How to Install a Phone Jack
Electrical and Lighting, Repairs and Installation 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 information about working on phone lines, check out our articles on:
85 Comments on “How to Install a Phone 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!
May 12th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
hey Dewi i have the exacate same problem if u figure it out before me can u email me at hockeysportsshawn@hotmail.com thanks
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Hi Dewi and Shawn,
Sounds like what happend to me. I have not found a solution in 2 months so I finally bought a long piece of phone line at Walmart and connected it to a dual connector on the one jack that was working then tacked it up along the ceiling to where the other (non working) jack is and just pluged the phone into the wire. It’s kind of ugly and the jack still doesn’t work but at least I can have a phone in the other room again.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I have installed phone jack in all my homes with out any issues until I used Vonage. I decided to add lines in the garage, and basement, and started by tapping into an existing line matching color, but I do not get a dial tone!
Any ideas would be welcome.
Thanks
May 29th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Quick Question, Notice my phone is dead, just at one phone jack in the house, in doing some seaching (this is a second line)I see where the wire has gone bad. there is a red plastic piece which i believe should have 3 wires in it, and then another plastic piece which has two wires in it. I need to know the name of these plastice pieces or where i can buy them. this little wiring set up runs to the dead jack. opposite sides of the room. I believe where the mess is, was jsut the area where the cable guy brought the second line to the room, and then put the jack on the far side of the room. any help would be great.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I have an older house, I recently had to disconnect my phone jack. It only has three black wires coming out of the wall and now I am unsure how to connect it to the back of the jack, any ideas?
June 14th, 2008 at 8:04 am
I have a very old house that never had phone jacks installed. How do we add them ourselves?
June 16th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Pat, June 7th,08.Older house.Three wires look black but are probably dark brown. You need 2 of the 3 wires for the dialtone line.Cut off some of the insulation & look real closely to see if there is a colored thread. If yes. connect red to red & green to green. Cut the end off the yellow.If no, connect one wire to red & hold one of the oiher wires to green.If dialtone, connect wire.If no, try other wire.If dialtone,connect. If no,remove first wire connected & connect the two remaining wires. Should be dialtone. Check to see if dialing a 1 cuts off dialtone.If no, interchange the two connected wires & try 1 again.If ok ,you are finished.Some older Touch Tone phones did not have a polarity guard in them & the transistors are voltage polarity sensitive.GW
July 9th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Have old house, tried replacing phone jack in kitchen and anything I do will not get phone to work. I have copper wiring, does that matter with newer phone jacks?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I have a jack in a bedroom that I had another wire attached and went trough the wall into the living room to connect a Tivo (there was no jack there before) Last week I had trouble with my lines and the phone co came out and had to replace the outside box and lines. He checked my jacks and everything was working. Now I find that he cut the wire from the bedroom jack and now my Tivo jack is not working. How do I reattach the wire? The wire is visible from the jack, about 2in. The rest of the wire is under the carpet, which I could pull up.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
I recently purchased a house and plugged a wall phone into the kitchen phone jack. I can receive calls but I cannot dial out. Is that likely to be a wiring problem in the jack or a phone problem?
Thanks,
Ron
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
OK-I have a phone jack in a room that used to have a differnt phone#-I got sattelite internet and had that line cut off-Now I want the jack to work with my primary
phone#- The jack has black/yellow wires connected from the wall. REd and green are screwed on but come out of the jack itself- This jack I believe was used with my primary # before. There were 2 red and 2 green wires coming out of the wall wire capped together. Cut one of those and lost primary dial tone. Figured they were looped somehow and wirenutted them back together to get my phone working- I assume that one of these 4 wire strands are my primary line? Do I hook up all the reds/green to their corresponding color in the jack and go-OR do I have to do something at the outside box. (I have already figured out which connection outside is the working line.) Thanks!!!
I am pulling my hair out-Normally I do not get stumped.
July 27th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I am changing the phone jacks in my bedrooms and I am not sure which color of wires to connect to the red, green, black and yellow wires of the new phone jacks. The wires inside my wall are blue, white with blue stripe, orange and white with orange stripe.
