Ethernet vs. Phone Cord

[aurickle]

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone has experience using 4 wire phone line rather than ethernet. The phone line is much less expensive than ethernet and has the added bonus of being thinner, which would make it easier to hide -- to say nothing of running it under a window or door jam to get outside.

How do the two measure up in terms of data and the number of channels you can use? How about run length?

Anything else to consider?

Thanks!

[ErnieHorning]

Because it’s thinner, it’s more easily damaged. It doesn’t come in twisted pairs, so it doesn’t tolerate as much external electrical noise.

That said, Tim Fischer had been using phone wire for several years up here in Minnesota and said that he'd had no problems. I believe he’s converted to all CAT5 now because his wires finally had to be replaced and the price of CAT5 has dropped significantly over the years.

[Tim Fischer]

My ears are ringing

Yep, I used phone cord almost exclusively from 2003-2010. That last season I started to see some strange channel artifacts, so decided it was time to upgrade. Not sure if it was due to my aging infrastructure, or actual limitations with the phone wire, but it was time to make the switch.

Not sure where you're getting your phone wire but I've actually found Cat5 to be as cheap (if not cheaper) anymore. Check out monoprice.com - hard to beat their prices, although sometimes you'll find a better deal on 25' lengths or something.

Another advantage of sticking with Cat5 is that I use it for my LOR, DMX, and (as of this year) E1.31 networks. It's good to be able to standardize on one type of cable (so long as you keep the networks straight!) For what it's worth, I buy them by color based on length: Green is 25' (thanks to the fact LOR used to give them away like that). Gray is 50'. Black is either very short (e.g. 3') or very long (75'-100'). I avoided the neon colors for obvious reasons

[Dave Batzdorf]

I buy it by the 1000' box and make my own cables. Its easy enough to do and its much neater.

[Sabre03]

I really lucked out. Had a contractor leave 2 full 1000 foot boxes of cat 5 at work. I left it at the job for 3 months after job was completed whoever left it never came back so now it's in my garage

Edited October 12, 2012 by Sabre03

[cenote]

Nothing wrong with phone wire in an LOR "network". Like Tim, I use the stuff all the time. I recently just acquired a bunch to add to my network.

Edited October 12, 2012 by cenote

[aurickle]

Thanks for the replies! It's good info. I have a bunch of phone wire sitting around and there are places where it would definitely make runs easier. I'll probably stick with CAT5 as much as possible, then and only use the phone in those special places.

[k6ccc]

<snip>

For what it's worth, I buy them by color based on length: Green is 25' (thanks to the fact LOR used to give them away like that). Gray is 50'. Black is either very short (e.g. 3') or very long (75'-100').

Like Dave said, I buy 1000 foot boxes and make my own cables. And yep, monoprice.com is seldom beaten on price. Like Tim, I color code the cables, but not based on length. I use different cable colors based on what that particular cable is used for. Here is my list:

LOR Network = Purple Cat-5 w/ LOR network number color tape (note 1)

ITW Network = Purple Cat-5 w/ black tape (note 2)

Video over Cat-5 = Yellow Cat-5 w/ camera number color tape (note 3)

Internet WAN = Red Cat-5

.201 LAN subnet = Blue Cat-5

.202 LAN subnet = Gray Cat-5

.203 LAN subnet = Green Cat-5

Network switch to Network switch trunk (802.11Q) = Orange Cat-5

Flag light control cable = Blue Cat-5 w/ red / white / blue tape

The ones that I use somewhat regularly I keep in boxes. For the ones that I use only once or twice (and it never changes), I will buy pre-made cables (and in some cases, cut those into several pieces and put on connectors). And yes, I have a far more complex computer network than most people. I will have to add another color for the dedicated sub-net that will be used for E1.31...

Note 1: There is a standard color code that electronics techs know very well that is used for identifying resistors. I use that color code to identify the 3 different uses of purple cable and which camera on yellow cable:

0 = Black = ITW network

1 = Brown = LOR Regular network & camera 1

2 = Red = LOR Aux A network

3 = Orange = not used

4 = Yellow = camera 4

5 = Green = not used

6 = Blue = not used

7 = Violet = camera 7

8 = Gray = camera 8

9 = White = not used

Note 2: ITW is short for IT Watchdog which is an environmental monitoring system that I use. (http://www.itwatchdogs.com/)

Note 3: Uses the same resistor color code to identify security camera cables.