Step 1: Strip the outside

First, you need to strip the outside.

The easiest way to strip the outside is to make a small cut with a knife without going through the plastic. Then, with a little effort, you can pull that piece off without damaging the wire. I often take a piece about 5 inches long so I have some working space. Of course, you can also try it with strip pliers.

Step 2: Unraveling the wires

CAT network cables are also called "twisted pair," and for good reason - the wires are twisted together in pairs.

No need to strip these, by the way. RJ45 connectors have a small pin with teeth for each connection pin, which is later simply pushed through the cable.

Step 3: Wires in the right order

Now for the "hard" part: putting the wires in the right order. Before cutting anything: do this AFTER sorting the wires. Before cutting anything, check how far the wires go into the plug (see pictures below).

The order is the same for both ends:

Wires Straight

Pin	Color
1	Orange - White
2	Orange
3	Green - White
4	Blue
5	Blue - White
6	Green
7	Brown - White
8	Brown

The pin numbering works as follows:

Follow the steps in the image below;

1. Sort the wires so that they are in the correct order.
2. Make sure the cable and part of the outside go into the RJ45 connector (3 & 4) and then cut the wires to length.
3. When the cable goes into the connector, the outside will go roughly to the beginning of the clip.
4. Note that the individual wires should go into the connector as deep as possible, clearly below the gold-colored pins.

 

For 3 and 4: The yellow lines indicate where the outside of the cable stops, and where the individual wires stop.

Once the wires are in place, hold the cable and connector firmly and use the so-called "crimp tool" or crimping pliers. By pressing the pliers together, the gold pins are pushed through the wires. and a plastic part is pressed down against the outside of the cable to hold it in place. I usually compress the pliers a few times to make sure everything is secure.

Now repeat these steps for the other side of the cable.

Step 4: Testing the cable

Most crimping pliers these days come with a simple network cable tester. If you have one, now is the time to use it to see if the cable is working correctly.

If you do NOT have a network cable tester, consider using a multi-meter. Pin 1 to Pin 1 etc.

If you don't have those either then you might consider just plugging the cable into the computer and router - I have never seen any adverse effects myself, but you should do this at your own risk.

If you have a 1Gbps network and the computer and/or router indicate that it can only do 100Mbps then one or more of the wires is not connected properly. Sometimes you can see this through the clear plastic already: You can see a wire that just barely makes it to the gold pin. Cut the connector, and start over.