Telephone plug

A modular connector plug (6P6C) and socket (6P4C).

A telephone plug is a type of connector used to connect a telephone set to the telephone wiring inside a building, establishing a connection to a telephone network. It is inserted into its counterpart, a telephone jack, commonly affixed to a wall or baseboard. The standard for telephone plugs varies from country to country, though the RJ11 modular connector has become by far the most common.

A connection standard, such as RJ11, specifies not only the physical aspects of an electrical connector, but also the pinout, i.e. the assignment or function of each contact.[1] Modular connectors are specified for the registered jack (RJ) series of connectors, as well as for Ethernet and other connectors, such as 4P4C (4 position, 4 contacts) modular connectors, the de facto standard on handset cords,[2] often improperly[3][4] referred to as RJ connectors.

History

Historically telephones were typically owned by the telephone company and were usually permanently wired to the telephone line. However, for many installations it was necessary or convenient to provide mobile telephone sets that could be moved to a different location within the customer's premises. For this purpose telephone companies developed jacks and plugs with a varying number of contacts. Before 1930 concentric connectors with three contacts were sufficient.

The most common connector type in the Bell System in the United States was developed by 1930. It was a cube-shaped four-prong connector type (No. 238) with uneven prong spacings to prevent improper insertion of the plug into the jack (type 404). This type was redesigned as a round version (No. 505A) in the mid 1960s. The four-prong connector type was used for several decades until it was superseded by the modular connector in the 1970s.

Many countries initially used different specifications for connectors, and some national connector types remain in service, but few are used for new installations for which modular connector types are prescribed.

Photos

Connections

The installation of a conventional wired telephone set has four connection points, each of which may be hardwired, but more often use a plug and socket:

Some of these may be absent: Wired telephones may not have a separate base and handset. The defining characteristic of wireless telephones is that they do not have a handset cord, and the defining characteristic of mobile telephones is that they do not have a phone cord.

Wiring

Typical U.S. modular phone connector

A standard specifies both a physical connector and how it is wired. Sometimes the same connector is used by different countries but wired in different ways.

For example, telephone cables in the UK typically have a BS 6312 (UK standard) plug at the wall end and a 6P4C or 6P2C modular connector at the telephone end: this latter may be wired as per the RJ11 standard (with pins 3 and 4), or it may be wired with pins 2 and 5, as a straight through cable from the BT plug (which uses pins 2 and 5 for the line, unlike RJ11, which uses pins 3 and 4). Thus cables are not in general compatible between different phones, as the phone base may have a socket with pins 2 and 5 (requiring a straight through cable), or have an RJ11 socket (requiring a crossover cable).

When modular connectors are used, the latch release of the connector should be on the ridge side of flat phone wire in order to maintain polarity.

Though four wires are typically used in U.S. phone cabling, only two are necessary for telecommunication. In the event that a second line is needed, the other two are used. They are also sometimes used to provide power for telephone dial lamps (6 volts AC, as in the Princess phone), or other features.

Compatibility

Different telephone connections are generally compatible with the use of an adapter: the physical connector and its wiring is the primary incompatibility.

See: gallery of telephone adapters.

List of plugs

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Modular connectors

Main article: Modular connector

Other connectors

International standards

National standards

  1. WT-4
  2. RJ11
  3. Cable holes

Traditionally, the 5th plastic pin disconnects 1 μF capacitor that shorts telephone line while plug is not inserted into socket. In modern makes it does nothing electrical, and capacitor compartment was reused for additional RJ11 socket.

Legacy

BTicino telephone plug and socket

List of telephone connectors used in various countries and territories

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

This list covers only single line telephone plugs commonly used in homes and other small installations; there are 44 different variations of plugs, including an Israeli version of BS6312 with different internal wiring of the pins, plus hard wiring to a junction box with no adapter. Special telephone sets use a variety of special plugs, for example micro ribbon for key telephone systems.

