Jacks, Adapters and Other Accessories

^{An assortment of Panduit jacks.}

There is an almost unbelievable variety of telephone jacks available.
You can find phone jacks almost everywhere, from the "Dollar Stores"
to full service electrical supply houses.

Here are a few pointers:

• If you are going to use screw post termination jacks, look at the screw posts before you purchase your jacks. Some "cheap" jacks simply have machine screws turned into plastic stands. The threads of the screws can cut your wires and cause open connections. If the wire is caught in the threads, it will probably twist so that it doesn't leave the jack in the desired direction. Better jacks use machine bolts instead of screws. The bolts have an unthreaded area just below the bolt head and washers to place your wires between. The unthreaded area and washers help provide a good mechanically secure connection that is less prone to failure.
  
  

^{An assortment of Hubbell jacks.}

• Consider using "punch down" jacks when placing several jacks on one faceplate. These type jacks make it easy to terminate all of the wires with a "punch tool" and avoid the tangled nest of wires that can result from using screw post jacks. These jacks may be called "110 jacks" or "IDC" jacks . Many of these jacks are modular and may permit you to combine several different type connections on one faceplate. (Many of the rooms in my home have 2 phone jacks, 2 ethernet LAN jacks, and a dual-coax cable television connection all on one Ortronics faceplate. That looks much better than three to six faceplates each with only one jack.)
  
  
• If at all possible, run your cable inside your walls so that it is not exposed and use "flush mount" wall jacks. This is a little more work, but the results look much better than exposed cable running to a surface mount jack.
  
  
• If you are building a new home or doing a major remodeling of your existing home:
  • Place at least one and preferably two phone connections in most rooms - it's easier to plan ahead than to run more cable after the construction is finished.
  
  • Consider using matching "designer" faceplates in some areas such a formal living room. Several manufactures offer matching phone jacks for their color coordinated light switches and electric outlets. This gives a nice professional appearance and only cost a few cents more.
  
  
• If you use modular jacks, you may have the option of using different color jack modules for different lines or configurations. Many of these jacks also include special labeling features. This can help avoid confusion.

Adapter Style/Shapes

• Duplex Adapter - These adapters give you two jacks for the same line. They are normally shape 1 or 2. Some models are similar to shape two, but have a jack to accept an extension cord rather than a plug to go in a wall jack. Other models have a cord built into the adapter instead of a plug to go into a jack. Versions of this type adapter are also available for the smaller jacks/plugs used for handsets (RJ-22 or RJ-HH), which won't work for your RJ-11/RJ-14 line connections.
• Two Line Adapter - (a.k.a. A/B Splitter) - These adapters give you separate jacks for two lines. Some models (Triplex Adapters) have a third position that has both lines. They are normally shape 2 or 3. These adapters are also built in variants with jacks or cords instead of plugs.
• Two Line Combiner - (a.k.a A/B Combiner) - These adapters combine two separate RJ-11 single line jacks into one RJ-14 two line jack. They are normally shape 2. The plug goes in the jack for one line and a cord coming from a separate jack for the second line plugs into one of the jacks on the adapter. The remaining jack on the adapter then provides a combined RJ-14 jack. If that's not confusing enough, these adapters come in variants with cords in place of some and/or all of the jacks and plug.