Telephone wire

[clare]

Cat 5 and 6 are not sheilded (well, some "six and better" is -but it is not part of the standard.. Don't know what kind of obstruction you are looking at - but cat 5 comes in different jacket thicknesses - as much as 25% difference in diameter. Non Plenum FT4) cable is GENERALLY thinner than FT6 (plenum). Here in Ontario FT6 is required if it is run in an air plenum (above suspended ceiling where the air return is open, for example) and it is almost twice as expensive as FT4. Some of the pricier FT6 has a thin teflon type covering which is quite tough, and very easy to pull.

[Dan Espen]

I have FIOS.

I just moved my office from one room in the house to another. I first ran a coax line for the FIOS router, then setting up other things in the room, I realized I needed a phone outlet on a different wall. The simplest way to do that was to run a new line into the room.

I'm not using the line for data and the voice quality sounds fine.

[Dan Espen]

I just looked. My coax has markings but the telephone plastic wrap is plain gray. I just took a close look at the splice I did. The new telephone wire is easily half the thickness of the older wire.

[Dan Espen]

Yep, but when I have 4 wires to connect to 4 wires, I just can't bring myself to leave 2 wires dangling.

[Nate Nagel]

Agreed, and who knows, you may want to go two line in the future and you won't regret having the wiring already in place.

nate

[Trisha]

Is the wire you bought flat like this?

[Stormin Mormon]

I was thinking that, but hadn't yet written. Might be he bought modular four conductor flat wire. Which is a whole different animal.

Is the wire you bought flat like this?

[The Daring Dufas]

One of the legal things I do for money is servicing and installing commercial phone systems and computer networks (My other job is being an international hit man). Me, JH and Stinky just finished another office and in the last decade or so, we've been running CATxx network cable for phone systems since the trend, which I saw coming, was a switch to VoIP phone systems and some of the electronic phone systems we install may use 2 to 3 pair and most digital systems use 1 pair but some use 2 pair so we run at least CAT5 for phone systems. We are installing and servicing more and more VoIP phone systems and now with Gigabit networks being installed we may pull CAT6 for all the wire runs now. We have a national service corp we do work for that demands we install CAT6 for all cable runs. I actually have to use test gear to check the properties of the installed cable and Email the results of tests for each cable. The OP could could have 26 AWG or smaller if it's an import. Manufacturers in Asia will often skimp on materials used to manufacture their products. The import wire could be a lot smaller than what is normally supplied by factories in Western countries. ^_^

TDD

[Jon Danniken]

Then it has no standard, which is unfortunate. Who knows what the wire is, and probably not even the people who stuff it in the package.

I guess the lesson here is that TrueValue seems to be selling crap wire marketed as "telephone wire", which would suggest someone go elsewhere and buy something that adheres to a standard (I know the HD and Ace stores here, locally, sell CAT-3, minimum, as "telephone wire").

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

I've installed scads of CAT-5 and never seen four twists per inch, but it certainly has more twists than CAT-3.

Jon

[Dan Espen]

Nope, round, like this:

But it came in a flat pack and doesn't have printing on the wire.

I looked at all 3 pages, and didn't see the exact item I bought.

[Dan Espen]

Oddly enough I go to the local hardware store for quality. Most of their stuff is pretty good.

[The Daring Dufas]

The different pairs have an alternating twists in them so they don't match the twist of the other pairs. The reason for that is to resist or eliminate crosstalk. ^_^

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

The OP could could have 26 AWG or smaller if it's an import. Manufacturers in Asia will often skimp on materials used to manufacture their products. The import wire could be a lot smaller than what is normally supplied by factories in Western countries. ^_^

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

The different pairs have an alternating twists in them so they don't match the twist of the other pairs. The reason for that is to resist or eliminate crosstalk. ^_^

The different pairs have an alternating twists in them so they don't match the twist of the other pairs. The reason for that is to resist or eliminate crosstalk. ^_^

TDD

[micky]

Not even embossed, maybe seeable when you hold it up to the light at different angles?

Anyhow, round also comes in different gauges. I like TrueValue but still I point out that there is no gauge given for this wire. Even under the tab called Specifications.

[Dan Espen]

Nope, it's up in the attic, I was using a flashlight to look.

This thread is getting so many replies I'm tempted to take a trip down to the hardware store to check, but I did buy the last one in the store. No guarantee that they'll restock with the same stuff.

[clare]

No danger of EVER having Stormy accused of being "not twisted enough", is there????/

[Stormin Mormon]

No danger of EVER having Stormy accused of being "not twisted enough", is there????/

[Jon Danniken]

Yes, that I have noticed, as I use it as hookup wire after pulling the pairs out of the sheath.

Jon