atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Small Install Question

I had a cutomer ask me to terminate the cables in his home office/garage. There are just four drops of cat5e, and three coax. GC ran the cable. Coax and phone feeds are from the NIDs at his house.

The customer wants phone and internet at each wallplate. Normally I'd have run two cables to each box to do this, but I'm stuck with what the GC ran. I planned on splitting out the cable at the jacks, but I'm wondering what is the best way to do the same on the backboard? The customer is not concerned about looks, he just wants it to work. I'd like for it to work and look good. Any ideas on how best to do this would be appreciated.

Jack

I wouldn't split the cable , if you cant pull additional cables I would suggest that either phone or data go wireless

I'm with Skip. If the client refuses to use wireless, then tell him to get the CG (the wannabe phoneman) to run the extra wires needed....maybe he'll learn to keep his hands off... :rolleyes:

Let me first say that I'm with Skip and Dave. You and the customer would be better off having additional cable run.

Having said that, if wireless is not an option and you're going to lose the work....

In these times you need to earn what you can. Split the W/Bl & W/Bn off for Voice and the W/O & W/Gn off for Data. The customer has to understand that he won't get better then 10mbs.

At the backboard I would split the cables between a 66M-1-50 block for the Voice and a 66 block with 8P8C jacks for the data.
Butt the two blocks together and split the cables in the middle.

Use bridge clips to loop the voice out to the feed and use patch cables to connect the data to the hub/switch/router.

It won't be pretty, but it will work (after a fashion) and not be truly hideous.

But really - try to get the customer to go for additional cables.

Sam

Or use a small patch panel with ports designated for voice (odd numbers) and data (even numbers). Make voice patch cords that dress out to a 66 block for your voice and make your looped connections there. Patch your data connections out to your switch.
Still won't be pretty and won't be the best case scenario, but it will work.

It was GC - general contractor, not CG - computer guy. 100 megabit ethernet only uses two pairs, you don't need all four until you get to gigabit.

We've had the same setup in multi tenant buildings and the electrician had punched the cables down on 66 blocks. We made a bunch of stubs with an 8P8C on the end of a portion of cat5. The orange and white pairs were punched together and the blue pair was used for voice. It works perfectly fine.

Thank you for the suggestions, gentlemen. Dave, it was the general contractor who ran the cabling - he's not finishing the job due to getting fired. At least he had the sense to home run everything.

Initially I was thinking of using a 66 block for the Bl/Br pairs for phone, punching down the Or/Gr pairs onto a small (6-8 port) wall mount patch panel on pins 1,2,3, and 6, or using a 110 block and punching down all pairs, and using 2 pair patch cord for data (110 to 8p8c). Those are a little pricey though, and to use a ready made cord, I'd have to leave gaps on the block so as to not catch the bl/br pairs.

Installing additional cables is not really an option at this point - the customer does not want exposed cabling across the top of the garage ceiling, and he doesn't want to spend the extra money anyway. I may be able to convince him to put an access point in the middle of the garage. If not, I've got some good suggestions here to work with.

Jack

If there are only 4 drops total why not just use an 8 Port Surface Mount Jack on the backboard and put RJ-11's on the Blue/Brown and the RJ-45's on the Orange/Green. Everything will be hidden under the cover except for the CO's in.