TIA/EIA-568-A, T-568B RJ45 Wiring Standard

For wiring straight-through and cross-over RJ-45 cables

RJ-45 conductor data cable contains 4 pairs of wires each consists of a solid colored wire and a strip of the same color. There are
two wiring standards for RJ-45 wiring: T-568A and T-568B. Although there are 4 pairs of wires, 10BaseT/100BaseT Ethernet
uses only 2 pairs: Orange and Green. The other two colors (Blue and Brown) may be used for a second Ethernet line or for
phone connections. The two wiring standards are used to create a cross-over cable (T-568A on one end, and T-568B on the
other end), or a straight-through cable (T-568B or T-568A on both ends).

To create a straight-through cable, you'll have to use either T-568A or T-

568B on both ends of the cable. The diagram depicted on the left and right
shows clip of the RJ-45 connector down.

To create a cross-over cable, you'll wire T-568A on one end and T-568B
on the other end of the cable.

The straight-through cables are used when connecting Data Terminating

Equipment (DTE) to Data Communications Equipment (DCE), such as
computers and routers to modems (gateways) or hubs (Ethernet Switches).
The cross-over cables are used when connecting DTE to DTE, or DCE to
DCE equipment; such as computer to computer, computer to router; or
gateway to hub connections. The DTE equipment terminates the signal,
while DCE equipment do not.

More on straight-through and cross-over connections

The RJ45 data cables we use to connect computers to a Ethernet switch is straight-through cables. As noted above, the RJ45 cable uses only 2-
pairs of wires: Orange (pins 1 & 2) and Green (pins 3 & 6). Pins 4, 5 (Blue) and 7, 8 (Brown) are NOT used. Straight-through cable, as
its name suggests, connects pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2, pin 3 to pin 3, and pin 6 to pin 6. Cross-over cables are used to connect TX+ to RX+,
and TX- to RX-, which connects pin 1 to pin 3, pin 2 to pin 6, pin 3 to pin 1 and pin 6 to pin 2. The unused pins are generally connected straight-
through in both straight-through and cross-over cables.

To network two computers without a hub, a cross-over cable is used. Cross-over cable is also used to connect a router to a computer, or ethernet
switch (hub) to another ethernet switch without an uplink. Most ethernet switches today provide an uplink port, which prevents a use of cross-
over cable to daisy chain another ethernet switch. Straight-through cables are used to connect a computer to an ethernet switch, or a router to an
ethernet switch.

Pin Number Designations

There are pin number designations for each color in T-568B and T-568A.

T-568B T-568A
-------------------------- ------------------------
Pin Color Pin Name Color Pin Name
--- ------------- -------- ------------- --------
1 Orange Stripe Tx+ Green Stripe Rx+
2 Orange Tx- Green Rx-
3 Green Stripe Rx+ Orange Stripe Tx+
4 Blue Not Used Blue Not Used
5 Blue Stripe Not Used Blue Stripe Not Used
6 Green Rx- Orange Tx-
7 Brown Stripe Not Used Brown Stripe Not Used
8 Brown Not Used Brown Not Used

1 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

 Crossover Cable Pin-Outs

Two pairs crossed, Two pairs uncrossed

10baseT/100baseTX crossover
Connection 1: T568A Connection 2: T568B
Pin Pins on plug face
signal pair color signal pair color

1 BI_DA+ 3 white/green BI_DB+ 2 white/orange

stripe stripe

2 BI_DA- 3 BI_DB- 2
green solid orange solid

3 BI_DB+ 2 white/orange BI_DA+ 3 white/green

stripe stripe

4 1 1
blue solid blue solid

5 1 white/blue 1 white/blue
stripe stripe

6 BI_DB- 2 BI_DA- 3
orange solid green solid

7 4 white/brown 4 white/brown
stripe stripe

8 4 4
brown solid brown solid

Certain equipment or installations, including those in which phone and/or power are mixed with
data in the same cable, may require that the "non-data" pairs 1 and 4 (pins 4, 5, 7 and 8) remain
un-crossed.

