Universal Service Order Code

A Registered Jack (RJ) is a standardized telecommunication network interface for connecting voice and data equipment to a service provided by a local exchange carrier or long distance carrier. Registration interfaces were first defined in the Universal Service Ordering Code (USOC) system of the Bell System in the United States for complying with the registration program for customer-supplied telephone equipment mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the 1970s. They were subsequently codified in title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 68.

The specification includes physical construction, wiring, and signal semantics. Accordingly, registered jacks are primarily named by the letters RJ, followed by two digits that express the type. Additionally, letter suffixes indicate minor variations. For example, RJ11, RJ14, and RJ25 are the most commonly used interfaces for telephone connections for one-, two-, and three-line service, respectively. Although these standards are legal definitions in the United States, some interfaces are used world-wide.

The connectors used for registered jack installations are primarily the modular connector and the 50-pin miniature ribbon connector. For example, RJ11 uses a six-position two-conductor connector (6P2C), RJ14 uses a six-position four-conductor (6P4C) modular jack, while RJ21 uses a 25-pair (50-pin) miniature ribbon connector.

The registered jack designations originated in the standardization processes in the Bell System in the United States, and describe application circuits and not just the physical geometry of the connectors; inspection of the connector does not necessarily show which registered jack wiring is used. The same modular connector type may be used for different registered jack applications.

Strictly, Registered Jack refers to both the female physical connector (modular connector) and its wiring, but the term is often used loosely to refer to modular connectors regardless of wiring or gender, such as in Ethernet over twisted pair. There is much confusion over these connection standards. The same six-position plug and jack commonly used for telephone line connections may be used for RJ11, RJ14 or even RJ25, all of which are names of interface standards that use this physical connector. The RJ11 standard dictates a single wire pair connection, while RJ14 is a configuration for two lines, and RJ25 uses all six wires for three telephones lines. The RJ designations, though, only pertain to the wiring of the jack, hence the name Registered Jack; it is commonplace, but not strictly correct, to refer to an unwired plug by any of these names.

...
Wikipedia