Eight-conductor data cable contains 4 pairs of wires. Each pair consists of a solid (or predominantly) colored wire and a white wire with a stripe of the same color. The pairs are twisted together. To maintain reliability on Ethernet, you should not untwist them any more than necessary (like about 1 cm).

There are two wiring standards for these cables, called "T-568A" and T-568B" They differ only in connection sequence, not in use of the various colors. The illustration shown is for T-568B. The pairs designated for 10BaseT Ethernet are Orange and Green. The other two pairs, Brown and Blue, can be used for a second Ethernet line or for phone connections.

Note that the Blue pair is on the center pins and conveniently corresponds to the Red and Green pair in a normal phone line. The connections shown are specifically for an RJ45 plug (the thing on the end of the wire). The wall jack may be wired in a different sequence because the wires are actually crossed inside the jack. The jack should either come with a wiring diagram or at least designate pin numbers that you can match up to the color code below.

Pin Number Designations
There are pin number designations for each color in T568B as well. The pin designations are as follows:

   Color Codes for T568B
Pin     color  pair  name
---     -----  ---- ---------
1       wh/or   2   TxData +
2       or      2   TxData -
3       wh/grn  3   RecvData+
4       blu     1
5       wh/blu  1
6       grn     3   RecvData-
7       wh/brn  4
8       brn     4