limits would come into. I had a moment of concern because of POTS residential installations where total cable lengths can make it to 500+ ft mark.

hal,

I'm also curious as brian is where the info that cat3 is better than cat5.

I ask because i frequently pull a single run cable with 2 RG6 and 2 Cat5 bundled.

I think it may all be academic anyway. The DSL signal should never be so weak that even 500 feet of Cat5 should cause a problem. Consider the distance between the DSLAM and the MPOE.