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

I have phone service and DSL in my home. I believe I have copper lines. Will phone service run on this if I had the home rewired in CAT 5?

I have been having some sporadic dropped connections in my DSL service and wanted to know if rewiring in CAT 5 would improve and boost voice and data reliability.

I would prefer comments from only qualified and or certified installers.

Jerry

There are a ton of qualified installers here.

To answer your question.
The sporadic drops in service are a hard one to answer without going on site but the cat5 wont help your problem unless the porblem resides in the phone wiring inside the house.

The questions here are.
1. How old is the wiring in the house
2. When you called the telco and ordered service did they tell you what your distance was and weather or not they needed to drop the bottom out of the connection.

Your distance from the telco has a huge play in how you connect so I would check that first.

Hope that helped

Oh and to qualify myself I installed and tested DSL for the isp I formerly worked for.

Do you ever loose DT or drop a conversation? This may seem pretty basic, but do you have a properly wired whole house filter or filters on everything requiring DT?

WRichey,

The home was built in 1983. I believe its at least that old. If it has been replaced I am not aware of it. I am 1.1 miles from the CO. It's actually very close. I have DSL Express and am shy several hundred feet to qualify for DSL Pro.

JustBill,

Never loose dial or conversation. I do have filters on all phones in the home.

If your existing wiring is in good shape replacing it with CAT5 will make no difference- anymore than replacing it with new CAT3.

CAT5, CAT5e and CAT6 is for ethernet, it offers absolutely no advantage when used for the wiring of DSL or voice.

-Hal

Is the wiring looped from location to location or is each IW a home run back to the DEMARK? You could also get some IW and run it from the DEMARK to your DSL modem location, wouldn't have to be neat, just temporary to see if it cleared up your problem. If it doesn't would probably put the trouble back into the LEC. I suppose it could be a high joint, but I'd think you get some intermittent static or hissing on the line when talking if it were.

Could also be the modem or the line cord from the jack to the modem or how it's routed or ran.
MrG

I disagree with the statement that Cat5 doesn't have any advantages when it comes to voice lines. The electrical advantages (twists reducing cross-talk) alone are one advantage. On top of that, home runs of Cat5 to the dmarc are very convienient to change into data lines. Its also nice to be able to run a modem and telephone on the same cable without worrying about ringing voltage bothering your connection. Also nice to have extra pairs to swap to just incase. For the price of cat5, I don't understand why anyone still uses cat3 or two pair.

Anyway, as far as the DSL problem, we don't have enough information to correctly diagnose the situation. There are a few questions I think would help diagnose the issues:

1 - Are you using wire or wireless internet?
2 - When your internet goes out, does the sync light on the modem go out?
3 - Is there a telephone in the same jack as the modem? If so, are they on the same cable or different cables?
4 - Do you have one central filter at the dmarc, or are you using those little "plug and play" dongle filters?
5 - What make and model of modem do you have?

Thanks for your input, Thirstbuster. Please take a moment to complete your profile per the terms of this forum. Thank you for doing so in advance.

Of course using CAT5 can reduce cross talk, AS LONG AS IT IS USED FOR THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE CABLE RUN from the DSLAM in the central office or remote terminal to the CPE! Perhaps you may be onto something here. Please tell me how this is done.

I am obviously being sarcastic because there is SO much more involved in this question than people who have only been exposed to the aspects of inside cabling can understand. What goes on outside plays a big part in the overall picture, and that sets the pace.

Even CAT3 is higher-grade cable than what is being used to deliver service to the premises. There is no category rating for cable before it hits the NID, as in category ZERO. This cannot be improved or changed unless service is delivered to the premises via fiber or coaxial cable. Existing copper cable plant, even brand-new has no "CAT" rating; this rating only applies to on-premises wiring and always has.

People seem to be under the misconception that quality can be improved on a telephone line at the end. Think about this, and I apologize for making it sound too sipmlistic:

A telephone line consists of a single pair of wires, combined in a cable with hundreds or even thousands of other pairs when it leaves the central office. It then must overcome dozens of splices, extreme temperature differentials, rocks, dirt, wind, moisture, you name it. The fact that you are able to use that pair of wires to talk is amazing in and of itself. Sometimes DSL just can't be pushed, even when close to the CO. There are many variables.

Running category 3 cable for a phone line entering the home is like taking a 1/2" water line and increasing it to 1". Double the capacity, but still the same flow from the feed.

Doing the same with category 5 for voice/DSL would
equate to something in the area of a 1/2" water line feeding into a 4" pipe.

Two lanes on the interstate for ten miles that break out into eight lanes. That does nothing for the ten miles that are backed up.

You are still only going to receive the delivery quality of the originating 1/2" pipe.

As it is frequently said, though few listen, "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link". You can't improve an already weak connection by making the end "better".

DSL is very tolerant of inside wiring issues. Think about it: If it manages to make it 16,000+ feet to your premises through all kinds of conditions, would a few more feet of "bad" wiring in your house really make a difference? Not unless this wiring wouldn't carry voice on the same line. You indicated that this part of it is working fine so we know that the copper wire pair is intact and functional.

Now, as for my professional certifications: Several system manufacturer's certificates; School of Hard Knocks for 23 years in this business; 36 years if you count my actually thinking about how it works during my early teens. I have no DSL troubleshooting certificates if they exist, but I don't mind offering a suggestion. At this point, I am just throwing in my two cents.

Great explanation Ed, especially for those that think we should be using Cat5 for phone wiring, ugh!