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USA Telephone Wiring Color Code

The Backside of a Residential Telephone Jack

Front of the phone jack — “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.

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.

Tip +

Ring –

Cat 3

Green

Red

Cat 3

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

Here the orange pair is connected as the primary telephone line — Here the orange pair is 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.

The blue pair and orange pair are 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.

A telephone jack splitter — A telephone jack splitter enables two lines to be used from one wall jack

Cat 5e four twisted pair unshielded telephone wire — Cat 5e four twisted pair unshielded telephone wire

Placement of 4 pairs on a jack or a plug — Placement of 4 pairs on a plug or a jack