4 phone lines with one cat6 cable

Thread Starter

electronewb

Joined Apr 24, 2012
260
Hi guys Is it possible to have 4 phone lines using 1 cat6 cable? Basically I want to use 4 Rj11 plugs on one side of the cable and 4Rj11 box with jacks at the other end of the cable (so I can extend from a box to an actual phone) I believe only 2 wires are needed for a phone line and the contacts on the Rj11 are the 2 middle ones. Is that correct?
 

Sensacell

Joined Jun 19, 2012
3,432
Yep- but the jacks /plugs need to be 8 circuit RJ-45, not RJ-11

4 pairs = 8 wires = 4 phone lines

Just don't get 'em mixed up
 

Thread Starter

electronewb

Joined Apr 24, 2012
260
Yep- but the jacks /plugs need to be 8 circuit RJ-45, not RJ-11

4 pairs = 8 wires = 4 phone lines

Just don't get 'em mixed up
Thanks for the reply. What do you mean by 8 circuit Rj45? You mean I need to use Rj45 connectors and jacks and not rj11? What would be the difference? Also this is right that only the 2 middle tabs are used for phone lines?

Thanks
 

ScottWang

Joined Aug 23, 2012
7,397
yes RJ-45 is an 8 wire jack, but the phones are 6 wire.
Use RJ-45 for the cat-6 then break out the wires to the RJ-11
Phone are 4 wires used in single phone line.
If the TS used telephone switchboard then 4 wires is not enough.
 
Last edited:

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,990
An RJ-11 connector has six contact locations, but it takes only two (the center two) for a standard POTS phone. Very low-cost appliances such as answering machines used to come with an RJ-11-to-RJ-11 cable with only the center two contacts installed.

Phone circuits are DC. A true analog phone won't care about polarity, but some electronic phones will not work with the wires reversed.

ak
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
An RJ-11 connector has six contact locations, but it takes only two (the center two) for a standard POTS phone. Very low-cost appliances such as answering machines used to come with an RJ-11-to-RJ-11 cable with only the center two contacts installed.

Phone circuits are DC. A true analog phone won't care about polarity, but some electronic phones will not work with the wires reversed.

ak
It used to be, that an analog phone won't break dial tone if the wires were reversed. Made dialing impossible!
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
In your PDF, are all the wires contained in the cat 6 cable?

Will the RJ11 jacks be connected by uncovered twisted pair?

Would you consider a second box where the Ethernet cable was broken out to individual 4 conductor cables for the phones?

Also? Why cat 6? Availability? Cat 6 is more stiff or rigid than cat 5/5e. Is that ok? And more expensive. Both have eight conductors.
 

Thread Starter

electronewb

Joined Apr 24, 2012
260
In your PDF, are all the wires contained in the cat 6 cable? Yes

Will the RJ11 jacks be connected by uncovered twisted pair? I will but heatshring tubing on each pair

Would you consider a second box where the Ethernet cable was broken out to individual 4 conductor cables for the phones? That's the plan each box will get a regular phone cable that will be hooked up to a phone

Also? Why cat 6? Availability? Cat 6 is more stiff or rigid than cat 5/5e. Is that ok? And more expensive. Both have eight conductors.
I have tons and tons of cat6

But would my wiring works?
 

Thread Starter

electronewb

Joined Apr 24, 2012
260
Answer the rest of disfantasi's questions in post 12, then we can start with some options...
I did For some reasons the answers in my post were all over the place

In your PDF, are all the wires contained in the cat 6 cable? Yes

Will the RJ11 jacks be connected by uncovered twisted pair? I will put heatshring tubing on each pair

Would you consider a second box where the Ethernet cable was broken out to individual 4 conductor cables for the phones? That's the plan each box will get a regular phone cable that will be hooked up to a phone

Also? Why cat 6? Availability? Cat 6 is more stiff or rigid than cat 5/5e. Is that ok? And more expensive. Both have eight conductors.
I have tons and tons of cat6
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
The wiring concept will work. The devil is in the details. The pairs must go to the correct pins in the jack/plug. Where the pairs separate, be sure to include strain relief. And protect the cables/wires where they enter/leave the boxes. And I'd make sure the polarities are correct, although others have indicated it may not be necessary.
 
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