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The Backside of a Residential Telephone Jack

Telephone Jack Wiring Color Code

Telephone Wire Tip and Ring Color Code

Dear Mr. Electrician. What is the telephone jack wire color code for my house? I want to replace all of the old telephone jacks, but am confused by the tip and ring color code. The new telephone jacks have red, green, yellow, and black terminals, but the telephone wiring in my walls have eight wires with different color stripes. How do I connect the new telephone jacks?

Answer: I have put together a residential telephone wire color code chart to help you understand how to connect the existing four pair telephone wiring in your walls to the new telephone jacks. The four pair wire is capable of having four separate telephone lines at each jack location. However if you only have one telephone line for your house, you should use the same color pair for each new phone jack that you install. NOTE: Text links below go to applicable products on Amazon.com

Telephone Wiring Color Code for a Home

“Tip” refers to that side of a two wire telephone circuit which is connected to the positive side of a battery at the telephone company’s central office. “Ring” refers to that side of a two wire telephone circuit which is connected to the negative side of a battery at the telephone company central office.

Generally speaking the phone company connects the phone lines at their termination block in a certain order. The blue pair is first, the orange pair is second, the green pair is third, and the brown pair is fourth. So for one phone line, the blue pair should be the correct line to connect to.

However there may be instances where the phone company found a problem with the blue pair and had to use the orange pair instead. It is possible that there was a problem with all of the pairs going into you house and the phone company had to split between pairs of wires. When removing the old telephone jacks, take note of which wires are being used on the old jacks.

Rear of phone jack with blue pair attached

The blue pair is connected as the primary telephone line. The solid blue wire is the “Ring” and gets connected to the red jack terminal. The white wire with a blue stripe is terminated on the green “Tip” screw.

One pair of wires is used for one telephone line. The pairs of wires are twisted together to avoid cross talk between telephone lines. This helps the sound quality. When looping the bare telephone wire around the terminal screw, loop the wire in the direction that the screw will tighten (Clockwise). This will cause the loop to close on itself and make a better connection.

Tip +

Ring –

Green

Red

Black

Yellow

Pair 1

White with
blue stripe

Blue

Pair 2

White with
orange stripe

Orange

Pair 3

White with
green stripe

Green

Pair 4

White with
brown stripe

Brown

Orange pair connected as the primary telephone line

The solid orange wire is the “Ring” and is connected to the red jack terminal. The white wire with an orange stripe is terminated on the green “Tip” screw.

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Blue pair and orange pair both connected to the telephone jack — The blue pair and orange pair are both connected to the telephone jack

A splitter plugged into the jack will enable the use of two separate telephone lines. The solid blue wire is the “Ring” and gets connected to the red jack terminal. The white wire with a blue stripe is terminated on the green “Tip” screw. The solid orange wire is the “Ring” and is connected to the yellow jack screw. The white wire with an orange stripe is terminated on the black “Tip” screw.