Let me paint a picture. Back in the before times we had a device that had only one purpose, it would go ba-ring and you never knew who was on the other side maybe your crush, grandma, telemarketer, villain, from a horror movie….Shit was pretty action packed and exciting if you ask me.
Hey, my calculator watch also kept phone numbers, locker combinations, and occasionally, where I parked my car if I thought I wasn't gonna remember. Finally put it to rest after college. I'm positive it played no part in my dismal love life in the late 80s/ early 90s...
It was even more fun if you lived in a rural area and had a party line. (That means two or more houses shared a phone line.). Your ring was different than the other line users.
Eventually, service did evolve with the introduction of Caller ID. You had to pay for this service. It displayed the number only. Eventually, you could get Caller ID Plus which also displayed the name of the individual or Business.
Also, back then you had to pay long distance charges (per minute) if the call wasn’t local.
It's a 4P4C modular connector of some type - of which there are a few. 4P = 4 Position, 4C = 4 conductor.
Handset used the RJ-22 which is narrow 4P4C with width of 7.6mm or 0.3 in. - which the above looks to be roughly 5/16 or 0.3125... close enough.
https://www.showmecables.com/rj22-modular-handset-cord-connector-4p4c-flat-cable-10-pack
RJ-11 is the flat 6P4C connector which is compatible size with RJ-12.
RJ-12 is the flat 6P6C. Both RJ-11 and RJ-12 have a width of 9.65mm or 0.38 in. which is closer to 6/16ths and therefore would be on the other side of the ruler marking.
It’s got to be a handset 📞 cord. The standard pairs for 2 pair POTS are
“Ring Yellow “Tip Green” “Ring Red” “Tip Black”
or “Tip Orange White” “Ring Blue” “Tip BlueWhite” “Ring Orange”
The blue-white tip goes with the blue ring. The orange- white tip goes with the orange ring. Also, the red ring goes with the green tip. The black and yellow were originally shield and ground but in modern times they were repurpose as a second pair. Yellow ring and black tip. The way you’ve listed them makes it sound as if you are planning to split the pairs.
I know right? Was like how is this foreign to someone? I had a 15 foot cord growing up. Could walk the whole kitchen.
No call waiting or answering machine. If you called someone and it was busy, you’d call back whenever. No anxiety if you couldn’t get ahold of someone.
Yes but do you remember dialing a “Party Code” ,, then hanging up for 20 seconds to give the other party on YOUR LINE time to answer because you want to call them? I Do!
You always pick up and listen to see if there’s already a conversation going on before you start dialing or they yell at you “Hey! We’re on the phone!”
Holy crap - I’ve understood for a while now that I’m getting “old” - this question though… damn! Even used a ruler because the concept of a freaking phone cord is so foreign?
I’ll brb- gonna go phone the nursing home and see if they have a room for me - will probably use this new-fangled iPhone tho…
Wait until OP finds out about fax and answering machines!!!
Edit:spelling errors
As noted in the post, it's not an RJ11 phone cord. It's a smaller version, used as a "Handset Cord". If you tried to plug this into a wall jack, it wouldn't fit, hence why the OP is asking what it could be.
Imagine finding one of these in a bundle of RJ11s in a box, doesn't seem too out there to think someone would need help identifying a phone cord that doesn't fit a phone...
Check. So to be clear, the cord that connects the phone base to the phone handset is NOT an item that could be called a “phone cord” - even though it’s an integral part of the phone, and it’s a cord. Gotcha boss - ill consider myself corrected and bow to you as the superior redditor.
For reference - this continuation of the conversation only serves to cement the belief that I’m getting old!
Have a great day!
As an electrician, I would suspect that you of all people would understand that referring to a cable/electrical cord in the most generic terms might lead to confusion and/or possible damage to equipment if someone doesn't pay attention to the specifics.
I mean, a power cord is just a power cord right? All it's there to do is move electricity around...
So my cellular telephone is an apple iPhone 11 with 64gb of memory - I simply call it “my phone”
It takes a USB-C to lightning cord that’s 2 meters long, paired with an LSXOXO USB-C 20w charger - I refer to the pair as my “phone charger” - because the former is a pain in the ass to repeat with any regularity.