I connected blue to red, white with blue stripe to green, orange to black, white with orange stripe to yellow like I saw the phone jack in the kitchen (which works) is connected, but the bedroom phone jacks do not work with this setup. How can I make these lines work? Thank you for your help.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Hi Ladonna,Connect the 2 red wires to the red on the jk& connect the 2 green wires to the green on the jk.If you had pay per view before you required a phone line for billing purposes.The middle 2 contacts are line 1. The outer 2 are line 2.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Hello Danny,Installing a phone jack.You have a very good article on the subject.I would like to add some additional information.In one photo ,4 wire r,gn,y,bk are shown.This type wiring is only spirled& subject to noise,crosstalk & etc.CAT3, 4 twisted pairs is better,but CAT5, 4 twisted pairs is the best for communications.Electricians are running this wire in new homes.They go from jk to jk to jk &etc. There are no records nor are the cables marked in,out at each jk.To wire a home properly,only home runs should be used(direct from each jk to Dmark. Uses more cable,but jks do go bad.)Picture a water bed in front of jk that went bad where all jks are wired from one to the next &etc.Your phone is out of service & you have to get to that jk to clear the trouble.Also, to me ,any wire that is spirled I consider as thermostat wire whether4,6 or 8 wires. This is not suitable for communications & really should not be sold as such. I am retired Bell.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
I would like to install a 2-line phone in my computer room and the main phone comes into the house in the living room …how do I check if there can be 2 lines available in my computer room?…Also, there is a line that goes to my upstairs bedroom, but it is an old plug with prongs, like in the 60’s…can this be easily changed to the ” jack-type”?
August 6th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I live in a very old apartment. Recently got phone service and DSL. The phone had a lot of static and the internet was in and out. Tried replacing the jack and discovered 8 wires coming out of the wall…anybody know what to do with these or what the winning combination is for connecting them to the jack?
August 12th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Hello All,
We just moved into a house and have some old phone lines from a phone company we don’t use, that we would like to remove as they are just an eyesore. Removing the whole cable out of the wall will be a struggle as the lines were put in many years ago and go into the depth of the sealed walls will be more trouble than it is worth. I have removed the front panel of the phone jack and now have three exposed wires. Is it safe for me to seal those wires in the hole they come from or should I have something around the exposed wires and then seal them?
August 14th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Wall phone mount problem – cable colors do not match. Coming form the wall I have a light blue, orange, white with blue stripe and white. What colors do I connect to these?I have tried blue to red, white with blue band to green, orange to yellow and white to black. It does not work. Please help. Thanks
Ben Erickson Says:August 15th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Hi Mimi,
The color of the wires isn’t important, it’s just a way to tell which wires were used at the telephone interface box. If the line in question is working, you should be able to find the right combination using trial and error, since there are only six possible combinations for the four wires, times two when you take into account reversing each set of wires (making a total of 12 combinations).
If that doesn’t work, try opening up the interface box to see which color wires were used. If you’re not sure which cable goes to which phone, you can disconnect the wires one at a time (checking to see if a phone stops working after you disconnect each one) until you’ve identified the line in question. If the cable runs directly to your extension, you’ll use the same colors as are hooked up at the interface box.
There could be a short in one of the wires, in which case you would need to try hooking up the two other wires in the cable at the box and at the jack. If that doesn’t work, I would replace the cable.
Good luck!
August 30th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Here’s the Bell color code:
If you have the old fashioned Bell (quad) wire, the color code is Green-Red-Black-Yellow. Green and Red are used for line 1, Black Yellow for line 2. That’s standard, although I know some techs who have reversed the 2nd pair as Yellow-Black. If you are using this cable (and the only reason you should is if you are in an older home and you are reusing the cable this is the way to go.)
Most new installations use cat 3 or cat 5 cable. (BTW, use cat 5 for all new phone/ data wiring. It doesn’t matter at all for phone, but if you are installing the line for data purposes, Cat 5 is better and the longer the distance from the network interface to the phone/computer location, the more important this is.)
