tel cables and CAT6

[trowelhead]

Then please tell me why BT supply cat5 cable for their infinity broadband and not cw1308?

One Openreach engineer told me it is because the RJxx plugs cannot be crimped onto CW1308 cable so for ease of installation a cable onto which the plugs can be crimped is used.

Typical Openreach engineer,
They dont fit the plugs themselves
The cat5 cable they use is 2 pair and not the normal 4 pair.
It would make no difference fitting the plugs to either cable as it is practically the same cable from the same manufacturer,just 1 cable has tighter twists on the pairs than the other.

 

[bernardgreen]

They dont fit the plugs themselves

The people who pre-assemble cables and plugs have the same problem putting plugs onto cable with solid cores.

 

[cajar]

I didn't know it was impossible to crimp RJ45 plugs onto solid core cables, silly me I've been doing it for years.

 

[SimonH2]

The people who pre-assemble cables and plugs have the same problem putting plugs onto cable with solid cores.

Actually there is no problem - you just need to use the correct plug. Right plug for the cable = no problem.

Trouble is that most people don't know that RJxx* plugs come in a number of different types - for the various combinations of round or flat cable, and stranded or solid conductors.
Plugs for stranded cable typically have two straight "prongs" on the contacts which pierce the insulation and nestle between the strands of the conductor - if used on solid cable the prongs either sit to one side of the single strand without making reliable contact, or press through it and cut the conductor (which may not show up until the cable is flexed a bit in use).
Plugs for solid cable have prongs (2 or 3) which are designed to straddle the solid care without cutting it.


* Calling them RJxx (as in RJ11 or RJ45) is actually wrong. RJxx codes are not descriptions of plugs/sockets, they are instruction for how to wire a particular combination of phone services.

 

[roberta1000]

At ADSL frequencies transmission line effects of the cable's construction have a significant effect.

The effect is most noticable at the end of long exchange lines.

The debate about 1308 vs CATx cable has rattled around for years.

Technically it's true of course that there will be an impedance mismatch if you extend BT cabling with CAT5 but in practice the BT line isn't generally terminated properly anyway but feeds into a semi-parallel assortment of sockets, phones, sky boxes, modems and the like with an endless variety of mismatches and reflections.

I usually use 1308 where its flexibility is useful but to be quite honest I've never found any practical difference between 1308 and CAT5 on ADSL performance.

YMMV