Look, it's fairly simple.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
There is a standard for what kind of cable you use in T1 applications.
If you use what Livingston ships with PM3s, you'll probably be fine.
THE STUFF:
T1 cabling is not esoteric; it's just not UTP. I don't know all of the
gory electrical details, but it's 22 ga wire, individually shielded pairs,
probably with a separate drain wire.
You can buy this stuff in bulk almost anywhere (I get it from Eagle in
California, since they have great prices and quality merchandise) or you
can buy it pre-assembled, which is what I'd recommend for standard
applications. I happen to buy them from Kentrox (the 930xx141) because
they make a beautiful cable (certainly better than I do!), but I've seen
them advertised other places as well.
However, if have one or two T1s and you're going 10 feet from one end of a
rack to the other, you probably don't care. You can use cat3, cat5, or
even silver satin, probably.
The issue comes in when you're going extended distance or when you have
multiple circuits close together. At that point, you've got to pay
attention to how you're cabling things.
As far as I can tell, Livingston is shipping 4-wire patch cables built with
cat 5 (UTP) wire with the PM3. These will probably work for the distance
they ship. If you want to go longer than that, or if you have a lot of
T1s, you should use the real stuff.
jms
Joel M Snyder, 1404 East Lind Road, Tucson, AZ, 85719
Phone: +1 520 324 0494 (voice) +1 520 324 0495 (FAX)
jms@Opus1.COM http://www.opus1.com/jms Opus One