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Electrical and Lighting, Repairs and Installation Published 03/13/2008 by Danny Lipford
Telephone jacks can be either flush or surface mounted, so be sure to buy a replacement jack that fits your particular setup.
While phone lines are low in voltage, they carry enough current when they ring to give a mild shock, so it’s a good idea to disconnect the line before working on it. Also, never work on a phone line during a thunderstorm, since lightning can travel down the wire causing serious injury.
To disconnect the line, find the telephone interface box which is usually mounted on an outside wall where the phone lines runs into your house.
Open the customer access panel and unplug the test jack.
On older interface boxes without a test jack, unscrew the terminals and detach the wires, remembering which one went on which terminal.
If the interface box isn’t easily accessible, take another phone on the same line off the hook to prevent it from ringing while working on it.
After checking to be sure the line you’re working on has no dial tone, unplug the phone from the jack. Remove the jack from the wall, noting which colored wires are hooked up to the terminals so you can match them to the new one.
While only two wires are required for a phone to work, the cable usually contains four or more to provide for additional lines or in case one line should fail. These are color coded with red and green normally used for the first line, yellow and black for the second, and blue and white for the third.
After removing the wires from the old jack, attach them to the new one. If the stripped ends of the wires appear discolored or brittle, cut off the damaged section and strip the outer insulation around the line back a couple of inches, being careful not to nick the wires.
Using a utility knife, cut back ½” to ¾” of the insulation around each wire.
Bend the exposed end of the wire into a “U” shape with needle nosed pliers.
Slip the wire over the corresponding terminal on the new jack so it wraps around the terminal in a clockwise direction.
After tightening the terminal screws, attach the jack to the wall, reconnect the line at the interface box, and plug the phone back in.
For more safety information regarding working on phone lines, go to our article Replacing a Telephone Jack.
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March 15th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I will like to add a new jack at different room where there is no previous line.
Where to pick the line from?
Thank you
March 16th, 2008 at 12:11 am
After yrs of being a central office installer it mice to see someone tell how to do it. Blue Orange Green Brown Slate how we tested and to drive the Forman mad we some times called SPLICE. Splices were a big NO NO!
Have A Safe Day
March 16th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Your quote:
“While only two wires are required for a phone to work, the line usually contain four or more to provide for additional lines or in case one line should fail.”
The term “line” is incorrect usage, the term should be “cable”.
A more accurate description would be …
While only two wires (1 pair) are required for a phone to work, the cable usually contains four or more wires to provide for additional lines or in case one wire should fail.
-Anonymous : we are legion
March 16th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Run from wherever the closest connection point is; a jack in the next room, for example. Basically, take the easiest route you can! It’s unlikely you possess the specialised tools that telephone installers use, such as 4-foot drill bits and so on, so keep it simple unless you have carpentry experience. It doesn’t matter where you draw the connection from- telephone circuits are wired in parallel.
If it’s not easy to get a wire from another phone jack to the new location, see if you can find a spot where one of the phone cables is accessible, and tap into it from there. Simply cut the cable, strip it back a few inches as described above, and rejoin the wires by twisting them together (red to red, green to green, and so on), along with the new ones you’re installing. If you have a soldering iron, solder the joint and tape it to prevent shorts; if you can’t solder it, at the very least wrap it well with electrical tape to keep exposure to the air at a minimum. (Air causes the joint to oxidise and eventually corrode.)
March 16th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I work for a cable company that does telephony as one of our services. If you’re asking how to add a new telephone jack in a room that has no phone jack, the easiest method is to run fresh Cat-3 or Cat-5 wiring to the room from the Network Interface Device (that’s the box mounted on the outside of your house, pictured above.) It’s probably easiest to run the wiring from the NID to the outlet. When you’re looking at the NID, notice how all the Red and Green wires run to one set of terminals. If the wiring is done properly, this is your Line 1. The other side is your Line 2, where the Yellow and Black lines run to. If you’re only wanting one number on the outlet, only concern yourself with connecting the red and green wires in the phone line to appropriate terminal. (Red to Red, Green to Green for Line one, Red to Yellow, Green to Black for Line two.) Tie them into the main terminals using the same methods above (loosen the screw, strip the wires back, wrap them clockwise around the screw, tighten the screw.) Then run your wiring around your house to the hole you drilled, stapling it neatly wherever you wish it to be run, and feed it through, allowing for a couple of extra feet. You’ll want a few inches pushed back into the space in the wall to allow for future maintenance. Then follow the above instructions to install the outlet.