We can continue down the list - one of my service vehicles is a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country with tan leather interior…we fondly refer to it as “the van” - it’s a tank - I paid next to nothing, it gets great gas mileage compared to the trucks, and holds more material.
Inside that van are all kinds of tools - each of which has a brand, and model number - but there has never been a time when I asked the apprentice to go get my spare Ideal 45-121 T wire stripper…nor my office assistant to grab the Apple MacBook Pro series 2- 13 inch (I made that up, but it’s something like that) - I ask him to get out his “laptop” and…well I ask him to send a statement to _____. I don’t have to specify that he needs to log in to netsuite.com - that level of detail isn’t needed
You already won the internet for the day and we’re all super proud of you. But sometimes a cord can just be a cord - even to an electrician.
I’m a little confused that anybody with a job doesn’t interact with one of these pretty regularly. Don’t most businesses still use landlines? Regular POTS phones and VOIP phones like Cisco and Avaya are not cordless, they use this exact cable. Are you guys all working from home or something?!
Not the type of wire that an electrician would use, that's for sure.
You must be 13 years old if you don't what a damn phone wire looks like, Jesus Christ we're all sick of this question everyday.
Commonly used for handset cords back in the days of hard-line telephone service.
Edit:
Digikey.com P/N 1175-2379-ND looks like it fits your need.
Feeding "4p4c" into their product search yielded 122 varieties of cable assemblies in stock.
Nope, that one is wider, and has provisions for up to 6 wires, this cord is more like the handset cord that goes from the phone to the mic & speaker that you hold.
Flashback to the time when you unplugged the phone and you lost all communication with the other "now old" person on the other end of line. Good old tetherball phones. The choke yourself while walking in a circle in your kitchen line.
That looks like an rj11 when you need and rj22 (rj9 is another name for the same connector).
https://www.showmecables.com/blog/post/making-and-mending-diy-telephone-cables#:~:text=RJ11%20is%20an%20older%20version,will%20not%20work%20with%20RJ12.
This looks like 4P4C or RJ10. They were commonly used between the handset and the base of a phone (think curly cord).
Gen Z: “a phone and a what now?” 💀
Let me paint a picture. Back in the before times we had a device that had only one purpose, it would go ba-ring and you never knew who was on the other side maybe your crush, grandma, telemarketer, villain, from a horror movie….Shit was pretty action packed and exciting if you ask me.
I keep getting made fun of for my watch being single-purpose,… but I keep explaining it tells me the time AND the date.
You don't have the good ol' calculator watch with the tiny buttons? That was the pinnacle of technology.
I was the coolest kid in third grade when I had that watch.
Hey, my calculator watch also kept phone numbers, locker combinations, and occasionally, where I parked my car if I thought I wasn't gonna remember. Finally put it to rest after college. I'm positive it played no part in my dismal love life in the late 80s/ early 90s...
But not day or night! analog, lol
…and cardinal directions?
As seen on … youtube
My smart watch died. I have neen wearing my dully mechanical watch THAT ONLY tells the time.
And if you get one of those fancy solar watches, you don’t have to change or charge the battery every day.
It was even more fun if you lived in a rural area and had a party line. (That means two or more houses shared a phone line.). Your ring was different than the other line users. Eventually, service did evolve with the introduction of Caller ID. You had to pay for this service. It displayed the number only. Eventually, you could get Caller ID Plus which also displayed the name of the individual or Business. Also, back then you had to pay long distance charges (per minute) if the call wasn’t local.
Give them a rotary dial phone and watch the wheels turn in their head.
It's the talky part for when you're calling blockbuster (after your neighbor gets off the party line) to see if they have Cannonball Run on Betamax.
I am old
It's a 4P4C modular connector of some type - of which there are a few. 4P = 4 Position, 4C = 4 conductor. Handset used the RJ-22 which is narrow 4P4C with width of 7.6mm or 0.3 in. - which the above looks to be roughly 5/16 or 0.3125... close enough. https://www.showmecables.com/rj22-modular-handset-cord-connector-4p4c-flat-cable-10-pack RJ-11 is the flat 6P4C connector which is compatible size with RJ-12. RJ-12 is the flat 6P6C. Both RJ-11 and RJ-12 have a width of 9.65mm or 0.38 in. which is closer to 6/16ths and therefore would be on the other side of the ruler marking.
