How Your Telephone is Wired

Did you know that it only takes two wires to connect your landline telephone? The telephone company runs their telephone cable from the utility pole to a gray plastic box mounted on a wall just outside your home. This box is typically called the network interface device (NID) and it is the point where the telephone company's responsibility ends and yours begins. 

Two wires, colored red and green, are all it takes to hear a dial tone. The telephone wires are hooked to their matching color-coded terminals inside the NID. From the NID, the wires are routed to the telephone jack where they are simply connected to similar color-coded terminals.

If you ever decide to install your own telephone wiring rather than pay someone to do it for you, then take note of the following steps:

1. Look for the telephone cable running from the utility pole into your home. Follow the cable until you find the small plastic box, called NID, mounted on a wall just outside your home. 
2. Open the NID cover and look for a very short telephone cable plugged into a jack on its panel board. Unplug the cable to discontinue power and signals from the telephone company and prevent any low-voltage shock.
3. Slip a telephone cable through an opening at the base of the NID and pull the cable up by around six inches.
4. Remove two inches of cable sheathing with diagonal pliers to expose the inner wires. Strip off half an inch of insulation from the end of each wire with a wire stripper or utility knife.
5. Hook the red and green wires clockwise around their matching red and green terminal screws inside the NID, and then tighten both screws.
6. Screw a surface-mount telephone jack (RJ-14) onto the wall, using screws that came with the jack. Open the jack cover and loosen the red and green terminal screws. 
7. Run the telephone cable from the NID to the telephone jack. Route the cable neatly through walls, ceilings or baseboards. Use cable staples to attach the cable onto surfaces. Cut the cable once it reaches the telephone jack, but leave six inches of extra cable length.
8. Remove four inches of cable sheathing from the tip of the cable, and then strip off half an inch of insulation from the tip of the red and green wires. 
9. Hook the red wire clockwise around the red terminal screw on the jack, and then hook the green wire around the green terminal screw. Tighten all connections and tug on the wires lightly to make sure they are not loose.
10. Go to the NID and plug the short cable back into its jack. Plug a landline telephone into the newly installed telephone jack inside your home. Call a friend to test the line. 

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