Typically, this is a 6 pr cable. The colors are mated–a solid color with a white stripe and a white cable that is striped in that color. This is good for the first 5 pairs, the 6th pair starts the system in red. (See my chart below.)
Here is the layout:
white/blue —blue/white
white/orange — orange/white
white/green —green/white
white/brown —brown/white
white/slate (grey) —slate/white
red/blue —–blue/red
Should you have to mate the old bell cable to the system above, this is how it should look–
White/blue—green
Blue/white —red
White/orange — black
Orange/white– yellow
Of course, you should check to make sure that the wires in your installation, match up, but if they followed Bell code, this is what you should see.
September 25th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I am trying to install a phone jack in my bedroom and there already exists a grey telephone wire in the room. So I went to Home Depot and bought a plastic phone jack for it. The phone jack has 4 wires on it which are: red, yellow, green, and black. Except that the phone wire coming out of the wall has 6 wires within it. They are: blue, white/blue, green, white/green, white/orange, and a colour which looks like orange-beige. What connects to what? Which 2 wires get excluded, and what do I do with these 2 wires? Do I connect them to each other with a grommit, or do I leave them dangling? Please help, Thanks.
October 4th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I am wanting to add a phone jack to my living room, which does have one. It does have several electric plugs. Is there a way of coverting an electric plug to a phone jack? I have a cable box on one side of the room that needs to have a phone line connected to it, but no phone jack close to it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
October 6th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
hey i need some help please. so i want to move my router to my room but i dont know what kind of jack to use i have 4 wires(green, black, red, and yellow) please help me tell me what to buy. by the way am only gonna use it to put my internet router not for a phone
October 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Hi guys, I’m from Australia and have a bit of a wiring issue I cannot find an answer too, hopefully you guys can help.
I’m attempting to wire a new flush mount modular and it’s wires are yellow, green, black and red. My old house telephone wires are red, black, blue and white..
When I connect the black to black and red to red and cross the other two over, i still get nothing.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
October 9th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Hey guys, cancel the previous blog, i’ve worked it out!
Cheers
it was blue on old wiring to red on new wiring, and white on old wiring to green on new wiring.
Go figure.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
John, you are so smart. I have an older home with all the different color-coded wires. I had to install a newer wall jack because mine fell apart. I have been working on it all day trying to find the correct combination with no luck. I was about to give up when I found this website and saw your color code chart. I took your advised and took the old Bell way and it works. Thanks for your import and your color code chart.
Lisa
November 11th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I have a dual line telephone jack. The wires, from the wall, have detached. It is 2 pressure crimped, white with orange stripe. Where and how do I attach to the screws? Help…before I have to call the telephone company.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I have an office that needs three phones. They
already have jacks in the office and I traced the wires using a Fox and Hound back to the PBX system and plugged them into the PBX and I get no dial tone, dead line.
One one particular jack the jacks wiring looks good. The correct colors are matched to the correct place. It has a CAT5 cable coming to the jack from the PBX using the white/brown and brown cable for one phone. But when i plug the cable into the PBX and then plug the phone into the jack I get nothing…any suggestions?
December 4th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
HI, I wanted to move a jack which left two cables with a bunch of wires, now my phone has a buzz, so if i move the line may or may not clear up. I have no idea how to reatatch the wires to the jack. The colors are solid blue which seem to be the power orange/white with orange stripe blue and white striped solid green and green and white stripe.There are two cables and they each have these color wires how do I hook them up?
December 11th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I have static and no dial tone on all jacks in the house. There is a dial tone at the NID. I have checked with a continuity tester, and have a short in the blue/white – white/blue pair. All other pairs in the line are good. Can I just swap the Blue/White pair for another unused pair at each jack, and connect the same unused pair at the NID to correct the problem.
Ben Erickson Says:December 12th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Hi David,
Yes, you should be able to swap off the bad wires for a good pair.
December 14th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I have installed a second phone line into my garage,when i hook the line up in the main box outside it causes my dsl to blink out. Any help would be appreciated.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Can installing incorrectly cause any type of electrical issues? Could this be a fire hazard?
Thanks!
