TAE connector

German standard for telephone plugs and sockets

TAE (Telekommunikations-Anschluss-Einheit) is the German standard for telephone plugs and sockets.

TAE plug

The standard covers two TAE types: F ("Fernsprechgerät": for telephones) and N ("Nebengerät": for other devices such as answering machines and modems).

Pin-out

change
Pin Name Used for Color of the wire
1 La Exchange line a White
2 Lb Exchange line b Brown
3 W Line for external bell (obsolete since mid-1990s) Green
4 E Line for ground connection, used to request an external connection in very old telephone installations Yellow
5 a2 Line a, looped through the telecommunication device Pink
6 b2 Line b, looped through the telecommunication device Gray