2 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

 Gigabit T568A crossover
All Four pairs crossed
10base-T/100base-TX/1000base-TX/T4 crossover (shown as T568A)
Connection 2: T568A
Connection 1: T568A
Pin Crossed Pins on plug face
signal pair color signal pair color

1 BI_DA+ 3 white/green BI_DB+ 2 white/orange

stripe stripe

2 BI_DA- 3 BI_DB- 2
green solid orange solid

3 BI_DB+ 2 white/orange BI_DA+ 3 white/green

stripe stripe

4 BI_DC+ 1 BI_DD+ 4 white/brown

blue solid
stripe

5 BI_DC- 1 white/blue BI_DD- 4

brown solid
stripe

6 BI_DB- 2 BI_DA- 3
orange solid green solid

7 BI_DD+ 4 white/brown BI_DC+ 1

blue solid
stripe

8 BI_DD- 4 BI_DC- 1 white/blue

brown solid
stripe

3 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

 Gigabit T568B crossover
All Four pairs crossed
10base-T/100base-TX/1000base-TX/T4 crossover (shown as T568B)
Connection 2: T568B
Connection 1: T568B
Pin Crossed Pins on plug face
signal pair color signal pair color

1 BI_DA+ 2 white/orange BI_DB+ 3 white/green

stripe stripe

2 BI_DA- 2 BI_DB- 3
orange solid green solid

3 BI_DB+ 3 white/green BI_DA+ 2 white/orange

stripe stripe

4 BI_DC+ 1 BI_DD+ 4 white/brown

blue solid
stripe

5 BI_DC- 1 white/blue BI_DD- 4

brown solid
stripe

6 BI_DB- 3 BI_DA- 2
green solid orange solid

7 BI_DD+ 4 white/brown BI_DC+ 1

blue solid
stripe

8 BI_DD- 4 BI_DC- 1 white/blue

brown solid
stripe

In practice, it does not matter if your Ethernet cables are wired as T568A or T568B, just so long
as both ends follow the same wiring format. Typical commercially available "pre-wired" cables
can follow either format depending on who made them. What this means is that you may
discover that one manufacturer's cables are wired one way and another's the other way, yet both
are "correct" and will work. In either case, T568A or T568B, a normal (un-crossed) cable will
have both ends wired according to the layout in the Connection 1 column.

4 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

Ethernet Crossover Cable Pin Configuration

Pin Function Wire Color

1 Receive (+) White-Green

2 Receive (-) Green

3 Transmit (+) White-Orange

4 -- White-Brown

5 -- Brown

6 Transmit (-) Orange

7 -- Blue

8 -- White-Blue

The TIA/EIA 568B straight through cable consists of four pairs of twisted pair lines. These
ethernet cables can be shielded twisted pairs (STP); screened twisted pairs (ScTP); or most
commonly, unshielded twisted pairs (UTP). The twisted pairs serve to cancel out the any RF/EM
(radio-frequency/electromagnetic) noise through the lines.

5 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

T568A and T568B termination
Perhaps the widest known and most discussed feature of TIA/EIA-568-B.1-2001 is the definition of pin/pair
assignments for eight-conductor 100-ohm balanced twisted-pair cabling, such as Category 3, Category 5 and
Category 6 unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cables. These assignments are named T568A and T568B and they define
the pinout, or order of connections, for wires in 8P8C (often incorrectly referred to as RJ45) eight-pin modular
connector plugs and sockets. Although these definitions consume only one of the 468 pages in the standards
documents, a disproportionate amount of attention is paid to them. This is because cables that are terminated with
differing standards on each end will not function normally.

TIA/EIA-568-B specifies that horizontal cables should be terminated using the T568A pin/pair assignments, "or,
optionally, per [T568B] if necessary to accommodate certain 8-pin cabling systems." Despite this instruction, many
organizations continue to implement T568B for various reasons, chiefly associated with tradition (T568B is
equivalent to AT&T 258A). The United States National Communication Systems Federal Telecommunications
Recommendations do not recognize T568B.

The primary color of pair one is blue, pair two is orange, pair three is green and pair four is brown. Each pair
consists of one conductor of solid color, and a second conductor which is white with a stripe of the same color. The
specific assignments of pairs to connector pins varies between the T568A and T568B standards.

Mixing T568A-terminated patch cords with T568B-terminated horizontal cables (or the reverse) does not produce
pinout problems in a facility. Although it may very slightly degrade signal quality, this effect is marginal and
certainly no greater than that produced by mixing cable brands in-channel.

