I need to make CAT5 connection to the 66 block. Right now it is really just phone connection. How do I connect the wire to the slots? Do I need to strip off a bit to the wire before insert into the slots?
It does not look like there is any sharp edges inside those slots, unlike the CAT5 jacks where the edges automatically take off some wire skins.
Also is there anyway one connect a old phone to a CAT5 jack, which just serves as a phone jack at this time? Are there any adapters for that?
Nope. You need to buy the proper tool, it's called a "Punchdown Tool" I just did a quick search via MSN, came up with a bunch of results, first one I opened was $25. That sounds about right. They were actually more expensive back in The Old Days (because they were 'special tools'?) but now everybody and their brother is hanging wiring boards in their basement, so I guess this is the upside: cheaper tools.
It's a spring-loaded "trigger" thing, that automatically cuts one side of the wire when it punches (the side NOT coming from your cable!) Once you see it work, you'll understand. But there is a method to doing it right, you might want to look for some "how to" instructions while you're surfing.
You might find an adapter, but I would go with a wall plate that has "snap in" jacks, where you can have a double jack on one plate, one of them being an RJ-11, the other an RJ-45. Much neater and less prone to "wiggle failure".
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Ideally, a punchdown tool would be used....however, if you strip the wire, then force the bare part in using small needle-nose pliers, you'll still make a good enough connection for standard analog/phone...
Since I am just use the CAT5 for voice phones, I just did it slooply: I put the wires on the slot, cut it with a scissor, and pushed it down with a small screw driver. I used a voice jack (RJ11?) to test it. It worked. So I connect several lines this way - easy and cheap. Saves me a trip to HomeDepot, and a few dollars. This is indeed for basement phones.
Now if I ever switch to DSL from cable modem, I wonder if my connection speed will get effected? But I would guess my connection is not more sloppy than the most of the analog phones.
An RJ11 plug will fit just fine in an RJ45 jack. Use the blue and blue/white pair for telephone, and they go on the center pins (unused by ethernet and reserved for telephone.)
I have a couple of rooms in my house wired for both ethernet and telephone on the same cable -- one uses a single RJ45 jack and the other splits out the blue/blue/white pair to an RJ11 jack on the same faceplate. It's better to use separate cables and jacks.
I like to use cat3 (2 pairs) for telephone and cat5 (or maybe it was 5e) for ethernet. But you can run telephone and ethernet on a single cat5 cable. I think Xerox invented this scheme and called it "Starnet." Slit the jacket at the hub end of the cable and carefully pull out the blue/blue-white pair without disturbing the other pairs. Terminate the remaining 3 pairs as usual and connect the blue/blue-white pair to your phone block (green/red for 1st line, yellow/black for the 2nd.) I don't know which is tip and which is ring, but most of the time it doesn't matter.
I wouldn't try it for gigabit ethernet. I also suspect you may get data errors when the phone rings, but the network protocol will just retransmit the screwed-up packets.
Check the TIA-568 specs, this isn't advised. You can get away with it but you'll degrade your connection speed. 100 blocks aren't too pricey. If memory serves me correctly telephone lines carry some voltage and you don't want that voltage traveling down the same line as your network data.
There are probably millions of 66 blocks that are not cat 5 compliant. These will mostly be the older installations since 66 blocks were not cat 5 compliant for several years after their introduction. Most of them manufactured in the last...oh...5-7 years s/b cat 5 compliant.
This is definetly true. I have run many 10baseT Ethernet connections over
66 blocks, both old and new and they worked just fine, even with CAT3 cabling. But the 66 blocks that are CAT5 compliant were "re-engineered" to reduce the amount of metal in them. I don't remember the technical reasons for reducing the amount of metal but I think it has something to do with electrical eddy currents and impedance. Anyway, any 66 block should be good for data rates up to 10Mbps. This would certainly include voice lines (telephone or modem, etc.), DSL, T-1, 10baseT, etc. Beyond that, it gets kinda iffy and there are several variables. If you are talking about
100baseT Ethernet over CAT5 66 blocks, if the cable runs are short, few cross-connects, the connections are good (this is where a *good* punch-down tool comes in), etc., etc., it will probably work. As the cable length grows, or the connections start to come loose, or you have too many cross-connects, or the 66-block has seen a lot of punch-downs, or this, or that, then you will start to see errors occurring, and worst case they will not work.
Near End Cross Talk (NeXT) At higher frequencies those big metal strips become antennas and signals bleed over between the pairs. You can also make a Cat5e a Cat3 or less by not following good termination practices. Maintain the twists as far as possible and keep the leads short where they exit the cable.
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