But they ask for, and pay for it, they get it.
And that's fine. The problem I have is when the installation has not been dictated many guys out of ignorance will do everything in CAT5 because that's all they know.
Voice wiring has been around way longer than CAT5, networks and computers. The same wiring used for a network can be used for voice but so can a barbed wire fence. If you don't need it why go through the extra time and effort to terminate it and spend extra money for the material?
Maybe your situation is different but when I punch down the cables I don't untwist the pairs much, try to avoid untwisting more than a half inch of wire. It would seem to me that there isn't much untwisting to do. Is there a reason to have to untwist the pairs more than this on a regular basis?
Most of our installations use 66 blocks. You need at least a couple of inches of untwisted pair to be able to hold on to the wire with your fingers so you can pull it in the slot then hook it in the clip from the top down. No problem with CAT 3. When you have all 25 pair in place you cut them all down.
If you are using 66 blocks it sounds like you are doing it the "CAT5" way. This is what you would need to do if you were using CAT5 for data and would need to maintain the CAT5 rating of the block.
Instead of untwising the pairs you pull both through a slot between two clips. You untwist enough so that you can hook one wire in the clip above going up and the other wire in the clip below going down. If you don't untwist enough to be able to do this with your fingers you will have to use your needlenose and you risk damaging the insulation if you grab the conductor before the point where it will be on the clip. Now, the big problem with this method is when you cut it down you have to remember to flip your tool over for every other clip. To say the least it's slow going and more meticulous. Not something I would want to do unless I had to.
As for Uncle Jim's site, about the only good illustration of a voice crossconnect with CAT3 cables is the picture entitled "Here's a Real World Installation". Notice the use of 89 brackets with the 66M blocks.
All of his stuff looks awful and is not something that I would try to emulate.
-Hal
