Questions About Splitter And Cables

[Guest]

I'd like to connect a dsl splitter to my NID to update the wiring and maybe get some faster internet speed. I understand the idea of using a whole house splitter and having a dedicated line for the modem. I'm just not sure about which jacks and cables to use.

Currently there are only two cables hooked up at the NID. One is for the phone, and one is for the dsl modem. Both are cat 3. I'm planning on using either cat 5e or cat 6 to connect the NID to the splitter. From the splitter I want to use cat 5e/6 to run to the dsl modem.

My questions are, should I also change to cat 5e or 6 for the phone, or will the existing cat 3 be okay and not effect the data speeds? That jack will only ever be used for phone.

Also, the current cable going from the NID to the dsl modem first ends at a regular wall phone jack. From there I'm using the phone cable from sonic to connect to the modem. Will I need to use a different wall jack since the cable will now be cat 5e/6? I assume the cable going from the wall jack to the modem should also be cat 5e/6, but the pace modem only takes rj11 on the input. Are there rj11s that can be used with cat 6?

Thanks for any clarifications you can give.

[Guest]

How about placing the DSL modem at the NID, then Cat5 ethernet to your router?

[Guest]

I'm just confused how dsl modems like the Pace only take rj11 on the input, yet cat 5 and cat 6 usually terminate to rj45. I'm not sure how you're supposed to connect your modem with cat 6. Unless, since only one pair is being used on that dedicated dsl line, you can terminate the cat 6 with rj11. I read that rj11 won't let you take full advantage of the cat 5/6 cable though. And you need all 8 wires for data, even though only the blue pair is connected to the splitter. I'm just getting all turned around on this.

[wa2ibm]

Yes, the RJ-11 on the modem is just a single pair. In theory, you can use CAT-3 for that, but since it's hard to get CAT-3 anymore, and the characteristics of the CAT-5 are better anyway, most folks just use the CAT-5 wire and terminate it at the RJ-11 connector. The input to the modem is just audio frequencies, which is why CAT-3 will work.

CAT5, 5e and 6 are all flavors of 4-pair cabling, usually terminated in an RJ-45. 10 meg and 100 meg Ethernet only actually use two of the pairs while Gig-E will use all four pairs.

As suggested above, I have my DSL modem on the wall in the garage, right behind the NID with a very short run of wire from the DSL filter in the NID directly to the modem. From there I run Ethernet (CAT-5e) to my router closet.

[Guest]

Okay that makes more sense. So since Gig-E requires all 4 pairs, is the Pace modem only capable of 100 meg ethernet?

Thanks everyone by the way for helping me with all of this.

[Guest]

I think I'm understanding it a bit better now. I was confused about the home run to the modem. It only uses 1 pair, yet to utilize cat 5e or cat 6 you need 4 pair.

So from the splitter to the modem you only need 1 pair of the cat 6. It's only after the modem that everything needs to be 4 pair with all of the appropriately rated plugs and jacks because it's now an ethernet signal. Is that correct?

And if so, do I need a specific cat 5 or cat 6 rated phone jack for the home run? Only 1 pair is used so will any jack that is 6p6c, 6p4c, 6p2c, etc work without limiting the cat 6?

[wa2ibm]

You can use any of the RJ style connectors for the hone run connection from the filter to the modem. Using only one pair, use the blue/white pair which, by standards, is the 1st pair of the four. White w/blue trace is the "Tip" connection, the Blue w/white trace is the "Ring" connection.

Again, the home run connection to the NID is only an audio connection, it's nowhere near the high frequencies for which the CAT-5 (or better) cable is rated, it's just that the cable is easily obtained and is much better than the old "quad olive" (four wire) phone cable commonly found in homes (which contains no twists in the wire pairs).