[selowitch]

Hi! Not really a networking question, but I imagine folks who peruse the Networking subform would know the answer, so if you'll indulge me:

I've installed a box in the drywall of my kitchen for a new phone, from which I have run a length of Cat-5e cable. How do I connect the Cat-5e to a telephone jack or plug (RJ-11, not RJ-45)? Does anybody have a link to a diagram? Thanks.

[newtech]

White/Blue = Green = Tip1
Blue/White = Red = Ring1
White/Orange = yellow = Aux = Ring2
Orange/White = Black = Ground = Tip2

http://www.ablecomm.info/colorcodes.htm

http://www.kraycabling.com/technical.../usoc_indx.htm

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by newtech

White/Blue = Green = Tip1
Blue/White = Red = Ring1
White/Orange = yellow = Aux = Ring2
Orange/White = Black = Ground = Tip2

http://www.ablecomm.info/colorcodes.htm

http://www.kraycabling.com/technical.../usoc_indx.htm

This is a terrific start, thank you; however, I must confess that I lack the electronics background to meaningfully intepret what I see here. If it lacks a keyboard and a mouse, I'm no good to anybody, y'know what I mean?

[ghporter]

First, Blue/white means the wire is BLUE with a white trace of paint on it (which is sometimes faded or scuffed looking), while White/blue means the wire is WHITE with a blue trace of paint. You can extend this to all the other colors so you can tell the pairs apart and which wire is tip and which is ring.

Now basically, you need to connect the green and red wires to the center pair of contacts in the RJ11 jack, and the yellow and black wires to the outside pair. Order DOES make a difference in some cases, so look for a color code marking on the back of the jack. Some use colored marks, while others use "R G Y B" to indicate red, green yellow and black respectively. If that fails, the RED wire (blue/white in Cat 5) goes to the center LEFT contact when the jack is viewed from the front, and the GREEN wire (white/blue in Cat 5) goes to the center RIGHT contact.

One more note, while yellow and black are often refered to as "AUX" and "Ground" because the phone company has used the second pair to power internally lit phones, that's another valid telephone pair-you can use a two line phone on any jack that's properly wired, using the yellow/black pair for the second line-as long as that pair isn't already connected to a phone that's got a power block connected to it.

[selowitch]

This is excellent information, but being the doofus noob that I am, I'm kind of in need of more of the: 1) strip about 2" of insulation from the cable; 2) untwist the various pairs and locate the blue/white wire, then strip about 1" of insulation from that wire; 3) next, locate the terminal marked blah, blah, blah. Pictures would really help, because like I said, electronics confuse me in a way that computer programming does not.

If you need a web page written in PHP, I'm your man; if you need me to program the VCR, forget it. Likewise, I cannot be relied upon to set digital watches, and home wiring is one of things I just don't "get" intuitively.

Thanks for being patient with me!

[ghporter]

You need to strip only enough of the jacket (the outer cover) to get the ends of the wire to and around the terminals (or to the punch terminals) of the jack you're wiring. Figure less than 1/4 inch of stripped lead for a screw-type terminal, and only enough wire to go through a punch terminal by about 1/8 inch. So the length of jacket you strip off depends on how far apart the terminals are. Don't untwist the wires until they are as close as possible to the terminals-this helps maintain noise immunity.

I've just spent about 10 minutes searching for a simple "this is how you wire a phone jack" and I haven't found it. Then I finally used a very simple search: "how to wire a telephone jack" and BINGO! Here.

I hope this works for you.

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by ghporter

I've just spent about 10 minutes searching for a simple "this is how you wire a phone jack" and I haven't found it. Then I finally used a very simple search: "how to wire a telephone jack" and BINGO! Here.

I hope this works for you.

It looks like the Lowe's article refers to the old four-wire scheme for telephones and doesn't apply to Cat-5e at all.

[ghporter]

There's nothing you can do with the other four wires except for either trimming them at the end of the jacket or twisting them around the jacket (both are common).

[vmarks]

The lowe's article is for four wire. which is fine, you;ve already been told which wires of cat5e translate to those four wires. Use them.

The other wires can be clipped, twisted and set aside, or used for creative uses that I hesitate to even mention to you at this point for fear of confusing you further.

But I'll hint at one. I had DSL at my house. Rather than place filters at every phone jack, I placed one filter in the dmarc box (the one that says Phone Company, Do not tamper with) and used the extra pairs on the cat5e to run back a data line off the data side of the filter specifically to the wall plate near the dsl modem.)

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by vmarks

The lowe's article is for four wire. which is fine, you;ve already been told which wires of cat5e translate to those four wires. Use them.

OK. But I thought that modern telephones used six wires. What made me think that?

[ghporter]

Some phone jacks do have six wires, but not typical residential jacks.

