I have been using the wall plate style phone jacks with the four screws for terminations, but they are a real PITA to install on a basic voice system where you daisy chain the 4pr, is there a punchdown style wall plate made?

First thing is you shouldn't be daisy chaining the wiring. Each location must be home run back to a central location, next to the panel is usually a good choice. This also applies to CATV jacks. Wiring should never be daisy chained.

As to your question, yes punch down jacks are the only kind we use. They are often called "keystone" jacks which refers to a jack module that snaps into a wall plate to make a complete assembly. You can actually put 6 jacks on one single gang plate. You use a 110 punchdown tool to cut the wiring down. See the Leviton communications products catalog. Those are the ones we prefer to use although there are many others.

They wouldn't help you with daisy chained wiring though because you can only put one wire on a clip.

-Hal

Keystone jacks are a lot easier to use and will really help to organize your install. I order keystone jacks from this company online all the time:
http://cyberxlink.com/index.php/cPath/34

For phone jacks you can use CAT3 or CAT5e. CAT5e is nice because you can use the jacks for data down the road if you like.

No! Stay away from that cheap internet junk. God only knows where it is made and it likely won't interchange with other brands when somebody else goes to replace the jack or add another to the plate. That's big enough of a problem with the name brand stuff.

As for using CAT5e jacks for voice again a big no. You have to pay attention to the wiring because they are not USOC. Repeated insertions of a 6 position plug into an 8 position jack can damage pins 1 and 8 of the jack.

As for possible future use for a computer, who cares. Besides you are using CAT3 cable for voice, right?

Data jacks should be a different color than the plate (we standardized on orange) voice is usually the same color as the plate. Besides that they cost more (well, maybe not for the junk).

-Hal

Hal, I make home runs for the cable, but I don't see the need for them just for basic telephone. Maybe in a custom home, but what about low dollar bid work? Is is going to make a difference?

I definitely agree with Hal about using those cheap, low-quality no-name jacks.
I have seen countless installations where those were used and in a month the surface mount boxes or faceplates have the jacks falling out of them.
They are $1.80 each for a reason.
As for daisy chaining the wiring, it is a way to cut cost on wiring, but it is a PITA to troubleshoot. Try going into a house to do a repair that was daisy chained to find almost every jack covered by furniture, and you have to find the one that is giving the problem that is stopping the whole house's phones from working.
You will be moving furniture while I am in the basement disconnecting one pair at a time until I get dial-tone. By the time you broke that expensive marble table I have already found and fixed the problem.
It offers little flexibility for future expansion.
As for using the 8-pos jacks for voice that is also doing damage to the pins as Hal pointed out earlier.

If you have to shave the couple of bucks off your bid to get the work then so be it just know that there is a better way.

Actually there are some 8 position jacks that are designed to be able to accomodate 6 position plugs.. they have a deeper slot for pins 1 and 8.
Personally, I don't like them, as the 6 position plugs get a little sloppy from side to side.

Pulling cat-5 for phones, no biggy. But stick to the USOC jack, if you need to repurpose the cable later, change the jack.

And I too will advocate for home-runs for everything. To do other-wise is well below current standards, and even for a small house, it can be a curse down the road. i.e. That 5th line, troubleshooting, or repurposing the cable. And some day, that low dollar shack may be worth something. A few extra bucks of cable in the wall (Even unterminated) can make a sale. Or send them packing from brand new obsolete wiring.

I understand your apprehension in ordering telecom products online, but this manufacturer is different. This particular vendor gets their products solely from one chinese manufacturer and offers 15 year warranties on anything that is category rated. Give them a call, I have a friend who works there that sends out samples all the time.

This particular vendor gets their products solely from one chinese manufacturer and offers 15 year warranties...

I think that pretty much says it all right there.

-Hal

Hal,
To say the least!.
Cool Smiley, I like it.

Stole it from the other board.

-Hal

Guys....whether we like it or not, just about everything will be made in China. We regularly use DSC alarm products and the new batch we ordered have "Made in China" stickers over place of the printed "Made in Canada" on all the boxes.