I used the following scheme when my wife's business moved into a pre-wired office in 1986. We duplicated the setup in an new office in 2003.
Each workstation has 4 8P8C jacks wired USOC-568 A or B from each workstation via CAT-5 cables to similarly wired jacks in a patch panel on a rack in the N (network) room. Any of the jacks can be used for: 10-Base T Ethernet 100-Base T Ethernet 1000-Base T Ethernet (in the new office with a CAT-5e cable installation certified by the installer) serial connections (using RJ-45 to 8P8C adapters) audio (using 10x audio isolation transformer on each end mounted in an old Farallon Systems EtherTalk connector dongle) phone using a 6P4C RJ-14 jumper. Note that the third pair of a RJ-25 (three pairs in a 6P6C plug) will travel over different pairs in the cable. That is not an issue for analog or Panasonic digital hybrid telephone sets. This might be an issue for the older generation of Panasonic proprietary telephones that use the third pair (for intercom?). A purist might create specialized jumpers between 8P8C and 6P4C connectors on each end to make all of the pairs line up, and to avoid (small) problems that arise when plugging in a 6P plug in a 8P jack.. For connections to the Panasonic Digital telephone, I used a 25-pair CAT-3 cable with Amphenol connectors on each end to connect the phone system to the back of a panel that splits out each RJ-21X 25-pair Amphenol connector to 8 * 6P6C jacks wired RJ-25. These panels are available for two or more Amphenol connectors from Ortronics and others. The incremental cost of additional capacity is very small. I bought a panel with space for 6 Amphenol connectors. This will accommodate a 32 extension KX-TD phone system with two spare Amphenol connectors. I used one connector to connect the incoming POTS lines (2 lines per jack for Panasonic), and the output of a hardwired DSL splitter. One punch-down block wired to a 25-pair Amphenol connector that connects the POTS lines to the 25-pair cable is mounted high so that it is not accidentally modified. With this scheme, we contracted for someone to pull, terminate, and certify the network wires to the workstations and a rack-mounted patch panel ahead of move day. We purchased pre-fabricated cables that we plugged-in on-site during move day. The punch-down tool was used to terminate 8 lines + DSL from the old office on move day, and kept holstered afterwards. This has enabled my wife (and me sometimes) to move/add/change locations of phones as needed. We can troubleshoot the incoming phone lines with no punch-down tool required. Some of the workstations need multiple Ethernet connections (printer, 2nd computer) and some need multiple phone connections (fax, postage machine). The flexibility has been incredibly useful. The wiring is ready for VoIP via POE phones. This is late at night. I hope that I correctly typed all of the cable, jack and plug designations. Good luck, Paul H. Gusciora San Rafael, CA --- Original Text --- Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 14:53:17 -0400 From: "D.Pageau" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: Infodev EDI <http://www.infodev.ca> To: kxt@kxthelp.com Subject: KX-T: RJ45 Telco Patch Panel Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] All my cable infrastructure is built using CAT5 and RJ45. In the data room all cable ends in the same RJ45 patch pannel. Using a cable as data or voice is only a mater of connecting a patch cord to Ethernet Switch or Phone System (Dual KX-TD1232) as needed. Right now, for the phone system, the centronics cable is punch connected to the back of RJ45 data patch panel. I'm looking for a similar solution but instead of punch down i'd like to use a RJ45 patch panel with centronics in the back. Using centronics<->centronics instead of punch down. 24xRJ45, 6 conductor on each RJ45, 3 centronics or 48xRJ45, 6 conductor on each RJ45, 6 centronics So far i've found this product, no luck it's RJ11 (or RJ12 ?) not RJ45. http://www.icc.com/media/spec/210.pdf _________________________________________________________________ KX-T Mailing list --- http://kxthelp.com/ Subscription changes: http://kxthelp.com/mailman/listinfo/kxt