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
i would like to know how far from the floor a flush phone jack should be at? appreciate your help.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I replaced the telephone jack in my kitchen and it works…but somehow I turned off all of the other phone jacks in the house. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I would like to install a new hidden phone jack in my closet, my closet is close to the outside phone box, what are the steps?
February 5th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Curious regarding “clockwise direction”.. does that matter?
I just moved a jack that the tv satellite box was plugged into.. we were moving the tv across the room and had to pull the wire back thru the floor and come up elsewhere.
It only required me to remove 2 wires.. the red and green.. from the jack so the wires would go back thru the floor.
When I hooked it back up, no dial tone. Other extensions in the house work. I stripped it back to a new spot and still no dial tone. What am I missing?
Ben Erickson Says:February 5th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
ES,
The wire is wrapped around the terminal in a clockwise direction so it pulls the wire tighter when you tighten up the terminal. As long as the wire is on the screw and has good contact, it shouldn’t make a difference.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Hi,
I’m in the process of changing my phone jack with a new Cat 3 (RJ45) jack.
The old jack had terminal 2 (white cable), terminal 3 (red cable), terminal 5 (black cable) & terminal 6 (blue cable)
The new Cat 3 (RJ45) jack has terminals 3,4,5, & 6
what cables go to what terminals.
February 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Need some help. I have a spliter in my wall jack. one line goes to my modem the other to the printer. (helps with faxing) I only have one line. I am attempting to install a dual wall jack to get rid of the spliter. the wall has two lines coming out, one with blue and blue white. The other, with black, red, green white. I attempted to hook them up but got no phone signal. Have no idea what to do with the blue/blue white. also the white cable line from the wall. The wall jack only has four colors, red green balck yellow. help please thank you
March 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I have a problem. I live in an old house and have installed phone jacks before. Now I have tapped into an existing jack at the end of the line and run two new jacks. My problen is the 1st jack works but the 2nd jack does not work. I have switched the jacks and both work on jack #1 but neither work on jack #2. Help!
Ben Erickson Says:March 16th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Hi Katlady,
I would start by checking to be sure the colored wires you are using for each jack are connected to the interface box.
March 16th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
we have several Panasonic KSTS3282B phones in our home and office. We notice when one person is on line two you can hear the conversation through line one, it is muffled, some days it is louder than others. ( there are only two lines) Is this in the wiring that was done to the house, or the jack to the phone. The phones came with a phone line that was a blueish, green phone wire from jack to phone. we are not using those and wondered if that made a difference? Any suggestions?
Thank in advance.
Bridgette
March 24th, 2009 at 12:19 am
danny , when i got my dsl for first time it was working fine
but now it has seemed to slowed down & giving me trouble i think theres a hacker on my pc , ilive in nursing home so i don’t know if its the hacker or the nursing home done something to my phone line i need help in solving this issue
please rply thank you jimmy!
March 30th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
We moved & have a finished basement where we have our tv/dvr set up. We need a working phone line to order movies from the DISH. The phone jack in that room isn’t working. I got a new one and replaced it but it still doesn’t work. There are 3 separate phone lines in the box though it’s a single jack outlet, the other 2 lines are coiled up in the box. I tried one of the other2 in the box but that didn’t make a difference. Also, there’s a bedroom down there with a phone jack & it works which makes me believe the line leading to the basement from the outside is ok. Any ideas or do I need to call in a phone service person to check this line out.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:41 am
My phone jack has 7 wires and the wire coming out of the wall at a cable box has 7 wires . I hooked up 4 to a 4 wire jack and the phone won’t work. What do I need to do to make this phone work at new location? My closest jack to this is wired to a 7 wire jack.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Danny,
I live in Michigan and have my phone wire coming in from a pole. I noticed that when I looked under the cover that only the 2 brown wires were hooked up, there are other wires which used to be hooked up an are now cut off. My phone still works in fact I used to think maybe my phone was tapped because I could here dogs barking and other noises. Should the other wires be hooked up?
