I have an old 4-prong telephone jack in my house and I would like to install the current type of jacks that are used. The 4-prong has two wires hooked up to it, a solid blue and a blue & white wire. However, there are 5 extra sets of wires wound together in the wall. There are sets of green, orange, brown, gray and red/blue.

The jack I bought has four screws with four different colored wires going to them. They are red, green, black and yellow.

Why are there so many extra wires in the wall and which ones should I use on the new jack and to what wire do they attach to?

Thank you,

Laura

Not sure what all the spare wires are, sounds like some used a multi-pari cable just because they had it.

The two wires already connected to the old jack are the important ones, they will connect to the red and green terminals on the new jack.

Keep those spares there, you may be able to use them in the future for another line.

The old box that the blue and blue/white wires should be labeled R, G, B, and Y. Make sure the wire that was on the G connects with the green, and the one on the R to the red.