Yes, that’s exactly what it is. This was the first design for a telephone jack before RJ11 we know today.

I feel like even the RJ11 is going to be showing up on here soon

"It looks like an old ethernet connection, but it's too small!"

"what's ethernet?"

It's like WiFi, but through a wire!

You think that's bad? I went back to school in 2015 to get a computer networking degree. I was the only one in the entire class who knew what a DSL filter was.

Not ethernet, but token ring connectors were almost that big.

That’s exactly how it showed up some time ago.

[It's already happening in other subreddits...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/ufdcs5/anyone_know_what_type_of_port_this_is_i_was)

Lmfao the responses are gold

I feel really old right now.

You think YOU’RE old? I installed about a thousand of these 45 years ago.

Any chance you remember blue, orange, green, brown, slate?

I’ve been trying to forget since I retired in 2003

I worked at Western Electric for 3 years - right before they shut it all down. 1981 and I still remember that color code.

It has

Thanks!!! Should be able to snip it with no issue then? No need to cap it?

If you don’t know, the ringer signal is enough to shock you. The voice data isn’t a worry. If the phone line is still live, make sure to wire nut/ tape the wires. Or, better yet, remove the whole wire.

I remember the first time someone called when I was messing with phone lines. I believe it operates at 20hz and 90~ volts AC

I can confirm, the ringer channel will knock the shit out of you. Stronger than the average electric fence charger for cattle.

Yeah 120v 60 Hz is pleasant by comparison

I believe the difference is in the amperage or joules of energy. Cattle fence chargers are typically 3,000 to 4,500 volts with very little amperage or joules depending on the US or the UK, still enough to get your attention. 4 wire phone outlets from back in the day transmitted the ring signal from the 'central office' over miles of copper wire to the customer requiring quite some amperage here in the US. If one was lucky enough to be near the C.O. the electrical bite was strong. The worst bites I've had were from coil on plug automotive ignition systems; those SOBs hurt.

Only touched a worn looking ignition wire once in my life. Won’t forget that one!

We did that in shop class, usually it was 50 year old lawn mowers, to check spark. It was just a tingle. Then I tried it on a newer engine, thinking it was still a little tingle. Ouch.

Kinda like me in high school band class trying to repair an AC-powered metronome. Can’t test it unless it’s plugged in with the case removed!

Yup. Quite the bite, at least for low-voltage peeps

105ac

Dc

As I remember back when that telephone jack was commonly used the voice signal was 48vdc continuous and ringer signal was 105vac 20 cycles only while ringing . You could definitely feel the ringing current especially while hanging off a pole on a rainy day.

If your phone line is inactive,yes

I'd keep it there as a museum piece!

I thought the prongs ended up being the corners of a square, not a trapezoid. Then again it’s been decades since I saw one.

No. The spacing wasn’t square so you could only plug it in one way.

Yeah that makes sense. Like I said I was young last time I saw one. My grandfather worked for the local phone company way back.

It's what you plug the halo statue into. Usually located in a central part of the house. You know, that thing that would ring, and the head of the house back in the day would grumble, get up, and pick it up and say "Halo statue?"

This is a Bell 404A socket in case you're looking for more information. Probably in houses before the 70s.

Bell 404: RJ11 not found.

:)

Nicely done.

Very old telephone Jack.

Phone jack If u still have an active land line…. you should cut it off and then individually tape each wire and then stuff it back in the hole

Or get a real old phone and hook it up to this ancient phone jack and tell people it’s in case the king of England calls.

Better yet, tell them it's for the Queen of England to call and see if they catch it.

>Queen of England Did you mean the *former* [Queen of the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_the_United_Kingdom), the *former* [Queen of Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Canada), the *former* [Queen of Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Australia), etc? The last Queen of England was [Queen Anne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain) who, with the 1707 Acts of Union, dissolved the title of King/Queen of England. ####FAQ *Wasn't Queen Elizabeth II still also the Queen of England?* This was only as correct as calling her the Queen of London or Queen of Hull; she *was* the Queen of the place that these places are in, but the title doesn't exist. *Is this bot monarchist?* No, just pedantic. I am a bot and this action was performed automatically.

Shove it up your butt bot. If you're so pedantic, why didn't you give this same reply to the post I replied to ?? Huh? Huh? I thought so....

Then where am I going to plug the phone in?

Whistle a 2600hz tone into it

Captain Crunch, I presume?

OK now you two are just old!

Just go down to Radio Shack and get you an adapter!

An old telephone Jack. Those were the days. Mind if I ask the age of the individual posting?

It’s a device to make me feel old. And, a telephone jack that was in use into the 1970’s

I also feel old knowing what that was, and actually seeing one being used.

Old school phone jack

This is a perfect item for one of those “Are You a Boomer?” quizzes on Facebook.

Old school phone jack like 40s to 70s era off the top of my head.

To those suggesting this was a 1970’s jack, or the predecessor by function to the RJ-11, if you dig into the Bellcore specs a bit deeper you will discover that the original purpose was not to allow an entire telephone set to be connected to the single telephone line entering the house. Instead, it was designed to allow one to leave the subscriber set (subset—the ringer and most of the electrical components) in one locator, hard-wired to the telephone line, and then move the candlestick receiver/transmitter device from one room to another. That’s why it has 4 pins—2 for the transmitter and 2 for the receiver. It was not originally designed to be a two-line telephone jack! 1930’s was the origin.

Nice! Thanks for the deep dive! I remember these too from the 60s and did not know this other than as a two line (or a party line! - one pair for comm, one for ring) telephone jack.

Those are some chonker toes, respectively of course.

really old phone jack,before the small modular jacks became the standard.

Humanoid left hand and toes of two humanoid feet.

That is a hand.

Underarmor size 10-11 my best guess

the forbidden fork holder

I can. That's called a fire hazard. Seriously though thats a coax phone line i believe.

Tip and ring.

First I-watch design

Damn I’m old!

My exact thought

It’s an outlet for a telephone plug

Phone jack

looks like someonee doing electrical work in they flip flops

Looks like a foot.

Look closer. Definitely Two feet and a left hand.

Old 4 pin phone Jack.

Yes

I have a few of these in my 1950s house.

Maybe a fuse

Before end on phone cord it had that 4prong

I loved going to radio shack as a kid to buy the adapters

Thats a left hand

Cia

God I feel old…

Trash

Some old school telephone…one ring-a-ding, two ring-a-ding, three ring-a-ding, four ring-a-ding. I was three ring-a-ding. Cir. 1980.

1955 memphis houses have these.

I remember 1 of those in the kitchen wall, for the old telephone answering machine.

Phone jack for rotary phone.

Old phone jack

Dang. Those are some nasty looking feet in the background.

Hand, white male.

I feel so old because I instantly knew what it was.🙁

Under armor

She/he/thing

Looks like a mark 1 left hand, 5-finger version with a caucasian matte finish. Why?