About Telephone Jacks

Function

• The function of a telephone jack is to facilitate the connection between your phone cord and your phone line. It makes this connection by hard-wiring the local phone network line into the back of the phone jack. The jack is then installed into a wall or baseboard using screws. The male end of your phone cord is then plugged into the female socket in the phone jack. This plug lines up the wires in the jack to the wires in the phone cord and electrical messages are transmitted across these wires.

Types

• Nearly every country has their own style and design of phone jack. Most countries, including the United States, use the RJ11. Other styles include the F-010 used by Algeria and France and the TD0 used by Austria. In addition to the single port phone jack there are also multi-port jacks used for facilitating multiple phone lines. These multi-port jacks come with, two, three, five and more ports. You can choose between surface-mount phone jacks, also referred to as baseboard jacks, and wall phone jacks.

Features

• Features center around what the jack is being used for. Basic phone jacks for single line homes will offer nothing more than a single phone jack port and a decorative face plate. Multi-line phone jacks will offer two or more phone jack ports, a face plate and possibly a surge protection device.

Size

• The size of the telephone jack is going to vary depending on which model you buy. The basic surface telephone jack will have dimensions of about 1 inch by 5 inches by 3.71 inches. Wall telephone jacks, on the other hand, will be about 7.82 inches by 4.71 inches by 1 inch.

Warning

• Installing a phone jack is relatively risk-free. Since phone lines use such a small amount of electricity you most likely won't be shocked installing one, however, to play it safe turn the phone line off temporarily while installing a new phone line. Also, know that the average home is set up to support only five phones. If you have an older home with its original wiring then expect only five phones at a time to ;ring, however, if you have a new wiring system more may be supported. An electrician can examine your wiring system and tell you how many phones your home's wiring can support.