Home Phone Wiring Color Code
The wires inside an nm sheathed cable are color coded to make it possible to identify each one at both ends of the cable and wire correctly.
Home phone wiring color code. Advice for home phone wiring and jacks with information about adding second or third line dsl and reference for wire color codes. The solid blue wire is the ring and gets connected to the red jack terminal. One pair of wires is used for one telephone line. This helps the sound quality.
Newer homes can have anything from cat 3 3 pair on up to cat 5e with 4 pairs with the insulation colors being a combination of solid and solid with white for each wiring pair. Beyond that are general industry accepted rules about wire color that indicate their purpose. The national electrical code nec says that white or gray must be used for neutral conductors and that bare copper or green wires must be used as ground wires. Color code one is the old solid color code.
The white wire with a blue stripe is terminated on the green tip screw. Not used in new installations anymore pair one green and red used for phone line 1 pair two yellow and black used for phone line 2 pair three white and blue used for phone line 3 pair four brown and orange used for phone line 4 color code two is the new industry standard used today. Line 1 uses the red green pair. The wire pair colors are blue orange green and brown.
They are used in pairs for each phone line you have. Advice for home phone wiring and jacks with information about adding second or third line dsl and reference for wire color codes. In a typical home the telephone cables connecting your phones within you home contain four wires. Repairmen in fact refer to the wires in terms of pairs so technically a standard four wire telephone line has two pairs.
The pairs of wires are twisted together to avoid cross talk between telephone lines. Older telephone wiring was a basic cat 3 4 conductor or 2 pairs with red green black yellow. Also buy wiring materials and tools here. All nm cables contain the basic black insulation and white insulation wires plus the bare copper or green insulated ground wire.
The spruce 2018. Ron discusses wiring for phone circuits and usoc wiring. Red green yellow and black. Blue orange green brown slate white red black yellow violet.