Does the Catalyst 3750 switch support Cisco pre-standard compliant IP phones?
A. The Catalyst 3750 switch supports both the Cisco pre-standard PoE method and the IEEE 802.3af PoE standard. The switches automatically supply power to connected pre-standard powered devices, such as Cisco IP phones and Cisco Aironet access points, and to IEEE 802.3af-compliant powered devices if the switch senses that there is no power on the circuit. However, there can be issues when you connect some third party pre-standard compliant devices to the Catalyst 3750, because the third party devices can potentially use different pins in order to detect power. When you deal with third party pre-standard compliant devices, check with the manufacturer about the alignment of the pins for power detection.
