How to Install Telephone Wiring

Telephone wiring is easy to work with and very safe, due to the low voltages involved.

The most complex part of installing telephone wiring is complying with the defined standards in place.

When installing additional telephone wiring into an existing facility, it is usually best to determine which telephone wiring standard is currently in use and conform to that standard.

When installing telephone wiring into a new facility, EIA/TIA T586A is the standard to utilize.

How the Wire Gets Into Your Residence

Historically, the telephone companies have run telephone wire above ground, using telephone poles to make wire issues easy to repair. The wire itself is sourced at a telephone company and goes through various paths to get into the general vicinity of your home.

Above Ground Wiring

In older neighborhoods (1970s and earlier in the US) and areas that have a high water table, the telephone wiring is most likely going to be above ground. There will be one or more telephone poles in easement areas in the neighborhood that distribute phone service wire pairs to residences using an aerial method of connection. A breakout box is attached to the pole with the main services lines for the area entering in one side, and residential lines running out of the other side. Wires are then run from the breakout boxes to each neighborhood residence.

Underground Wiring

Most modern neighborhoods have telephone wiring run underground in the United States today. During the neighborhood build out, before building of homes is commenced, breakout boxes are installed in geographically strategic points in the neighborhood, and then lines are trenched back to the primary distribution can for your neighborhood, and to each property nearby.

The Residential Network Interface Device

Regardless of how the wire is run to your house, the wire terminates on a Network Interface Device, or NID, which is connected to your home. This device is a gray or tan box about eight inches wide and twelve inches long with a door or doors concealing two compartments. Access to the customer compartment is possible with a simple slot headed screw. Access to the telco compartment is controlled by the use of a specialized screw head. You can open the customer access compartment of the NID to check your lines for dial tone, check wiring connections inside the NID, and to trace lines coming out of the NID into your home. You needn't open the telco compartment of the NID; if there is a wiring fault between your house and the central office, you won't be able to repair it. Most NIDs can handle up to 5 different lines.

The telephone line from the pole or breakout box goes into the telco compartment and exits through the customer compartment.

If you have only one telephone line, and there has been no maintenance on your line for a long while, you may have a box which is a predecessor to the NID. This box is simply a plastic or metal cover which is screwed over a telephone wiring box to protect it from the elements. At no cost, the telephone company will come out and replace your old box with a new NID if there is time and available equipment, and you demonstrate a need, such as a method to test for dial tone. Sometimes, phone company technicians will leave this original box in place, and just install a NID between this box and the wiring running to the pole or breakout box. This is not a matter of big concern.

Testing Your Phone Lines

Always use a previously tested corded phone for phone line testing. This is the only way you can be sure that you are testing only the phone line and not issues with your phone. If you are unsure if your test phone is functional, take it over to a neighbor or family members home, and test it with a known good phone line. If you have dial tone, your phone is usable for a line test.

First Just Pick Up the Phone

When the telephone company initially installed your phone line into your home, they should have provided you with at least one phone jack to connect a telephone. The easiest phone service test, is to merely plug a phone into this jack with the proper wire, take the phone off the hook, and listen for the dial tone. You may need to consult your phone manual.

No Dial Tone

If you don't get a dial tone when you take your phone off the hook, you probably have a phone line problem. If you have multiple jacks in your home, test each one to verify which jacks work, and which ones don't. If some of the jacks are functional and others aren't, the wiring fault is between the NID and those specific jacks in your home. The phone company may be willing to help you with these problems for a charge. Read more on how to repair these problems in the "Repair" sections below. If none of the jacks in your home are working, you need to test your phone lines at the NID.

Testing at the NID

When you open the customer compartment of your NID, you will notice that there are phone jacks lined up, usually vertically. For each phone line installed in your house, there will be a phone jack with a line plugged into it. Don't worry if you have jacks that have no line plugged into them, it may be that there was a second line to your home at one time, that the wiring box was faulty, or that they just installed more than one wiring box and jack as a standard install. If you have more than one line, labels on the NID lid should tell you which jack is associated with which phone line or number. If they don't you will just have to try them all until you find the one you want to test. To test, you need to disconnect the line from the jack, and plug your corded phone into it. This will disconnect the line from the jacks in your house, so don't panic if you lose dial tone inside. If you have dial tone when you hook up your phone, the wiring fault is in your house. If you don't then you must call the phone company for repair, there is nothing further you can do to fix the problem.

