 Can you use CAT 6 cable for the telephone? Due to the evolution of telephone systems, we continually are asked for advice on telephone system cabling. Is my existing cabling suitable? Will I need additional points? Can I use CAT 6 cable for the telephone? The simple answer is yes. CAT 6 for modern telephone systems is a suitable cable to install. However, it's not just the telephone systems you should be considered when designing an overall cabling installation. CAT 5E, CAT 6, and CAT 6A are all suitable for modern VoIP systems. However, your requirements overall will decide if you need a lower or higher specification. The confusion in cabling requirements sometimes comes about due to how the system evolved from the legacy BT systems to today's modern equivalents. Legacy phone systems. Legacy phone systems such as the BT phone line on the wall did not use modern data cabling for its connections. BT standard cable was specifically used to install all the connections. This cable known as CW1308 would be installed for the BT sockets directly back to a BT connection point. Hence the phone lines were separate from the rest of the communications networks. The BT points were not to a data transmission standard and therefore couldn't be used for Internet such as PCs or Wi-Fi. Therefore you would have two separate installations. Digital systems. Telephone systems then progressed through to a digital version which compared to the legacy systems had a bit more flexibility. To begin with standard data cabling was installed from the communications room to both PCs and telephones using separate data cables. Furthermore, these cables were terminated onto the same patch panels and onto data modules at the desk. These cables were usually CAT5E and sometimes CAT6 cable. The incoming BT lines were then installed into a digital phone system. Finally, individual cables or lines were taken from the phone system onto additional patch panels with each port designating an extension number. These ports would then be patched to an outlet number to get a staff member their designated phone number. The shortfall in this system was you needed to add more cables and panels to increase the phone numbers and also repatching was constantly required if people moved around the office. VoIP systems. VoIP is the standard for the modern telephone system. For the most part, all offices now either have this system or will eventually move to it. With a VoIP system, individual data cables are installed from the communications cabinet to each desk. Some systems install two cables for the user. One would be for the phone and one for the PC. In contrast, some systems use one cable per user and plug the PC into the phone and use the same cable. Subsequently the PCs and phones the same data switches within the data cabinet. The phone number is allocated to the phone itself. Wherever the phone goes the number goes. Therefore moving people and phone numbers is easy and efficient. Furthermore adding new numbers is via software and quick and almost instant. Cableing for telephone systems. In summary, to answer can I use CAT 6 cable for the telephone? The answer is yes of course. However, as described above the modern VoIP system is part of an overall data network within your office. Therefore the decision on the cabling you require will depend on a few factors such as those below. Required speeds of network. Number of outlets. Future expansion allowances. Restrictions on installation such as false floors and containment. Budget. Data cabling options. For the majority of installations CAT 6 is recommended as the minimum standard for your overall data cabling installation. However, a lot of clients still specify a CAT 5e installation to minimize costs. CAT 5e and CAT 6 are both suitable for 1 gigabit speeds and therefore either choice is suitable in a large proportion of installations. At the same time, many network requirements are moving to a minimum of 10 gigabits. Thus CAT 6 has a slight advantage over CAT 5e in that CAT 6 can transmit 10 gig up to 55 meters. In contrast, CAT 5e is not suitable for 10 gig. However, for standardized cabling for 10 gigabit CAT 6a is the standard for installation. Telephone systems only require a maximum of 1 gigabit for transmission and in many cases only 100 megabytes. Therefore many clients believe that they can install CAT 5e or CAT 6 to the phones and CAT 6a to the PCs for 10 gigabit connections. While this is technically true and would work it destroys all the advantages of a structured cabling network. A structured cabling design is to standardize all cabling to its maximum design so that for any change in layout, equipment or technology the cabling is suitable. Furthermore, the additional time taken to install two different types of cable negates any savings in material costs. Telephone system data cabling advice. In summary, our standard guidance on telephone systems is to look at your overall design as a whole. If you only require a gigabit network overall, then install CAT 6 cable as standard. If budget is an issue then possibly go for CAT 5e. At the same time if 10 gigabit is required within your network then our advice is to go for CAT 6a throughout. This will give you future flexibility and a standard of wiring. For further assistance or a free survey, please email or call on the details below and click like and subscribe if you have enjoyed this video.