GS116 Switch Unable to Run Ethernet and Phone Using Cat 5 Cable

[dboothe]

Hi, I purchased a GS116 switch to expand my network which includes both Ethernet and Phone running on a single Cat5 cable. I was able to do this with my previous switch by using 4 wires (1,2,3,6) for the ethernet connection and the other 2 wires for my phone system.  Unfortunately I am only able to get connection by using all 8 wires.  Is this by default, or is this a faulty switch?

[schumaku]

Don't know the exact reason, but experienced that newer switch ports (1G and 10G switch classes) are no longer able to negotiate link rates of 100 Mb/s with just two pairs - depsite of the spec'ed fact that four strands/two pairs are perfectly sufficient for Fast Ethernet. -This is not limited to Netgear btw.

Suspect a change in the design of the Ethernet PHY by the chipset makers.

@YeZ can you figure out with your hardware people what can made this change?

[dboothe]

Thanks for the quick response.