sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring cat3 cable and Asterisk

Hi guys,
I have to survey a site that has cat3 cabling.
I'm told their phones will be Asterisk/which I am not familiar with though I believe is a VOIP software.We always use cat5e for any voip, but a
consulting firm is saying cat3 is fine.Any thoughts? thanks guys!
Pat

Take a look @ the Asterisk question in "General" and ask Kumba.

Cat3 is good for 10Base-T, which is plenty fast enough for a VoIP phone. Assuming the cable is good and everything is terminated properly, it will work. Just don't use this for any other network traffic. Of course you will probably have to reterminate the Cat3, and you would certainly be better off with new cable that you can trust.

If you use the Cat 3, you'll probably want to get a switch that allows you to force the port speed to 10M. Otherwise, the phones will try to connect at 100M and you may get some problems.

There is a town in Norway* that freezes over too often for me to completely trust "a consulting firm".

It's like the answer to this question:

"What do you call the person who graduates Medical School with the lowest GPA?^"


*Hell, Norway...it really exists.
^Doctor.

Cat 3 for VoIP is the "irreducible minimum" (i.e., you can't go no lower). And if/when they add any bells and whistles to that system in the future, they may find themselves with dropouts, due to bandwidth requirements.

Do them a favor and REQUIRE that they futureproof their purchase with AT LEAST Cat 5e. That way, the company can reconfigure Workstations, etc. or add a PC through the VoIP link here and there when they have to...you get the idea. This gives them OPTIONS in the future.

They will absolutely paint themselves into a corner - technologically speaking - if they use that old cable for that new VoIP system!

What they all said. You can use Cat3 as long as you force the port on either the switch or phone to 10M. There will be plenty of bandwidth for the few calls that phone would ever get.

That being said, it would be a better investment to recable with Cat5e then spend money to reterminate Cat3.

Asterisk itself has nothing to do with the cabling. It either uses VoIP or POTS. What kind of install is it? If it's something like a hotel then it is very possible they could be using channel banks or FXS/SIP Gateways to deliver dialtone.

Some details might be in order to really give you a concrete answer.

It is a car dealership. I don't have much info yet.I do appreciate yours
and everybody's help!
thanks Pat

Well, chances are a car dealership is going to want extensions and not just dialtone. It will be SIP-based phones like Polycom or Snom. You can use Cat-3 just make sure you limit the port (at phone or switch) to 10mb.

thanks Kumba!