Any uses for cat3

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bpk

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I'm roughing in a house that has a lot of highspeed internet / fax / and cable TV locations. I have boxes of cat 3 wire that I have never used. Is it still acceptable to use this for the telephones only. I will pull seperate cat 5 for each computer location (I do know that).The local phone/ internet provider will do all the final connections as long as the wire is there. I dont want to look stupid if this is a stupid question and I dont know much about LV. I havent done any residential in a few years and Im sure what I use to do is obsolete. Also is looping wires between phone only locations still ok. Thanks in advance.
 
You betcha. PBX's and and KSU's. More than enough for roping voice in a home too.

I mostly just use cat5e for everything, since it's actually cheaper than cat3 where I buy wire.
 
quogueelectric said:
Tying up newspapers on recycle day
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I guess you could use it for that, but I think that if a guy was to look into it a bit, cat5e is overkill for a lot of things. For instance, a Nortel Meridian phone system is among the more complex phone systems you'll commonly come across, and it only needs cat3 for most everything. I know I've run miles of cat5e in homes where POTS cable would have worked fine. Cat3 would have even been overkill. If I had a bunch of cat3 to use up, I'd use it up in homes (save except for home networks). VOIP and DSL will work great on cat3, since phone service often arrives to the home on cat-nothing.
 
Yes, for as long as we still use copper for voice, CAT-3 will be more than adequate for it. No, you should not loop-wire (i.e., diasy-chain) phone outlets; make individual home runs. Yes, you should stick with CAT-5e for networking.

I used CAT-6 cable and jacks once for a fanatic geek. He paid for the entire 1000' spool, but it was still "his" wire when he called me back for more outlets. We installed about 50 network, coax, and phone jacks, many sharing plates.
 
Most of the Fortune 500 companies near me have specified minimum CAT-6 cabling for several years. I have had a number of homeowner also specify CAT-6 cabling but we usually only install CAT-5E terminations with the idea that they could always upgrade later. I recently found a partial box of Lucent CAT-6 cable buried in one of my storage sheds.
 
I worked on the nortel Meridian system for 2 years [my last job] and we used cat3 for the switch tails. If youre doing a house, I would probably use cat5 but if you are doing a whole tract, cat3 may be 'cheaper' as the price difference adds up. I have used cat6 many of times but usually when I am dealing with somethign that would require cat6, I usually just jump to fiber. I have seen cat7 before... working with cat6 is a pain - cat7 would be worse.

~Matt
 
cat3 is fine for voice circuits. I see alot of commercial LV contractors still using cat3 for voice since its a little more compact and they can cram a few more in the conduit. Its also faster to work with when terminating it at blocks since the pairs dont have to be untwisted like cat5

FCC has a minimum standard for premise wiring which requires at least cat3. The old school quad with no twisted pairs is out, yet i still see some tract builders letting their alarm guys install the stuff :roll:

Cat5E is all that is needed for data. Cat6 is useless, and i cant figure out why they even make the stuff. There is NO data standard which requires cat6 and the stuff is a pain to work with. gigabit specs CAT5E, and 10-gig over copper requires CAT6-A which is a whole different beast than Cat6.
 
mdshunk said:
You don't say? :grin:

Prove it!
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link to FCC order http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Orders/2000/fcc99405.doc

16. We agree with commenters and petitioners that poor quality inside wiring can cause cross-talk, disrupting basic telephone service and causing network harm. We find that it is in the public interest to adopt inside wiring quality standards in order to protect consumers and the PSTN from such harm. We find that BICSI's proposed inside wiring quality standard is a reasonable means by which to accomplish this task. We anticipate that consumers will benefit from the establishment of an inside wire quality standard for new simple wiring installations. Thus, we amend section 68.213(c) of the Commission's rules to adopt enhanced wire quality standards for simple inside wiring. Specifically, we require that copper inside wiring installed 180 days after the date of this Order?s publication in the Federal Register, shall be, at a minimum, solid, 24 gauge or thicker, twisted pairs, marked to indicate compliance with the electrical specifications for Category 3, as defined in the ANSI/EIA/TIA Building Wiring Standards. Inside wiring material exceeding the minimum requirements specified in section 68.213(c) as amended by this Order may be used and should be marked to indicate those characteristics.
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Wow... learned something new. I never knew that there was any federal law related to electrical wiring.

47CFR68.213(c) Material requirements.
(1) For new installations and modifications to
existing installations, copper conductors shall be, at a minimum, solid, 24
gauge or larger, twisted pairs that comply with the electrical
specifications for Category 3, as defined in the ANSI EIA/TIA Building
Wiring Standards.
 
More cats means more money I would not ever want to explain to my cusstomers why I used cat 3 cable over a few dollars. Most rich people are not that stupid.
 
Cat 3 is more than good enough for any home phone, fax or data systems up to 10 Mbit/s. Cat 3 is still recognized by TIA/EIA-568-B, its defining standard.
So use it for everything if you got it.
 
oH my Cat 3 oh no what kind of abomination are you trying to install..I cant believe we still have live dinosaurs around in the cable industry..it is okay to use but I would not let you install it in my house..when they hookup the fiber optic then they have to run that cat 5,5e,6 ect.. you get idea on the surface of my walls..Oh my we can not have that..so nope would not use it unless we were installing in a cave..yep in the frigid north woods we have fiber optics..we even get Internet wow..
 
dereckbc said:
Cat 3 is more than good enough for any home phone, fax or data systems up to 10 Mbit/s. Cat 3 is still recognized by TIA/EIA-568-B, its defining standard.
So use it for everything if you got it.
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use it for phones until its gone, but definitely dont use it for data......need to use cat5E for data to be able to support gigabit ethernet
 
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