April 29th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I’m sorry those wires are blue and blue and white
Ben Erickson Says:April 30th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Hi L.J.,
A phone only requires two wires to work. The additional ones are there in case there’s a short in the original two or if you want a second line. The colors used aren’t important as long as the same two colors are used to hook it up at the interface box.
May 31st, 2009 at 3:17 pm
We had AT & T come out to fix our phone after it quit working…guy said it was the jack in our daughter’s room & replaced it and changed the wiring outside coming into our bedroom…now the jack in both rooms won’t work (he didn’t even check them before he left). Trying to hook up the wires in our room to be the same as the other room doesn’t work. Our line coming into the jack has six wires: red, black, green, blue, white and yellow. Have tried wiring red to red, black to black, etc and still doesn’t work. Exactly which wires go to which four screws at the back of the jack? It has red, green, black and yellow. Trying to flollow the logic of the pairs mentioned previously in this site doesn’t help a non-electrician like me…
Ben Erickson Says:June 1st, 2009 at 7:54 am
Hi Samantha,
I’d start by calling and getting the phone company back out to fix what they messed up. Your other option is to see if you can trace the wires from the jacks in question back to the interface box mounted on the outside of your house. Next, open the cover on the user side, determine which colored wires were hooked up in the interface box, then use the same colors on the jacks. It is also possible that they disconnected all the wires to those jacks, in which case you will need to reconnect one of the colored wires to each of the terminals, and use those colors on the jacks (the colors you choose aren’t important as long as they match at each end). Option three would be to use trial and error and check each of the wires at the jacks until you find the combination that works. Good luck!
June 24th, 2009 at 12:16 am
I have netzero dialup, and i have a long 50ft phone wire running from downstairs, to the upstairs. My kids were running through the dining room, where the wire cuts across the floor, and they tripped over the wire, and yanked the wires out of the phone jack. i’m not really sure what to do. There are four color wires sticking out of the wall. Black,yellow,green,and red. I dont know where to tie the wires on the phone jack. the jack has screw with colors on them. Same color as the wires that were ripped out. But like i said, i dont know where each wire goes. And without the jack, no internet.
Can someone please help me? if so, thankss.
Ben Erickson Says:June 24th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Hi Drew,
You should be able to match the colored wires up to the same colored terminals. If that doesn’t work, plug a phone into the jack and try different combinations until you get a dial tone.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Yes, and i’ve tried it. I matched up the colors, and all i get is like a humming sound from the phone. I’ve looked for my outside box, but i cant find it anywhere. Not on any sides of my house, or even in my basment.I’m stuck on what to do.
Ben Erickson Says:June 25th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Drew,
Unless you are getting your phone service through the cable company, there should be a phone connection box somewhere. If you don’t have underground utilites running to your house, look for where the phone line comes in from the pole and follow it until it goes into the connection box. If you have underground utilities, they will come out somewhere, either on the wall outside your house or the basement, or a wall or utility closet inside. If you can dial the phone but it has a hum, check out our article on How to Fix a Hum in a Phone Line.
Good luck!
June 25th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Thanks for the help. Im still kind of confused about all this, but i just hired someone to fix it. Thanks again.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
For 4 years we had perfect AT&T landline service with voice and fax lines. Last week ADT installed a security system and connected their monitoring box to the phone NID with a new cable of their own. But while trying to figure out how to install their system, the ADT installer removed a two line phone jack (in a nearby room), fiddled with it and then put it back in the wall. After he installed the system, I noticed that we had fax but no voice service.
When I dial the voice number from my cell, I get a busy signal. From what I’ve been reading on your site, that sounds like a short.
One of my questions is why haven’t two additional ADT techs been able to fix the problem that the ADT installer created?
Also, am I probably correct in assuming that the short is either in the NID or in the adjacent room’s two line jack that they all have fiddled with?
Thanks for your help,
John
August 4th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I forgot to mention that when you try to call out with the voice line, you get a busy signal.
