Cisco 3524XL PWR and Nortel IP Phone 2004

Hi All

I have been searching quite a lot, but not been able to find anything on this topic.

I have a Cisco Catalyst 3524XL PWR which is a pre-IEEE PoE switch (when Cisco called it Inline Power). It should still follow the 802.3af standard with a few exceptions.

I was just wondering if I can feed power to 10-15 Nortel IP Phone 2004 using this switch? The Nortel phones supports the 802.3af standard. It would be good to know this before I buy phones, otherwise I have to buy external power supplies with all phones.

Some help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

/Thomas

Hi Thomas and welcome to Voipuser

I don't know the definitive answer to your question but I do just want to warn you to wait until you have one before you do any testing.

High Current POE is fraught with problems and you will have to check very carefully whether the Cisco unit provides the right polarity and if so, just how many of your intended phones it will support.

You may still have to operate some from an external power source to keep within the capabilities of the Cisco switch. It should be possible to (eventually) get the Cisco 'pin out' info from the Cisco website site.

I dont want to frighten you but - be careful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbqDSa5i_FQ

Hi

The Cisco non ieee switches do not follow the 802.af specs, they tried to push the spec to match theirs but failed.

There (are)/(was) adaptors to allow the use of 802.af equipment with them but they cost as much as a normal POE adaptor.

Depending on the age this swicth will be more of a liability. They are well known for frying network hardware.

Ian

Thanks a lot both of you for your feedback and advice.

After posting here initially, I did a bit more reading and I eventually decided to buy a new 802.af compliant switch, Cisco Catalyst WS-C2960-24PC-L.

I don't want to take the risk of frying any of the Nortel phones.

/Thomas