The Rub

110 Style Punch Block How-To/Tutorial

What is the difference between a 110 and a 66 style punch block?

A 66-style punch block is an older style punch block, often still used to terminate phone lines. It has grown out of favor for most uses though because it only supports Category 3, which is about 10Mbps.

How does a 66 style punch block work?

There are two types of 66 blocks - regular and split. A split block, which is more common, splits the connection down the middle vertically. As well, each row is independent. The only connections that are made in a split-66 block are for the two side by side pins, like this:

a a b b
c c d d
e e f f

Often, bridge pieces (seen below) are used to connect the left side with the right. A regular 66 block already has each row connected, as in:

a a a a
b b b b
c c c c

Here is a picture of a split 66 block:

What is a 110 block?

A 110 block supports Category 6, allowing speeds up to 1000Mbps. You can do anything with a 110 block that you can do with a 66 style block, but it is a little different.

A 110 block has two "layers" - it works by punching down one layer of wires, and then punching in the connecting wires on top of the original wires.

For instance, a typical use is to install ethernet cabling from an ethernet port to the bottom of the block, and then punch on top either a patch cable, or a cable to a patch panel.

What tools are required?

You will need a punch down tool. I got a 110 style tool at Menards for $12 (01/2007). However, beware that 66 blocks use a different tool tip than 110 blocks. If you buy an expensive punch down tool - you can get a nice one starting around $50 - then you can get tips for 110 and 66. The tips on the nicer ones are also reversable, so that you can choose to automatically cut off the excess wire, or not. On my cheapo $12 tool, I had to grind off the cutting blade because I was doing some work where I needed a continuous wire - so now I have to snip the excess manually. Yes, I'm cheap.

How do I wire a phone line with a 110 style block?

Caveat emptor: I am a unix admin, not a wire monkey. I have no formal training and could very well be doing this the wrong way. However, it seems like as long as you do it in a clean fashion, there are not very many hard and fast rules.

My house, built in 2006, used a split 66 punch down block for the phone system. It looked pretty, and I didn't really understand how it worked. Soon, I needed to add a phone line in the basement for my DSL modem. Because of the way it was wired, expansion would require redoing the entire right side of the block. Additionally, I would need more bridges, which are unavailable locally without buying an entire 66 block. Here's the before:

On the left is the wires coming from the telephone outlets. I am wired for two phone lines - one pair per line, two lines per outlet equals two pair per run. On the right side is 4 individual wires that go and connect up each line with each other.

I didn't want to buy a 66 style tool, and I don't plan on using any 66 stuff, so I decided to tear it out alltogether and install a 110 block. Here's how I did it:

So basically all this does is link every 4th port with eachother. Then, on top you just punch down your phone wires one by one. The first one I punched down was my incoming. The rest are the various phone lines to the rest of the house.

I did something a little weird in that last picture. Notice that the lines all go under the label. I think the way this block is meant to be used is to run the incoming wires under the label, then the outgoing wires on the top or bottom of the block. Since I didn't have any incoming wires in this case, this scheme worked out - but I might have to change it if I ever need to use the bottom, because the wires push the label off center a little bit.

How do I wire ethernet ports with a 110 style block?

Ethernet is very simple to do in 110 blocks. You simple punch down all the wires coming from your outlets to the bottom layer, and then punch down whatever you want to connect them to on the top layer. You can connect them to a patch panel, or you can just run them directly to your switch.

I still need to patch in the ethernet, but here is the finished picture:

As I mentioned - I am no wire monkey. If something is inaccurate in this tutorial, please e-mail me.