Wire a Phone Jack

You can install your own phone jacks and save big bucks!

Steps

  1. Choose your location. Consider the route the wire will take from the Network Interface on your house to the jack location. Can it run on the outside walls? Can it run through the crawl space? What are the obstructions to consider: chimneys, eaves, doorways, porches, downspouts, etc.
  2. Drill out through the exterior wall (or down through the floor if using a crawl space route). You will need a 12" long, 1/4" diameter drill bit (or one just slightly larger than the diameter of the phone wire) and power drill. When going from interior to exterior, angle the drill so that water will not follow the cable indoors. Thread wire through the hole from the inside out (hint: phone wire pushes like wet spaghetti. Use your diagonal cutters to cut through the outside sheath, leaving the pairs intact, and gently pull the outer sheath towards the end. This will give you a short empty sheath on the end you can push a heavier wire into to assist threading through the wall.)
  3. Route wire to the NI (Network Interface). The NI is the point where the home wiring is connected to the Telephone cable. If stapling on the exterior of the house, use round #25 staples about every {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. If routing under the house, staple every {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} and thread through openings and going around obstructions where needed.
  4. Open the NI with screwdriver or nut driver as required. Newer NI's have varied attachments: some use the older strip the wire/wrap it and screw down, some you open a little door and insert the wires that aren't stripped into a pair of holes and switch a lever, some you lift a small lever and insert the wires that aren't stripped, then close the lever and the door. There should be instructions on the inside door. If there is no modern NI (the clue is whether you have test jacks or not), loosen the nuts, strip the wire ends and wrap and tighten. HINT: if wrapping bare wire, wrap it in the clockwise direction.
  5. You should have about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of sheath partially removed from your wire (from when you first opened the sheath). Pull it all the way off. If you have a pull string use it to expose about 16" of wire pairs. Trim the ends to make sure you have clean undamaged pairs. The colors of your wire may vary. Old style cable is two (2) pair (red/green and yellow/black). It is designed for voice and modem speed communication and is still installed by many phone companies today. Use of CAT3 or better yet, CAT5 and CAT5e may be a better choice as it is much better at rejecting cross-talk and noise. Regardless of which type chosen, there should be 4 pairs: white/blue, white/orange, white/green, and white/brown.
  6. The first pair is customarily the white/blue. Attach the white/blue pair to the posts or slots in the NI.
  7. Back at the jack location, attach your modular telephone jack to the wall. The inside of the jack will have short colored wires going from the screws to the pins of the jack, probably red/green and yellow/black. The red/green are attached to the center pins in the plug in part of the jack (line 1 if using a multi-line telephone), the yellow/black go to the outer pair (line 2). Attach the white/blue pair of the wire to the red/green screws.
  8. Test for dial tone. If nothing, make sure you've hooked the wires to the correct place in the NI (should be labeled and/or have other wires hooked to it), check to make sure you haven't stapled through the wire, check the butt of the sheath to make sure you haven't partially cut the pairs. Check all connections, re stripping and re-tightening if necessary. All good? Try again and make sure you have a working phone.
  9. Does it work now? Congratulations! You've saved at least $99 (phone company's jack price) and learned that you're handier than you thought!


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Tips

  • Minimize the amount of cable run on the exterior of the building, as some cables are not rated for outdoor use, and the staples used to secure it will rust.
  • 12" long drill bit (sized for cable) for going through finished floors, woodwork, exterior walls, etc. A drill bit 3/8" or larger should be used to speed installing the wire through framing members and joists.
  • Supplies: 22 gauge category 3 inside telephone wire (measure and add 25% to 50% -it's easier to cut it than try to make it stretch!), modular phone jack
  • Necessary tools: diagonal cutters, screwdrivers (flat and Phillips), drill, #25 staple gun with round staples, screws (for attaching jack to wall), drywall anchors (if needed)

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