ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area DSL Question. CAT-5 or better?

For DSL, you should run at least CAT-3 UTP from the network interface to the DSL modem. If it were me, I would rip out all the Quad-wire and repace it with CAT-5. I would also make sure that the cable from the wall jack to the phones are UTP. You need to use UTP to avoid cross-talk. The more twists in the cable, the better the ability to reject interference.

One thing to do if they're having problems with the DSL side is to install the DSL modem near the network interface, connect it with a short run of CAT-5, and use one DSL filter at that point. You can then connect the phones downstream of that DSL filter.