John
August 24th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I do not have a phone line (we use cell phones) however I do have DSL modem. I changed the location of my computer last night not realizing that the phone jack had to be wired different for the DSL. I took it apart tried to wire it like the other jack but they are totally different jacks. I have a jack like the picture above with the 4 screws. I belive the 2 blue wires are the ones that I use for DSL but which ones, there are 2 sets coming out of the wall and where do they go? There are 4 seperate screws Black, Red, Yello and White…I need to get up and running today as my online class starts today but I cant afford to pay Qwest $100 to come out and do 5 min worth of work.
Anyone have directions…with pictures?
Ben Erickson Says:August 25th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Hi Amy,
First check to be sure the jack in question is hooked up at the interface box to the line that has the DSL, then use the same color wires that are connected in the interface box for the phone jack.
September 4th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Hi great site you have here! Here is what i am dealing with. I just had my phone service turned on today. Only 1 of the 3 phone jacks gives a dial tone to my phone when i plug the phone cord into the phone jack. All the wires in the three phone jacks are connected. Would my rechargable phone make a difference in this case? Two of the three phone jacks appear to be a bit older than the type that gives a dial tone ( wall mount type with spring retractable half moon looking swivel door)I know this could be a it might be this,this or this or that question. I have checked the obvious connection,cable/wire conditions. What other checks might be effectively applicable in sorting this no dial tone thing out? Thanks to the phone pros and non pros alike!
Ben Erickson Says:September 8th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Hi George,
I have some of the older modular jacks in my home, and they work fine, so I don’t think it would be that or that you have a cordless phone (though I would try an inexpensive corded one just to be sure). You might take the cover of the jack and be sure the wires are hooked up to it, then check the interface box outside to be sure the same color wires are hooked up there as well. If all appears wired properly, my next step would be to try hooking up a new jack to the existing wires. If still no go, try swapping off the existing wires at both the box and jack. Last resort would be to run a new cable from the box. Good luck!
September 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I have a newer home, about five years old or so I think it has the six wire interface box since I have three separate phone lines. I just bought a Polycom phone which is an analog speaker phone only for my office. After hooking the Polycom up it doesn’t allow my regular desk phone, which is a Vtech corded phone with a linked cordless phone to diplay the caller id on a call waiting call. The Polycom does not have a display but does “beep” to let me know that there is a call coming in. I have tired to hook the Vtech up though the data port on the Polycom power supply but that doesn’t help. I also tried a 6-line splitter to the wall but nothing. My Vtech has an ext. jack which I hooked the Polycom to but nothing there either. Any ideas? Thanks for this great service.
September 15th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
John C. has posted the exact information that I need. My jacks are the usual red, green, yellow, black, etc., but my cable, which I’m re-using, is the six pair cable. I can’t figure out which one he is referring to as the solid color. My cable appears to have a solid color next to the same color with white hashes. So, which one goes to red or green? The solid, or the one with the white hash?
September 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
I sure hope somebody can help me with this. I just ran a new phone jack into the living room for DSL to our computer. There are now 3 jacks in the house (bedroom, kitchen, and living room). The kitchen and living room are next to each other, but the jacks do not share a common wall. The bedroom phone jack always works. I cannot have anything plugged into the kitchen and living room jacks at the same time because neither will work. Only 1 can be plugged in at a time between those 2 rooms. To further complicate the matter, the phone jack in the living room will randomly dump the DSL signal and will not pick it back up until I pull the jack out and let it hang from the wall. I have replaced the living room phone jack once, and it worked for a week, but now it quits again. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
October 19th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I have a question, I just recently signed up for verizon dsl services and they told me that in order for my dsl services to work I would need to install a new jack in my room or re wire the one I already have so that the number I have already will not work on it. I would like to know how would I go about doing that?
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:27 am
I recently signed up for verizon dsl and I need to install a Seperate phone jack so I could use it because its on an seperate account with the phone line
November 19th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Hi,
1)What does it cost ballpark figure to run a new cable from the NID through the house for 3 jacks?
2)Does it need to be done by an certified electrician or phone company engineer?
3) Can the cable be run outside the house or will it break down fast from weather exposure. I don’t want anyone in my attic the roofers put their foot thru my ceiling and repaired it all ugly so I don’t want anything like that happening again.
Thanks a million in advance!