Wiring

T568A T568B Pins on plug face (socket is

Pin Wire T568A Color T568B Color
Pair Pair reversed)

1 3 2 tip white/green white/orange

stripe stripe

2 3 2 ring
green solid orange solid

3 2 3 tip white/orange white/green

stripe stripe

4 1 1 ring
blue solid blue solid

5 1 1 tip white/blue white/blue

stripe stripe

6 2 3 ring
orange solid green solid

7 4 4 tip white/brown white/brown

stripe stripe

8 4 4 ring
brown solid brown solid

6 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

Note that the only difference between T568A and T568B is that pairs 2 and 3 (orange and green) are swapped. Both
configurations wire the pins "straight through", i.e., pins 1 through 8 on one end are connected to pins 1 through 8
on the other end. Also, the same sets of pins are paired in both configurations: pins 1 and 2 form a pair, as do 3 and
6, 4 and 5, and 7 and 8. However the different pairs in an Ethernet cable are identical, so one can use cables wired
according to either configuration in the same installation without significant problem; problems involving crosstalk
can occur (which is normally minimized by correctly twisting a pair together), but are usually insignificant in all but
the most stringent specifications such as Category 6 cable. The primary thing one has to be careful of is not to
accidentally wire the ends of the same cable according to different configurations (except if one intends to create
an Ethernet crossover cable).

Use for T1 connectivity

In T1 service, the pairs 1 and 3 (T568A) are used, and the USOC-8 jack is wired as per spec RJ-48C. The Telco
termination jack is often wired to spec RJ-48X, which provides for a Transmit-to-Receive loopback when the plug is
withdrawn.

Vendor cables are often wired with Tip and Ring reversed—i.e. pins 1 and 2 reversed, or pins 4 and 5 reversed. This
has no effect on the signal quality of the T1 signal, which is fully differential, and uses the Alternate Mark Inversion
(AMI) signaling scheme.

Backwards compatibility
Because pair 1 connects to the center pins (4 and 5) of the 8P8C connector in both T568A and T568B, both
standards are compatible with the first line of RJ11, RJ14, RJ25, and RJ61 connectors that all have the first pair in
the center pins of these connectors.

If the second line of an RJ14, RJ25 or RJ61 plug is used, it connects to pair 2 (orange/white) of jacks wired to
T568A but to pair 3 (green/white) in jacks wired to T568B. This makes T568B potentially confusing in telephone
applications.

Because of different pin pairings, the RJ25 and RJ61 plugs cannot pick up lines 3 or 4 from either T568A or T568B
without splitting pairs. This would most likely result in unacceptable levels of hum, crosstalk and noise.

Theory
The original idea in wiring modular connectors, which you see exemplified in the registered jacks, was that the first
pair would go in the center positions, the next pair on the next outermost ones, and so on. Also, signal shielding
would be optimized by alternating the "live" and "earthy" pins of each pair. As you can see, the TIA/EIA-568-B
terminations vary a little bit from this concept. That's because on the 8 position connector, this results in a pinout in
which the outermost pair are too far apart to meet the electrical requirements of high-speed LAN protocols.

Category TIA/EIA Standard Description

Cat 1 None POTS, ISDN and doorbell wiring
Cat 2 None 4 Mbps token ring networks
Cat 3 TIA/EIA 568-B 10 Mbps Ethernet - frequency up to 16MHz
Cat 4 None 16 Mbps token ring networks - frequency up to 20MHz
100 Mbps Ethernet - frequency up to 100 MHz
Cat 5 None
Not suitable for GigE (1000BaseT)
Cat 5e TIA/EIA 568-B 100 Mbps & GigE Ethernet - frequency up to 100 MHz
Cat 6 TIA/EIA 568-B 2x Performance of Cat 5 & 5e - frequency up to 250 MHz
Cat 6a None Future specification for 10Gbps application
Cat 7 ISO/IEC 11801 Class F Designed for transmission at frequencies up to 600 MHz

7 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

Technical Specifications

Figure 1.0 shows how the TIA/EIA 568A standard is to be terminated. Note the position of the green/white
green and the orange/white orange pairs.

In figure 1.1 you can see the TIA/EIA 568B standard. Once again note the position of the green/white
green and orange/white orange pairs.

Figure 1.2 clearly shows the large difference between this and the other two standards. Note how the
pairs are nested inside each other.

8 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.

(TOP)Crossover cable ends;(BELOW) 8P8C modular crossover adapter

9 |DIOMEDES Maghuyop BACALA JR.