Checking a phone at the phone system using a standard phone jack

Posted on

Find a standard telephone jack. This is a two port jack but only the top one will be used.

Phone Jack

Find some wire to use. You can use the cross-connect wire supplied with your phone system or you can cut a piece of spare wire. Make sure the wire has a solid core and is not stranded, stranded wire does not make a good connection on the 66 block.

phone wire

Strip the wire so the copper is exposed.

stripped wire

Connect the stripped wire to the Red and Green terminals on the jack.

phone jack

Connect the other end to the 66 block at the extension you are testing. In this example we are checking extension 201.

66 block

Punch down the wires using the punch down tool provided.  If you do not have a punch down tool scroll down to see how to connect the wires without a punch down tool.

punch down

If you do not have a punch down tool you can twist the wires onto the 66 block. Try not to touch the wires together.

Now plug a phone into the front of the jack.  If your phone works the phone system is OK and there may be an issue with the cable.