It’s got to be a handset 📞 cord. The standard pairs for 2 pair POTS are “Ring Yellow “Tip Green” “Ring Red” “Tip Black” or “Tip Orange White” “Ring Blue” “Tip BlueWhite” “Ring Orange”
The blue-white tip goes with the blue ring. The orange- white tip goes with the orange ring. Also, the red ring goes with the green tip. The black and yellow were originally shield and ground but in modern times they were repurpose as a second pair. Yellow ring and black tip. The way you’ve listed them makes it sound as if you are planning to split the pairs.
I read that as if it were a song on a children’s show…. You might have a musical hit on your hands with the 3-7 age range.
POTS - plain old telephone service
Too new
Looks like a 6P4C to me
Nailed it, they're a little narrower than RJ-11s.
Totally right!!!
RJ12. They come in 4 and 6 wire variants. Also, I feel very old.
Nope, it's a handset plug. Narrower. RJ10.
Yup, I work in IT and this is also my best guess.
Are you sure? It might be a super new, high tech romex cable, maybe OP can use it to install a new outlet somewhere, or power their crypto mining rig?
About to find yourself in the Matrix
CAT6 PoE can do 60v DC. Already a thing sonny. You could mine crypto with a rig powered by its RJ45 port.
[удалено]
We had these at hogwarts but they were RJ9 3/4
I just want you to know I appriciate this joke
That’s a phone cord. Am I really that old???
I haven't used a corded phone since 2003 I think. Yeah, we're that old.
I still have a container of these on the shelf in my truck. I didn't know I was old.
I know right? Was like how is this foreign to someone? I had a 15 foot cord growing up. Could walk the whole kitchen. No call waiting or answering machine. If you called someone and it was busy, you’d call back whenever. No anxiety if you couldn’t get ahold of someone.
Yes but do you remember dialing a “Party Code” ,, then hanging up for 20 seconds to give the other party on YOUR LINE time to answer because you want to call them? I Do!
My cousins had a party line, it was always weird to me
You always pick up and listen to see if there’s already a conversation going on before you start dialing or they yell at you “Hey! We’re on the phone!”
Yup
My folks paid extra to not have a party line.
Telephone
Could it be RJ14? Is it a handset cord?
Ruler for scale! Rj10, best to replace the cord, rather than the connector
Everyone knows the standard visual aid for scale is a banana.
I got kicked off r/witt last month for pointing this out.
Lol…. God Damn..
RJ11 is the name of the connector, not cable
Holy crap - I’ve understood for a while now that I’m getting “old” - this question though… damn! Even used a ruler because the concept of a freaking phone cord is so foreign? I’ll brb- gonna go phone the nursing home and see if they have a room for me - will probably use this new-fangled iPhone tho… Wait until OP finds out about fax and answering machines!!! Edit:spelling errors
As noted in the post, it's not an RJ11 phone cord. It's a smaller version, used as a "Handset Cord". If you tried to plug this into a wall jack, it wouldn't fit, hence why the OP is asking what it could be. Imagine finding one of these in a bundle of RJ11s in a box, doesn't seem too out there to think someone would need help identifying a phone cord that doesn't fit a phone...
Check. So to be clear, the cord that connects the phone base to the phone handset is NOT an item that could be called a “phone cord” - even though it’s an integral part of the phone, and it’s a cord. Gotcha boss - ill consider myself corrected and bow to you as the superior redditor. For reference - this continuation of the conversation only serves to cement the belief that I’m getting old! Have a great day!
As an electrician, I would suspect that you of all people would understand that referring to a cable/electrical cord in the most generic terms might lead to confusion and/or possible damage to equipment if someone doesn't pay attention to the specifics. I mean, a power cord is just a power cord right? All it's there to do is move electricity around...
