Using Cat5E cable for telephone wiring?

I am building a house. Because of a tiny little math error on my part, I have a LOT more Cat 5E cable than I can possibly use for networking my house. I talked to my electrical contractor about using this for phone wiring and he said absolutely not, that this could not be used. I called a couple of others and they said, sure no problem, Cat 5E is actually better than regular phone wiring. The phone company (bless them) said they would send a tech out to assess the situation and answer the question for a mere $74.00 (to start). Anybody know the correct answer? Thanks

Cat5e is a more expensive phone data line, but mostly exactly the same! You can use it! Most techs don't like to use it where there is networking simply because it is more difficult to identify the wire run due to the color. The difference is the amount of twists per foot to reduce radio freq. Check out this site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_...

I'm now in my third house wired with cat5 telco and it's NOT a problem! Just keep in mind that building codes in some areas do not allow you to use it for telco.

Wire is wire at the basic definition. The only concern I would see is that cat5, whether it's e or not, is twisted for a reason. The change in resistance/capacitance might interfere with the phone and make it sound a little washy. If anything, take a little bit to a known working phone, make the connections and see what happens. You could even take one of your spools, put connectors on both sides and then test. That way you would know how it will react with the phone even up to 500ft or however long your phone line runs are. Good luck!

Proper phone wire is cat1. Most people don't even bother, they use flat wiring, but cat1 is rated for less interference and constant impedance over longer distances. Cat1 is actually twisted pair cable. When networking came along, the standards of cat1 wouldn't cut it. Cat5e is a superset of cat1, meaning that it exceeds (in fact blows away) the standards for cat1. You'll have the clearest phone line on the block.

of course you can use cat 5e it is virtually the same.
I just finished 250 house at a military base. Guess what wire we used for the phones with no problems?
Your contractor sounds a litttle like he's trying to ?

Phone line cables are 18 to 22 gage, almost the same used for networking cables. I think there will be no problem using it. However, you need to consider the approval of your project by a local agency inspector. If this is the case, you shall follow your local codes and regulations. Maybe, that's why your contractor doesn't want to use it.