On 12/28/2010 08:01 PM, Drew wrote: >> The colors do not matter. What matters is the pairs. > > And every person who comes after you will curse your work because > *both* the colors *and* the pairs are part of the 568A/B standard. > > In my shop if you tried that you'd be very quickly looking for work > elsewhere. ;-) Electrically it matters also. If you want to be able to have the cable usable to the full distance specified by the standard, colors matter. The reason is placement in the bundle and crosstalk between the pairs. For very short patch cables it would not matter, electrically.