Re: POTS and Ethernet over CAT-5 Cable

["BruceR" <brNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxx>]

No need to turn off the ringing. The ringing voltage isn't going to
cause any problems. The use of POTS with ethernet is per specification
and won't be a problem. Where I haven't been able to readily run another
cable I have done this a number of times with NO problems ever. The
pairs you have available for phones are the blue/white and brown/white
pairs. The blue/white pair appears on pins 4 & 5, the two center pins of
the RJ45 jack so you could just plug th phone in and it will work. If
you plug an RJ45 splitter in then you can plug a phone in one side and
an ethernet cable in the other.  To use the brown/white pair, which are
on pins 7 & 8, will involve a bit of custom configuration of the phone
cord.

From:BrianEWilliams
sorry_no_email@xxxxxxxxx

> Thanks for all the very helpful replies!!
>
> I should have mentioned that I am in the US, so POTS takes two wires.
> My assumption that Ethernet takes two wires was wrong, but that still
> leaves room for two POTS lines on the remaining 4 wires.
>
> I need to reread this thread a few times to really understand what I
> need to do, but one question comes to mind.
>
> If turn the ringer off on the phone connected to the CAT-5 cable, will
> that help solve some of the issues with the ring voltage possibly
> causing packet loss?