Hope that answers your question.
March 16th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
i was looking for this a while back… nice but u didnt tell the arrangement of the wires.
Ben Erickson Says:March 17th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Admiral Ackbar,
Good point on the line/cable distinction, since each cable can contain several lines. I modified the article to make the distinction clear.
Thanks.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I have only one telephone line, and 3 phones. 1 of my phones doesn’t have a dial-tone, but when I connect it into another jack it works, so figure it is the jack. Trying to replace the jack, I don’t know which wires to connect. I have Vonage and have disconnected the red & green wires outside to make Vonage work, per instructions from Vonage and it works fine. However, they don’t know anything about inside wiring. I have tried connecting the red and green (1 line), but that probably doesn’t work because the outside lines are disconnected, so can you tell me which ones I can connect to get a dial-tone? Thanks for your help!!
Gloria
Ben Erickson Says:March 19th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Gloria,
If the jack worked since you switched to Vonage, connect the same wires to the new jack as were used before. If it stopped working when you switched over, then the line may not be connected properly to the Vonage router. It is also possible that there is a short in the line.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
im putting in another jack from an exisint ing one i know put red to red green to green but my wire from phone co box dont have red its got yellow white orange green looks like brown then rest are white with blue marks on them does the brow take place og red
March 25th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I’m living in an older house that was recently completely renovated and remodeled. When I had phone service connected today the AT&T guy found that the contractors had cut all the wires from the NID to the inside of the house, so I must wire new jacks from scratch from the NID.
Unfortunately I didn’t find this web page until after the installer had left. My question is that I know which pair of terminals in the NID is connected to the telephone pole, but I don’t know which terminal in the NID should be green and which should be red.
A) Does it matter?
B) If so, is there any easy way to check, say with a sensitive voltmeter? Or will I only get a dial tone if I get the orientation right and so I can make a guess and then simply swap them if I don’t?
Any insight would be most appreciated!
April 5th, 2008 at 8:55 am
OK I got one for you. I am trying to install a wall hanging phone and my house is new with all CAT5 wiring. The phone jack currently in the wall is again CAT5 and I cannot find a jack to hold a wall mounted phone that is CAT5. Any suggestions.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
My kitchen phone jack was not working so I replaced it and it’s working but now the bedroom phone jack has stopped working. It worked up until I unscrewed the kitchen jack. I have not touched the bedroom jack at all. Any ideas? I have a sinking feeling that a short happened somewhere in the wall but if changing the bedroom jack is likely to work it’s easy enough to change but I don’t want to buy a new jack if it isn’t going to work.
Appreciate suggestions. Thanks.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
i want to run a new jack and line to a room that has no jack. i know that green and red wires is all i use. the thing i don’t know is do i only connect the green and red to the jack itself what about all the other wires do i just leave them or connect them even thought my nid does not use these other wires.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
There is something in my basement ceilling having to do we the phone line, I live in the basement and would like to know how can I hook another phone jack to that line I have only one jack in the basement. Also. the people upstair can’t have asset to my phone because of the fact that they will make long distance phone calls on the phone.
I would appriciate any help
April 24th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I have yet to find a site that discusses the connection sequence for the wall jack. None. Strange. I’m looking at the back of the wall jack, is the Green wire on the left or the right for the two lower connections? It’s often red on the left. But I have looked at my modular plugs and telephone cables and need to take a poll. Some have the red wires on the right on the modular plugs, some on the left. It’s strange. Nothing really helpful to this detail. I took the voltage between red and green and get negative voltage. Is that normal or not? Where can I find the very basics? The voltage using the voltage meter between Tip and Ring or the Green and Red wires? And what to be concerned when the wall jacks may not be correct?
April 27th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I have a single phone line connected to two wall jacks - one in my bedroom and one in the living room. Both were working fine until I installed a new wall jack and face plate in the living room. I wired it exactly the same (red to red, green to green, etc.) but now only the bedroom jack works. I have a RJ11 tester that lights up when I plug it in but I don’t get a dial tone. I’ve swapped phones, cables, even re-installed the old wall jack but I no longer get a dial tone in the living room. Can anyone think of anything I’ve done or am overlooking now? Thanks in advance!