Learn About Cat6 Shielded Plenum Vs Cat6 Unshielded Plenum Ethernet Cable

You don't know the difference between Cat6 shielded plenum VS Cat6 unshielded plenum? Well, you need not worry as AOYIPU has got you covered.

Deciphering Cat6 Shielded Plenum:

Let's decipher the term first: Cat6 Shielded Plenum:

The plenum in this phrase indicates that this Cat6 cable is fit for installation in plenum spaces. Plenum spaces are separate places in buildings designed to facilitate air circulation for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. These places are at greater risk of fire eruption and progression. Therefore, when it comes to ethernet cables, you are only allowed to install CMP-rated cat6 cables here. Now let’s move to the shielding part.

A shielded cable is one in which all four twisted pairs are wrapped with a screening material or shielding. This shielding or screening material is usually foil wrapping or copper braid jacket. The purpose of this shielding is to provide extra protection against crosstalk and electromagnetic interference. These cables bear the STP (shielded twisted pair) mark. If the cable bears SFTP marking, it means that another extra layer — in the form of foiled tape before wrapping in an overall flexible strong braid screen-has been added to provide top-notch protection against all types of crosstalk. The maximum shielding comes in SF/FTP rated Cat6 Shielded Plenum. It provides maximum protection against crosstalk, alien crosstalk, RFI/EMI as they are accompanied by a foil shield and braid shield.

Understanding Unshielded Cat6 Cables:

The name itself is self-explanatory. “Unshielded” means that this type of cat6 cable is not accompanied by an extra layer or layers of protection. These cables bear UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) markings(Example: UTP CAT6 Cable). The UTP cables, just like STP cables, have eight copper conductors that are bundled together in 4 twisted pairs to increase signal strength. Twisting and then pairing the conductors together not only reduces crosstalk and EMI– the two things that can significantly plummet network performances — but also maintain signal strengths at longer distances.

Umming up, if environments have no or very little crosstalk, then, spending extra bucks on shielded cables doesn’t make any sense. Also, the data transfer rates are concerned, they are the same for both shielded and unshielded: at a distance of up to 50 meters, Cat6 family transfers data at a speed of 10Gbps (more than sufficient for all existing applications). Up to a distance of 100 meters, these cables can transfer data at a speed of 1Gbps (again, sufficient for all existing applications). However, installing any of these cables will leave you room for an upgrade in the future.