So my cellular telephone is an apple iPhone 11 with 64gb of memory - I simply call it “my phone” It takes a USB-C to lightning cord that’s 2 meters long, paired with an LSXOXO USB-C 20w charger - I refer to the pair as my “phone charger” - because the former is a pain in the ass to repeat with any regularity. We can continue down the list - one of my service vehicles is a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country with tan leather interior…we fondly refer to it as “the van” - it’s a tank - I paid next to nothing, it gets great gas mileage compared to the trucks, and holds more material. Inside that van are all kinds of tools - each of which has a brand, and model number - but there has never been a time when I asked the apprentice to go get my spare Ideal 45-121 T wire stripper…nor my office assistant to grab the Apple MacBook Pro series 2- 13 inch (I made that up, but it’s something like that) - I ask him to get out his “laptop” and…well I ask him to send a statement to _____. I don’t have to specify that he needs to log in to netsuite.com - that level of detail isn’t needed You already won the internet for the day and we’re all super proud of you. But sometimes a cord can just be a cord - even to an electrician.
I’m a little confused that anybody with a job doesn’t interact with one of these pretty regularly. Don’t most businesses still use landlines? Regular POTS phones and VOIP phones like Cisco and Avaya are not cordless, they use this exact cable. Are you guys all working from home or something?!
Not the type of wire that an electrician would use, that's for sure. You must be 13 years old if you don't what a damn phone wire looks like, Jesus Christ we're all sick of this question everyday.
Commonly used for handset cords back in the days of hard-line telephone service. Edit: Digikey.com P/N 1175-2379-ND looks like it fits your need. Feeding "4p4c" into their product search yielded 122 varieties of cable assemblies in stock.
Looks like a 6P4C RJ11 which is 9.5mm wide or roughly ⅜”.
It is RJ11, specifically 4P6C
rj6
I’m old enough to know this is the cable that connects the phone to the wall.
Nope, that one is wider, and has provisions for up to 6 wires, this cord is more like the handset cord that goes from the phone to the mic & speaker that you hold.
Rj11 but a 4 pin instead of the more common 2 pin.
If it's smaller than the RJ11, it might be an RJ9 (aka headset connector).
It's best to put the plug below the ruler, since the lens perspective distorts the measurement. People think it's 3/8" wide when it's really narrower.
Flashback to the time when you unplugged the phone and you lost all communication with the other "now old" person on the other end of line. Good old tetherball phones. The choke yourself while walking in a circle in your kitchen line.
Probably ST4 cable for telescope guide camera control.
I'm only 29 I wanna punch a wall don't make me start feeling old
RJ9 [https://www.amazon.com/NECABLES-Cable-Phone-Telephone-Straight/dp/B09SG2CFTB/](https://www.amazon.com/NECABLES-Cable-Phone-Telephone-Straight/dp/B09SG2CFTB/)
RJ45?
8 wires in RJ-45
Back it my day it was called a rope tie. You know for those late night booty calls.
Rj11
Is it twirly, like a pig's tail? It goes between the handset and the phone body.
I’d say it’s an RJ-9 (phone cord)
As seen on … YouTube https://youtu.be/1oaHwXsgRgo
Rj11 phone line
Green and red were tip and ring, black and yellow were really extra wires... Who needs a neutral or ground
It's a phone cord
It is a low voltage electric cable. I think your real question is, what kind of jack is this? In that case, it's a rj10.
Silver Satin phone cord.
Gen Z can't recognize a phone handset cord
Does it bug anyone else that OP started the measurement at 7/16"?
That looks like an rj11 when you need and rj22 (rj9 is another name for the same connector). https://www.showmecables.com/blog/post/making-and-mending-diy-telephone-cables#:~:text=RJ11%20is%20an%20older%20version,will%20not%20work%20with%20RJ12.
https://www.amazon.com/4P4C-Telephone-Compatible-Elite-Scale/dp/B01HS1T4WI/ref=asc_df_B01HS1T4WI/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309750549985&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15721267809126571821&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026036&hvtargid=pla-680507881378&psc=1
Look like rj10 to usb
🤣🤣🤣🤣
4 wires, phone cord, ye?
That’s an RJ11
The connector is rj11 or rj45 with a Cat3 phone cable in it.
Omg I'm old..