what does this wire belong too?

what is this ?

Comments

[canucksgirl]

Its hard to tell from your picture, but based on the connectors, it looks more like a telephone cable than a data (ethernet) cable.

To know exactly which one you have (and then what its for), count the pins.

Common Telephone Cable*: (has 6 positions) ~ 7 mm wide
_{* Despite the number of pins, all 3 of the following are interchangeable.}

2 Pin = RJ11

4 Pin = RJ14

6 Pin = RJ25

Common Ethernet Cable: (has 8 positions) ~ 11 mm wide

8 pin =  (RJ45, RJ49, RJ61 etc.)

[bwrussell]

How young are you? :D That's the cord to a landline phone. I'd have to have a clear close up of the jack to tell if its an RJ11, RJ12, or RJ45 cable.

[hellmaster993]

im 16 years old why?

[bwrussell]

It's just funny because for some commenting here this was something that was used everyday at one point in our lives but the fact that you don't know what a phone cord is just proves how fast tech is moving. It also makes it obvious you're part of the younger generation. I'm only 7 years older than you but I've used landlines and dial up longer than I've used cellphones and cable internet.

90% of the comments here are essentially "back in the day" jokes.

[hellmaster993]

i see know

[kelseymh]

Apparently I've been using the same terminology, incorrectly, all these years! Check out the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack).

It would seem that those names are wrong, as they refer to the interface/wiring protocol, not the plastic connector. Older phones use the RJ-14 "6P4C", while modern phone just use the middle twisted pair RJ-11 "6P2C". The RJ-45 Ethernet connector is "8P8C".

[kelseymh]

Did landline telephones still exist in 1997? That's when this mewling infant allegedly entered the world.

[bwrussell]

I still had dial up in 1997.

[steveastrouk]

Dial-up ? We had a piece of wet string.

[astroboy907]

bwrussel- gotcha beat. Used dial up until probably 2005. Dark days indeed.

And what was the bandwidth of the string? Cmon- you should at least have been getting maybe a 1k connection, if properly installed with 2 cups at the ends..

[steveastrouk]

The bandwidth of course is rainfall dependent.

[bwrussell]

Actually it's not a RJ45, that's a standard Ethernet plug. That's most likely an RJ11.

[frollard]

In England they don't use rj11 for telephone...they use a similar socket but the retaining clip is on the shorter side (beside the pins, not opposite the pins)

[steveastrouk]

Actually we DO use RJ11, but generally only for the connection to the handset, or to connect ADSL services. Phones use the BS6312 style - its a lot tougher than RJ11.

[kelseymh]

Interesting! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS_6312

[frollard]

now that's just BS. :P

[steveastrouk]

What is this "landline" of which you speak ?
;-)

[bwrussell]

Way back in the mists of time, when people got their news delivered each morning on actual scraps of paper and the words "look it up in the encyclopedia." could still be heard, the human race was bound by technology. They could communicate across long distances but at what cost? They were trapped in their houses waiting for calls and when they did come the chains squeezed tighter yet as the devilish device tied them down, unable to move beyond the reach of its curly, stretchy tendril.
Those were dark days and the scars can still be found. The holes in the walls where they set their anchors and drew their lifeblood from, their likenesses on signs through out the world as a reminder and a warning, the lifeless husks of their most disgusting of traps, the phone booth, littered across the countryside, and in ancient specimens like the one pictured above.

[steveastrouk]

Ah, the times of legend.

[mr.mountaineer]

you need to write a book like that. I'd read it.

[Kiteman]

...on your Kindle.

[mr.mountaineer]

i don't have a kindle,nor do i want one. I'd just buy it on paper.

[Kiteman]

_{It was a joke...}

[hellmaster993]

what is a joke i don't get it help

[bwrussell]

The joke is that he would read a book about back in the day before modern technology on his modern kindle.

[Vyger]

I have to wonder, are you familiar with the term "milkman" and have you ever had milk delivered directly to your house?

Do you know what a princes rotary phone is?

Does Superman use a cell phone?

[bwrussell]

Yeah, we have a pretty big local dairy that does deliveries as well as selling in grocery stores. I guess the hyperbole was lost.

[Re-design]

Is that what you tie your boat up at the dock with?

[steveastrouk]

yes, and you use the appliance on the other end as an anchor....or something....

[frollard]

The wire pictured belongs to its owner.

[Jayefuu]

I know it'd cause all kinds of uproar, but sometimes I think we need a Like button on Instructables :p

[kelseymh]

It is a "telephone cord." Once upon a time, voice communications services were provided to homeowners (and renters) by means of long cables, which had branches connecting to each residence.

Within the structure of the residence, wires ran to squarish sockets built into the walls. The voice communication devices (called "telephones") had the same kind of sockets built into them.

The user would connect a multiwire cable, as you show pictured above, from the socket in the wall to the socket in the device. They could then use electromechanical dials or buttons to enter the identification number ("phone number") of the person with which they wanted to communicate.

Those buttons would generate analog or digital signals which travelled through the cable to the communications service provider, which would establish an end-to-end connection between the user's device ("telephone") and that of their communication partner.

[AndyGadget]

it's a modem lead - One end to the modem and the other to an adaptor to go into the phone wallbox. 
A modem is what you used to connect to the Internet before ADSL broadband came along.  56Kbps was fast with these, as opposed to several Mbps nowadays!
Still used for certain things - I installed one a modem a couple of days ago.