Ethernet Cat6A Cable: Shielded VS unshielded

[mustafa803]

Hi.

I want to buy 2 cat6a cables, one to connect the Technicolor DCM 476 modem to the Asus RT-AC1900P router and the second one to connect the Asus RT-AC1900P to the PC.

I came across shielded and unshielded cables and I am not sure which one to get? I read something about having to ground the shielded cables but I am don’t know if this applies to my case or not. And how will performance be affected by choosing one over the other?

Any ideas?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Cat6a is overkill for a gigabit connection, Cat5e would be more common. That said, there's no harm in using Cat6a.

It sounds like both of your cables will be quite short, in which case there'd be no noticeable difference between shielded and unshielded. If you had very long cable runs or were in an industrial environment with a lot of electromagnetic interference then a shielded cable would help.

So in summary, I wouldn't pay extra just to have a shielded patch cable.

 

[maxbraketorque]

I'll second ColinTaylor's comment about not needing shielded cable in a typical home environment. I have found though that Cat 6 does offer some benefit over Cat 5e when pushing 1 Gb ethernet to its limit, especially for longer runs. I think the issue is not so much that Cat 6 is really needed but that there is so much crap Cat 5e cable out there.

 

[Almighty1]

There are crap CAT5E and CAT6 cables as most cables do not meet the specs when tested as seen here:
https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/data-cables/index.htm

The problem is it's hard to test the cable to see if it actually meets the specs on your own so it's better to stick with the better known brands instead of buying generic stuff. I am still using the Belden MediaTwist for example that works fine for GiGE.

 

[mustafa803]

Thanks for your replies...I will probably look for a welden cat6 cable....

Is Blue jeans cable a trusted source to buy these cables from?

 

[Almighty1]

Yes, BlueJeansCable is very well known. Markertek is also a good source as well I would think just like BlackBox.