I am not sure if this is the correct community, please let me know if I got it wrong. I am new to PoE. I've inherited a network where in one office there is a PoE wireless access point. This device is connected on the other side to a PoE switch (in the data room) that is about an 80' Category-6 run away.
In this particular office, I need to hardwire two devices above and beyond the existing PoE WAP. One of those two additional devices is an IP phone (which I want to power via POE), while the other is a computer workstation. I think I should be able to run an ethernet cable from the IP phone to the workstation, if need be, which could cut down the cable requirements from 3 to 2. However, both of those are still POE.
Should I just bite the bullet and run new network cables back to the data room 80' away, or is there a way to "split" the one network cable in this office into three cables, two of which need to be connected to my new hardwired POE devices and the third back into the existing PoE WAP?
I recognize the problem here may be power transmission/continuity.
By the way, if need be, I can run the IP Phone with a regular data cable (no PoE) because I have a DC power adapter for it. I do, however, prefer to run it PoE. I have to run the AP via POE since there is no power in the vicinity of the WAP.
Any insights/advice is greatly appreciated!
Best Answer
Splitting a 4-pair UTP cable is completely non-standard, especially with PoE. You will never get a split cable to pass the category suite for that cable category (in your case, Category 6). If you want to run gigabit ethernet over the UTP cable, you will need all four pairs to do that.
The correct way to do this is to run a minimum of two UTP cables to each faceplate. Your WAP is probably going to be in the ceiling or on a wall, and it should have its own dedicated cable, in its own cable pathway.