Bill, I'm sure that someone just picked it out of thin air, just like the use of "RJ45" for Ethernet connections. That's the problem; incorrect terminology or nomenclature can make for a world of mess if taken literally.

Can you imagine what would happen if you really installed RJ45 jacks on cables for your customer? Hey, that's what they asked for, right?

I've brought this up many times before regarding handset cord connections. While many use the traditional two wires for transmit and two for receive, what about dial-in-handset phones, like at&t's Trimline? That one currently uses three wires; two for the tip/ring and one for the ringer. What kind of RJ9 would that be?

See, there simply isn't any uniform standard for handset connections, so it is impossible for there to be correct (or incorrect) nomenclature for them. There most assuredly cannot ever be an RJ designation.

Ed Vaughn, MBSWWYPBX