You must set your browser to accept cookies and to enable Javascript in order to access certain functions of this site.

Telephone Wiring Standards

This page describes how to wire various kinds of telephone jacks.

Wire Color Codes
Jack Lead Colors
Standard Jack Wiring
Non-Standard Jack Wiring

Wire Color Codes

Standard Quad-Wire Color codes
Pair 1	T R	Green Red
Pair 2	T R	Black Yellow
NOTE:Presented for historical reasons- nobody uses quad wire anymore.

Standard 4-Pair Wiring Color codes
Pair 1	T R	White/Blue Blue/White
Pair 2	T R	White/Orange Orange/White
Pair 3	T R	White/Green Green/White
Pair 4	T R	White/Brown Brown/White
NOTE:For 6-wire jacks use pair 1, 2 and 3 color codes. For 4-wire jacks use pair 1 and 2 color codes.

Jack Lead Colors

Jack Lead Colors
Pin #	Jack Type
	8P8C/ 8P8C Keyed	6P6C	MMJ
1	Blue(L)	White(W)	Orange(O)
2	Orange(O)	Black(B)	Green(G)
3	Black(B)	Red(R)	Red(R)
4	Red(R)	Green(G)	Yellow(Y)
5	Green(G)	Yellow(Y)	Black(B)
6	Yellow(Y)	Blue(L)	Brown(N)
7	Brown(N)	-	-
8	White(W)	-	-

Standard Jack Wiring

Non-Standard Jack Wiring

The following wiring schemes are non-standard and violate category 5 ratings...but if you only have a single catecory 5 cable in the wall, you can wire it to the jacks in one of two ways to still have telephone and network connections.

This is how to wire one cat 5 cable into a network and a two-line jack:

This is how to wire one cat 5 cable into a network and two one-line jacks:

Join Our Mailing List

Orders: (888) 257-4406	HomeTech Solutions MAP DIRECTIONS HOURS	Phone: (408) 257-4406 Fax: (408) 257-4389 Other Contact Info