Got an X-16 customer running cable to the far hinterlands to operate three phones.

Should I use all four whites and all four colors on a Cat 5e (essentially one big fat pair) from one port on the ksu and then split them out there to make 3 phones

OR

Should I use two pairs from one port and two pairs from another port to make the 3 far away phones work?

I think we are stretching the distance factor on this.

If I were going to combine pairs or wires to make a simulated larger gauge I'd use complete pairs to maintain the twist integrity.

std wire and not cat5 will be shorter loop.

How far are we talking about, and what does the manufacturer state as the total loop length (in ohms) that is allowed? If you know that, you can figure out the maximum length for any gauge wire.

Remember that when you use parallel pairs, you increase the capacitance. Not sure if that would be an issue. You could also use 22 gauge wire to get a little less resistance.

The number 600 sticks in my head and the manual is very specific about the fact that the TOTAL of all runs is 600 feet. At the very best, you must hang all 3 phones at the end of the run and not try to run 3 separate cables/pairs for each phone, no matter what ports you hang them on. In addition, you may have to hang the 4th "endpoint device" on the cable to balance out the signals.


Carl

Please let us know what happens.

You could use the old-fashioned method, which is to take a 500' box of cat 3 or a 600' box of quad or a spool of cross-connection wire, hook up the phones and see what happens.

Solved just a few days ago.

It was the stupid 5 port splitter.

Plug a phone into the server, works fine.

Plug a phone into the splitter, works fine.

Plug a phone into the cable at the other end of the splitter 175 feet away and the phone lights up, tries to initialize and says "No link to KSU."

Plug the server end in without using the splitter and it works fine.

SO, if you see "No link to KSU" just throw away the splitter, punch the wires in common and all is well.

Thanks for all the suggestions, Bracha Sarah