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Whilst I am aware of what F/FTP, and the like, means in relation to cabling, I am a bit nonplussed as to the significance when applied to a keystone connector. To my understanding, if a keystone connector is rated cat. 6a surely the FTP or UTP label is redundant at best (eg. Keystone cat. 6a FTP connector)?

I kindly ask that you help me understand what it is that I am missing.

Kind regards, Rasmus.

user2194172
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    Cat-6A is UTP always. – Zac67 Feb 27 '20 at 14:25
  • See this answer. Cable categories are defined by ANSI/TIA/EIA are all (except Category-8) unshielded. Cable classes are defined by ISO/IEC, and some are shielded. Some manufacturers use a shield to try to meet the category specifications, but not having a continuous shield or properly grounding the shield will lead to performance worse than not having the shield at all. – Ron Maupin Feb 27 '20 at 16:43
  • Please be aware that what I am asking is in relation to the keystone termination, and not the cable.

    I have seen keystone connectors listed as described in my question, so what I am trying to discern is whether it is false labeling, or if not what the difference is to the mechanical construction of the keystone termination.

     – user2194172 Feb 28 '20 at 11:24
  • You missed the point. If the terminator does not keep the shield continuous along the entire cable channel (from one device to the other device), then you basically do not have a proper shield. Also, the terminator should have a way to ground the shield. – Ron Maupin Feb 29 '20 at 16:16
  • I do not mean to be condescending, but if you need to ask this question, you really cannot install the cabling in such a way as to pass the Category-6a test suite, and you probably do not have a (very expensive) tester that can perform the test suite. Even experienced cable installers have trouble installing Category-6 and Category-6a. I have seen something as little as terminating the blue wire on top of the blue-white wire rather than the other way around cause it to fail the test suite. Modern cabling deal with very high frequencies, so it is a lot more than simple electrical conductivity. – Ron Maupin Feb 29 '20 at 16:22
  • See this answer for the basic tests in a cable test suite. – Ron Maupin Feb 29 '20 at 16:22
  • Well Ron, I am asking this question to take every precaution, within reason as I am only doing an at home installation for myself, to make sure that I get the most out of my effort. And thank you for your concern, although I am aware that the cabling needs to be properly grounded at either end. Again, that is why I am asking, so as to make sure that I get the proper termination. – user2194172 Mar 02 '20 at 07:01

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In my experience, it has to do if the connector is designed to work with a shielded cable or not. If you're using a shielded cable, you'll need to use connectors that can accept this shielded cable and ground it at both ends, otherwise the shield will introduce interference instead of shielding the conductors against interference.

Stuggi
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  • Cheers Stuggi. So if I understand you correctly, then a "keystone cat 6a UTP" termination would be for unshielded cabling (and then really cat 6), and "keystone cat 6a FTP" would be for foil shielded (and thus true cat 6a cabling)..? – user2194172 Mar 02 '20 at 07:04
  • Something along those lines, yes. – Stuggi Mar 02 '20 at 08:50