Installing telephone wiring has long been conceived as an impossible task for the average Joe. This is not entirely true. Although you can always call an electrician or someone in your phone company, installing telephone wiring is quite easy. In doing this, the only problem one can possibly face is complying with the standards that are set by the phone companies.
Identify the Telephone Network Interface Device.
The Telephone NID is a small gray box that connects your home to a phone line. It is divided into two compartments, the customer access compartment and the telco compartment. Usually, the customer access compartment is locked by a slot headed screw, while the telco compartment is something you cannot touch. Through the customer access compartment, you can check the dial tone, wiring connections, and track lines that coming out of the NID to the home.
Test the NID
The NID can handle 5 lines at a time. Every phone line that is installed should have its own phone jack associated with it. If you only have one phone line, then you will most probably have empty jacks. Make sure that you are able to determine the phone line jack where it is connected with. To test this, you should first disconnect the phone line. Then go ahead and plug your corded phone there. When you hear the dial tone in your corded phone, the fault is probably in the wiring. Else, if no dial tone is heard from here, then call your telco provider as you cannot do anything in this case.
Test the Dial Tone
Every time a new line is installed, phone companies provide at least one jack where you can connect your corded phone. Plug your corded phone to this jack and pick it up. Is there a dial tone? If you have multiple jacks in your home, test each one of them and see whether there are some that are working and some are not. If some of your jacks are working and some are not, then the problem can be between the wiring and the specific jacks only.
If you are installing a new telephone jack, get the one that has a wiring box. For new jacks, it is best that you get a four wire flat silver phone wire. Although you can save some money when you buy the wires without the sheath, in the long run these sheathed wire will save you time, effort, and frustration. Therefore, it is still best that you get the phone wires with the silver sheath.
Christmas and Halloween Telephone Wiring Standard
The initial pair of wires are connected to the so called Christmas pair because they are the green and red wires, wherein the green wire is the tip and the red wire is the ring.
The next pair of wires are then connected to the Halloween pair – the Black and the Yellow wires. In this pair, the black wire is the tip and the yellow will be the ring.
The Tables below show the Different Standards for Telephone Wiring
EIA/TIA 568B Standards
| Pin (Jack) | Pin (Plug) | Color | Pair |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | White/Orange | Tip 2 |
| 2 | 7 | Orange | Ring 2 |
| 3 | 6 | White/Green | Tip 3 |
| 4 | 5 | Blue | Ring 1 |
| 5 | 4 | White/Blue | Tip 1 |
| 6 | 3 | Green | Ring 3 |
| 7 | 2 | White Brown | Tip 4 |
| 8 | 1 | Brown | Ring 4 |
EIA/TIA 568A Standards
| Pin (Jack) | Pin (Plug) | Color | Pair |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | White/Green | Tip 3 |
| 2 | 7 | Green | Ring 3 |
| 3 | 6 | White/Orange | Tip 2 |
| 4 | 5 | Blue | Ring 1 |
| 5 | 4 | White/Blue | Tip 1 |
| 6 | 3 | Orange | Ring 2 |
| 7 | 2 | White Brown | Tip 4 |
| 8 | 1 | Brown | Ring 4 |
USOC (Universal Service Order Code) – 8 Wire Standard
| Pin (Jack) | Pin (Plug) | Color | Pair |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | White/Brown | Tip 4 |
| 2 | 7 | White/Green | Tip 3 |
| 3 | 6 | White/Orange | Tip 2 |
| 4 | 5 | Blue | Ring 1 |
| 5 | 4 | White/Blue | Tip 1 |
| 6 | 3 | Orange | Ring 2 |
| 7 | 2 | Green | Ring 3 |
| 8 | 1 | Brown | Ring 4 |
USOC (Universal Service Order Code) – 6 Wire Standard
| Pin (Jack) | Pin (Plug) | Color | Pair |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | White/Green | Tip 3 |
| 2 | 5 | White/Orange | Tip 2 |
| 3 | 4 | Blue | Ring 1 |
| 4 | 3 | White/Blue | Tip 1 |
| 5 | 2 | Orange | Ring 2 |
| 6 | 1 | Green | Ring 3 |
25 pair Standard
| Pin (Jack) | Pin (Plug) | Color | Pair |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | Blue/White | Ring 1 |
| 2 | 49 | Orange/White | Ring 2 |
| 3 | 48 | Green/White | Ring 3 |
| 4 | 47 | Brown/White | Ring 4 |
| 5 | 46 | Slate/White | Ring 5 |
| 6 | 45 | Blue/Red | Ring 6 |
| 7 | 44 | Orange/Red | Ring 7 |
| 8 | 43 | Green/Red | Ring 8 |
| 9 | 42 | Brown/Red | Ring 9 |
| 10 | 41 | Slate/Red | Ring 10 |
| 11 | 40 | Blue/Black | Ring 11 |
| 12 | 39 | Orange/Black | Ring 12 |
| 13 | 38 | Green/Black | Ring 13 |
| 14 | 37 | Brown/Black | Ring 14 |
| 15 | 36 | Slate/Black | Ring 15 |
| 16 | 35 | Blue/Yellow | Ring 16 |
| 17 | 34 | Orange/Yellow | Ring 17 |
| 18 | 33 | Green/Yellow | Ring 18 |
| 19 | 32 | Brown/Yellow | Ring 19 |
| 20 | 31 | Slate/Yellow | Ring 20 |
| 21 | 30 | Blue/Violet | Ring 21 |
| 22 | 29 | Orange/Violet | Ring 22 |
| 23 | 28 | Green/Violet | Ring 23 |
| 24 | 27 | Brown/Violet | Ring 24 |
| 25 | 26 | Slate/Violet | Ring 25 |
| 26 | 25 | White/Blue | Tip 1 |
| 27 | 24 | White/Orange | Tip 2 |
| 28 | 23 | White/Green | Tip 3 |
| 29 | 22 | White/Brown | Tip 4 |
| 30 | 21 | White/Slate | Tip 5 |
| 31 | 20 | Red/Blue | Tip 6 |
| 32 | 19 | Red/Orange | Tip 7 |
| 33 | 18 | Red/Green | Tip 8 |
| 34 | 17 | Red/Brown | Tip 9 |
| 35 | 16 | Red/Slate | Tip 10 |
| 36 | 15 | Black/Blue | Tip 11 |
| 37 | 14 | Black/Orange | Tip 12 |
| 38 | 13 | Black/Green | Tip 13 |
| 39 | 12 | Black/Brown | Tip 14 |
| 40 | 11 | Black/Slate | Tip 15 |
| 41 | 10 | Yellow/Blue | Tip 16 |
| 42 | 9 | Yellow/Orange | Tip 17 |
| 43 | 8 | Yellow/Green | Tip 18 |
| 44 | 7 | Yellow/Brown | Tip 19 |
| 45 | 6 | Yellow/Slate | Tip 20 |
| 46 | 5 | Violet/Blue | Tip 21 |
| 47 | 4 | Violet/Orange | Tip 22 |
| 48 | 3 | Violet/Green | Tip 23 |
| 49 | 2 | Violet/Brown | Tip 24 |
| 50 | 1 | Violet/Slate | Tip 25 |
Reminders:
- Pin 1 is almost the left most pin in telephone jacks. While Pin 8 is the right most pin when looking at telephone plugs.
- The plug is always the male end of the cable and the jack on the wall is the female.
- The tip is the positive wire and the ring is the negative wire.
