Cat6 on 3 twisted pairs... throughput?

[junitas]

Bought a house that was recently renovated and discovered that the incredibly short-sighted previous owner just did a single Cat 6 drop to a number of the rooms. Attic is inaccessible, so I'm left having to figure out how I optimally hook-up local ethernet and some phone drops (ATT uverse receiver).

Anyway, I know I can split the pairs (4/4) and have a 10/100 network. However, I'd like to eek out some more speed if I can... which brings me to the question of 3 twisted pairs vs 2. I only need the single pair for the phones, meaning I'll have 3 twisted pairs left to work with.

Is there any speed difference when using 3 pairs? Will I be able to get 1gbps on 3 or do I have to use all 4? Can't find anything about this online, figuring someone on here probably has an idea.

Thanks,
rt

 

[ahnilated]

Name Speed Standard Wires used Comments
10BASE-T 10Mb/s 802.3i 2 pairs: pins 1,2,3,6 Runs over four wires on a Category 3 or Category 5 cable.
100BASE-TX 100Mb/s 802.3u 2 pairs: pins 1,2,3,6 CAT5 copper cabling with two twisted pairs.
1000BASE-T 1000Mb/s 802.3ab 4 pairs: pins 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 At least Category 5 cable, with Category 5e strongly recommended copper cabling with four twisted pairs. Each pair is used in both directions simultaneously
10GBASE-T 10000Mb/s 802.3an 4 pairs: pins 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Uses category 6a cable.

 

[bill001g]

If you can find the magic equipment that supports 1000-tx (note this is not 1000-t). This equipment can run 1g over 2 pair of cat6 cable.

This was the reason cat6 cable was invented. It is designed to use only 2 pair but still provide 1g. It never really went anywhere there is a small amount of older cisco stuff that supports it.

This is the reason cat6 cable is pretty much a worthless option. Cat5e can run 1g and you really need cat6a if you want to run 10g. There really is no actual need for cat6 cable.......but of course people think a bigger number is always better.