I highly endorse vmarks' DSL setup-mine is the same. A single, whole-house filter makes everything not only much simpler, but also more robust. My house was built (in 2002) to current standards, which includes all telephone lines being "home run" (directly wired to the network box outside without any branches), so I simply specified an extra jack in my study for the DSL modem, and had that line connected to the filter. Voila! No fuss with filters.

[eltrut]

Originally Posted by selowitch

OK. But I thought that modern telephones used six wires. What made me think that?

Regular telephones ? Never seen that.
What does the 5th and sixth wire do ?

[newtech]

Ffith and sixth ( actually position 1 and 6 ) wire are line three of an RJ-25C jack

[selowitch]

Well, it seems to me that 4-pin modular jacks are harder to find b/c they are the old style, and that 6-pin connectors are the norm right now. I assume that six pins means six wires inside the cable, right? Or am I hopelessly confused?

[ghporter]

Just use the four middle pins with the appropriate pairs from the Cat5 wire. Unless you're using a THREE LINE phone, you won't notice any difference. The reason the newer jacks have 6 connectors is that it's easier to train an "assistant" wiring worker to connect all six wires in Cat 3 (the OLD standard for new construction telephone wiring) than to train him what to do with the extra wires. You're significantly smarter than that-but then so is plaster...

[selowitch]

Okey, dokey. I have my surface-mount jack ready. It has six connectors. Would it be correct to do it this way?

Code:
White Connector (not connected)
Cat-5e blue/white wire --> Red Connector
Cat-5e white/blue wire --> Green Connector
Cat-5e orange/white wire --> Yellow Connector
Cat-5e white/orange wire --> Black Connector
Blue Connector (not connected)
Cat-5e green/white wire (not connected)
Cat-5e white/green wire (not connected)
Cat-5e brown/white wire (not connected)
Cat-5e white/brown wire (not connected)

This seems to jibe with what you were saying about connecting only the middle four, because this scheme leaves the first (white) and last (blue) connectors disconnected. This looks suspiciously like newtech's diagram (above), although I'm not sure what the Aux and Ring notations mean.

I'm further assuming that each wire from the Cat 5e cable wraps around the same post as its corresponding wire inside the phone jack, right? Also, what should I do with the unconnected wires? Should I cover them with electrical tape or something?

Also, I do want to do a "one filter for the whole house" approach (as articulated by vmarks), but I heard that one is better off getting a POTS splitter (which is made to go outdoors inside your telco's network interface device) than a DSL filter, which is usually designed only for indoor use.

[ghporter]

Aux and Ring refer to USES these lines are put to, nothing else-and the Aux/Ground pair, as I said earlier, is typically used as the SECOND PHONE LINE, rather than a power line.

You're right about connecting the appropriate Cat 5 wire to the correct color coded terminal in the phone jack-connect the Blue/white wire to the red terminal, the White/blue wire to the green terminal, the Orange/white wire to the yellow terminal and the White/orange wire to the black terminal. It's a good practice to a) wind the wire around screw terminals in the direction that tightens the terminal (clockwise from the screw head side) and b) wind the bare wire almost one full turn around the terminal before tightening it. It's ok to have some extra bare wire at the end sticking out if it's right next to the incoming wire.

The difference between a POTS splitter and a DSL filter is more symantic than anything else; they do the same thing. My DSL filter is in a small box separate from the NID, but there are some that actually go IN the NID.

[selowitch]

OK, I have still have a question or two. Please refer to the following picture:



My questions are:

1. Do I need to thread each wire through the holes from the back? It seems like if I used the triangular gaps, the expose wires would be too lengthy.
2. Do I need to wrap each wire around both of the two posts to which its particular colored mate is attached?
3. When I strip the insulation off of the wires, do I need to separate the strands (i.e., the orange and white from the orange/white), or just the wires (I'm pretty sure it's the latter)?

[ghporter]

The triangular holes are indeed for pushing the wire through. But you only need to bring the twisted pairs through one of them, or through the middle holes, top and bottom. Note the tabs at top and bottom-they're for holding wires down, but they also guard holes you can gring wires through.

I'd bring both twisted pairs through the bottom hole and then split them right there so the correct wire (blue/white to RED, white/blue to Green, etc.) goes to the correct terminal. Then twist the wire around ONE of the screw terminals.

Strip each wire (orange/white is separate from white/orange) back about 3/8" or so and wrap the end clockwise around the terminal for the appropriate colored wire.

How's that for clearing things up?

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by ghporter

How's that for clearing things up?

Fabulous. You're the man! Thank you very much. I always enjoy your posts and appreciate your friendly and informative messages.

[ghporter]

Glad to help. I'm in school right not changing careers, so being able to use stuff I know that I know helps ME out a lot.