Glossary

Note: these aren't the definitions you'd find in a book. If that's what you want, then go look in a book. These are they way I would explain the terms to someone. I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know of anything that's misleading or just plain wrong, but I'm not trying to be too strict. Life is tough enough. Sometimes, I may show some sarcasm, though.

Patch Panel

A patch panel is a thingie you use to connect all your wires up to the right thing. They are really expensive ($45-110), but I wouldn't try this without one. You can get RJ-11 patch panels for phone stuff, RJ-45 patch panels for the Ethernet stuff, and T-66 patch panels which are also for phone, but don't have any RJ-11 sockets on them.

T-66

This is the old standard phone "wire slit" connector. It is not recommended for data connections, but is fine for voice. To connect, you punch the wire down from the two sides of the connector simultaneously, forcing the wire into the slit.