sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Jacks

Just curious, why do you pull a differant color for the 2nd data?

I think the important thing, is to be consistent with the color you use. I use yellow for data and green for telco. Just make sure you use different colors for data and phone. If you choose a color stick with it don't change, that way if you go back to that company again you know what is what. Now faceplates are different, the comon colors are white and ivory, depends on the color of the wall.

We've standardized on white CAT5E (or CAT6) for data and white CAT3 for voice. We can USUALLY tell by touch which is which, but if that doesn't work, read the cable, it'll tell you what it is! I've had situations where we ran short on a job and had to pick up extra from suppliers who don't necessarily carry our brand (Commscope, by the way); this way white is usually available in whatever brand is available. We also use orange jacks for data and white jacks for voice. For mutliple voice outlets in one faceplate we use different icons.

We always match the faceplate for voice... usually 6 pin jacks...

My standard colors for data are personal choice.. and going back to the consistency thing.. I find that blue looks great on bright white face plates and is found alot in our area.. and when the office has ivory face plates.. then I like using dark green... looks a bit better against the ivory than the blue...

In the several hospital environments we work in, the customer has always specified orange for data... I don't know if this is a standard for that industry or not...

It easier for ongoing operations to settle on a standard and only stock your standards.. than to have to keep multiple colors around for any given situation...

As for cable coloring... I always use white for voice.. and colored cable for data... In large installations, where I have multiple data jacks per workspace... and a large TR, I pull cable consistent with the color for the jack.. ie... Use an open patch bay... populate with white, blue, yellow and green in that order... then pull white, blue, yellow and green cable to every wall jack.. keeps things very consistent and makes troubleshooting easier.. also makes your TR look very clean and professional...

I have even split out the four colors into seperate vertical patch bay racks... one rack with white patch panel jacks, white cable and white wall jacks... and another vertical patch bay rack for blue... and yellow, and green.. etc... that way your jack numbering is clean within each jack color... you can also use this to specify... voice on white... data 1 on blue... fax on yellow... etc.. on green..

All depends on the size of the installation and the number of drops you are trying to organize...

CC