Other apparently-identical wire is often sold for alarm installations, but is not twisted properly for phone use, and can cause terrible crosstalk problems. To be safe, go with twisted pairs, and the more pairs, the better. The little plastic tips on the ends of phone cords and cables are modular plugs. They fit into modular jacks. Despite their male name, jacks are female.
Plugs are male.
If you don't understand this, the next time you're naked, look in the mirror. The modular connector design was also applied to the jacks that phones plugged into, to get dialtone. A position is a groove molded into the plastic that could contain a little bit of gold-plated wire to make contact with wires inside the jack. The middle-size plug is the most common. It has six positions, and either two, four, or six wires.