Place Plug types
Albania 6P2C
Algeria F-010
Argentina 6P2C
Australia 610, 6P2C
Austria TDO
Barbados 6P2C
Belarus 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) [Note 1]
Belgium Tetrapolar plug, 6P2C
Bolivia 6P2C
Bosnia 6P2C, 3-pin plug used in countries of former Yugoslavia [Note 1]
Botswana BS 6312
Brazil Telebrás plug, 6P2C
Brunei 6P2C
Bulgaria 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) [Note 1]
Canada 6P2C
Cayman Islands 6P2C
Chile 6P2C
China Mainland 6P2C
Colombia 6P2C, 2-pin national standard[5]
Costa Rica 6P2C
Croatia 6P2C, 3-pin plug used in countries of former Yugoslavia [Note 1]
Cyprus BS 6312, 6P2C[Note 2]
Czech Republic 6P2C, 4-pin national plug [Note 1]
Denmark 3-prong national standard, 6P2C [Note 3]
Dominican Republic 6P2C
Ecuador 6P2C
Egypt 6P2C[Note 4]
Estonia 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) [Note 1]
Faroe Islands 6P2C
Finland 6P2C, 3-prong national standard [Note 1]
France F-010, 8P8C [Note 5][Note 3] (since 2003)
Germany TAE, 8P8C [Note 5][Note 6]
Gibraltar BS 6312
Greece 6P2C,[Note 7] Bipolar plug in older installations
Hong Kong 6P2C, [Note 3] BS 6312
Hungary 6P2C
Iceland 6P2C, SS 455 15 50 [Note 1]
India 6P2C
Indonesia 6P2C
Iran 6P2C
Ireland 6P2C, 8P8C, [Note 5][Note 8]
Israel BS 6312 but wired differently from the British Standard], 6P2C
Italy Tripolar plug, 6P2C, BTicino 2021
Japan 6P2C
Korea, Republic of 6P2C, RJ14,[Note 9] 4 prong connector (WE-like) [Note 10]
Latvia 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) [Note 1]
Lithuania 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) [Note 1]
Liechtenstein Reichle-connector, 4-pin Swiss telephone plugs [Note 1]
Luxembourg 6P2C, 4-pin luxembourgish telephone plug [Note 1]
Macedonia 6P2C, 3-pin plug used in countries of former Yugoslavia [Note 1]
Malaysia 6P2C
Malta BS 6312, 6P2C [Note 3]
Mauritius F-010
Mexico 6P2C
Montenegro 6P2C, 3-pin plug used in countries of former Yugoslavia [Note 1]
Morocco F-010, 6P2C
Netherlands 6P2C, Dutch telephone plug
Nigeria6P2C
New Zealand BS 6312, 6P2C,[Note 3] 8P8C [Note 5][Note 3]
Norway 8P8C, [Note 5][Note 3][Note 11] 3-prong national standard, [Note 1] 6-prong national standard[Note 12]
Pakistan 6P2C
Panama 6P2C
Peru 6P2C
Philippines 6P2C
Poland 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) coupled with 6P2C socket [Note 1]
Portugal 6P2C[Note 13]
Romania 6P2C, 3-pin triangular plug similar to the Italian Tripolar plug,[Note 14] 5-pin R.S.-79.809[Note 15][Note 1]
Russia 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) [Note 1]
Serbia 6P2C, 3-pin plug used in countries of former Yugoslavia [Note 1]
Singapore 6P2C
Slovenia 6P2C, 3-pin plug used in countries of former Yugoslavia [Note 1]
Slovakia 6P2C, 4-pin national plug [Note 1]
South Africa 6P2C, Protea, 8P8C [Note 5][Note 6]
Spain 6P2C
Sri Lanka 6P2C
Sweden SS 455 15 50, 6P2C
Switzerland Reichle-connector, 4-pin plugs [Note 1]
Taiwan 6P2C
Thailand 6P2C
Trinidad and Tobago 6P2C
Turkey 6P2C, Tripolar plug in older installations
Ukraine 6P2C, Polish national 5-pin (WT-4) [Note 1]
United Arab Emirates BS 6312
United Kingdom BS 6312, 6P2C[Note 16]
United States 6P2C and other Registered jacks, 4-pin Bell System plugs [Note 1]
Uruguay 6P2C
USSR (history) Polish national 5-pin (WT-4)
Venezuela 6P2C
Zimbabwe BS 6312, 6P2C
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Used in older installations
  2. Used for ADSL
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Used in newer installations
  4. Currently the dominant plug
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Often, although incorrectly referred to as "RJ45"
  6. 1 2 Used for ISDN
  7. Although other types can also be found
  8. Used for ISDN, Digital PBX, and office systems
  9. Official standard
  10. The old standard deprecated officially after 2002 but still used generally.
  11. Same plug used for POTS, ISDN and LAN
  12. For local battery telephones, not used since approximately 1980
  13. Also known as R.I.T.A.
  14. Rarely used today
  15. Same as the Polish WT-4
  16. Used for ADSL modem lines in British telephone sockets

See also

References

  1. Semenov, Andrey B.; Strizhakov, Stanislav K.; Suncheley, Igor R. (October 3, 2002). "Electrical Cable Connectors". Structured cable systems (1st ed.). Springer. p. 129. ISBN 3-540-43000-8. The abbreviation for registered jack, RJ defines a particular wiring scheme of individual wires into outlet contacts. For example, a 6-position outlet may be wired to RJ-11C scheme (one pair), RJ-14C (two pairs), or RJ-25C (three pairs).
  2. BICSI (October 7, 2002). "Background Information". Telecommunications Cabling Installation (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 88. ISBN 0-07-140979-3. 4-position and 4-contact connectors are used primarily for telephone handset cords.
  3. Trulove, James (December 19, 2005). "User Cords and Connectors". LAN wiring (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 219. ISBN 0-07-145975-8. This 8-pin modular plug is probably the most subject to name abuse, because it resembles the specialized RJ-45 connector. However, the RJ-45 wiring pattern (which includes an interface programming resistor) is so radically different from that of T568A and B that it really should not be called by that name at all.
  4. Oliviero, Andrew; Woodward, Bill (July 20, 2009). "Connectors". Cabling: The Complete Guide to Copper and Fiber-Optic Networking (4th ed.). Sybex. p. 294. ISBN 0-470-47707-5. The RJ (registered jack) prefix is one of the most widely (and incorrectly) used prefixes in the computer industry; nearly everyone, including people working for cabling companies, is guilty of referring to an eight-position modular jack (sometimes called an 8P8C) as an RJ-45.
  5. "Columbia/Venezuela phone plug". Archived from the original on April 13, 2008.

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