atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Splitting a CAT5 into 4 phone lines

I'm expanding the phone/data network at my church and have two CAT5 wires ran from my network closet to some new offices. One cable will go into a switch and then out to all the computers; that part is easy. But I'm wondering if there's a way that I can do something similar for the phones.

There are 8 wires inside a CAT5 cable, and a phone only needs to use 2, right? So, theoretically I can just use 2 wires for each line and have 4 phone lines, right? Each pair will be punched into a patch panel that runs into our PBX on one end, and then into another patch panel in the new area, with cat2 phone cables going to the phones from there.

Does it matter which colors are used, as long as they match on both ends? Each pair should be punched into slots 4 and 5 on the panels, right?

Is there anything I'm missing or need to consider?

Thanks,
Ian

Ian, it kinda depends on the PBX. Some use one pair and some use more than that. You will need to check and see how many the system that you are working with uses.
You should use the same colors for a pair such as blue, orange, green, brown.
I use a CAT5 routinely to run say a digital extension, fax and credit card machine. It's best to run a dedicated line, but not always somtheing that you want to do.

Paul