Sometimes the Wire Colors Don't Match

Many phone companies have updated their color standards due to the use of Cat 5 cable for most phone line installs, and to keep residential and business installs in line with each other. In this new standard, there are no green, red, black or yellow wires, they have been replaced by white/blue, blue/white, white/orange, and orange/white. To know how to identify the wire color is a simple matter. The wire is going to be primarily one color, with small stripes of a secondary color on it. If the wire is primarily orange with white stripes then that color is orange/white. The following simple table will help you understand what colors match. The NID labels will most likely have the old coloring scheme on them, and most telephone wiring components you can purchase will still reflect the original colors.

New Telephone Jacks in Your Home

Installing new telephone jacks in your home is really pretty simple, but there are some tools and basic hardware you will need to perform the install.

Tools:

 

• Drill
• Drill bits
• Flathead Screwdriver
• Fish tape
• Cable Test Equipment

Hardware

Most hardware stores, electronics stores, and many grocery and department stores will have the items you are going to need to complete your install.

• Modular jack boxes with wiring box

Modular jack boxes come in two variants, one with a wiring box and one without. If you are installing an entirely new jack, you will want the jack box with the wiring box. You would only need a jack box without a wiring box if you are replacing a jack box that has been damaged, but the wiring box inside is still intact. There are both four and six contact modular jacks available. Make sure you buy a four contact modular jack unless you have a special reason for buying a six contact modular jack. You will need one jack box for each new jack you want to install.

• Four, six or eight strand telephone wire

You should buy four wire flat silver satin telephone wire for any new jacks in your home. You may save a little money if you just buy the individual wires without the silver sheath, but in the long run, having the sheath will save you time and frustration. Its flexible, can easily be stripped off in locations that require it, and it will keep the wires together so you can easily fish the wire where you need it to go.

If you have more than two lines in your home and you want to place jacks for all of them in the same location, six or eight conductor telephone wire can be used as well, just keep in mind that there are three pairs of wire, a blue pair, an orange pair, and a green pair in six conductor wire. Eight conductor wire has the same wiring colors as the six conductor, it just adds a brown pair for the last pair. Make sure that you connect the same wires to the proper posts on the wiring block to avoid any problems.

Always Have a Corded Phone for Emergencies

Remember that you may need to plug your phone or phone base into house power if you have a cordless phone, a phone with an integrated answering machine, or some other capability. Standard corded phones receive all the necessary power over the phone line itself, so no additional power is required. It is always a good plan to have a corded phone in your residence just in case your other devices have issues, or for use in emergencies when your house power is out.

General Reference Information

The information following may help you understand the standards and wire plans in your home. They are merely reference materials to assist you in your planning and diagnostics.

The Christmas and Halloween Standard for Telephone Wiring

Many existing homes have only 2 pair (4 wire) telephone wiring.

The first telephone line is connected to the Christmas pair. This wire pair is called the Christmas pair because one wire is Green and the other wire is Red.

In the Christmas pair, the Green wire is Tip and the Red wire is Ring.

The second telephone line is connected to the Halloween pair. This wire pair is called the Halloween pair because one wire is Black and the other wire is Yellow.

In the Halloween pair, the Black wire is Tip and the Yellow wire is Ring.

The EIA/TIA 568B Standard for Telephone Wiring

The EIA/TIA 568A Standard for Telephone Wiring

The USOC (Universal Service Order Code) 8 Wire Standard for Telephone Wiring

The USOC (Universal Service Order Code) 6 Wire Standard for Telephone Wiring

The 25 pair Telephone Wiring Standard

Telephone Wiring Pin Number Orientation

When looking at a telephone jack, Pin 1 is the left-most pin.

When looking at a telephone plug, Pin 8 is the right-most pin.

Telephone Wiring Jacks and Plugs

In telephone wiring, the plug is the male end of a telephone cable and the jack is the female receptacle in the wall.

Telephone Wiring Tip and Ring

The terms Tip and Ring are used extensively when discussing telephone wiring.

Tip is the electrically positive wire and Ring is the electrically negative wire.