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Buyer Guide: The meaning of Cable Jargon

After we briefly understand the basic types of ethernet cables. It’s time to learn some jargon to load up the knowledge of cable. In this page, we would list a few standard ethernet-related terms and explain what each words means while giving you unambiguous idea what you can expect when you plan to buy cable.

Cat

Once you click on the page of professional cable online market, you may notice that there are many “Cat” in the catalog. You also wonder what’s the meaning of this “Cat”.  Actually, “CAT” is the short version of “category”

TP (Twisted Pairs)

TP (Twisted Pairs) are universal in the cable industry. This type of Ethernet means the inside wires twist together. Twisted Pairs are secondary only to fiber-optic cables regarding their max length and amount speed deceleration.

UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pairs)

Because of the no feature of any foil or an intertwined protective covering, the unshielded twisted pairs are more flexible and lower price in manufacturing. If you want to purchase this type of cable, you need to notice that it may lack of good signal and pose an increased risk for crosstalk.

STP or SSTP (Shielded Twisted Pairs)

STP or SSTP are protected by robust and braided shielding. Covering by the materials of copper or another type of conductive substance, the STP cable has a great improvement in noise reduction and connection quality.

FTP or SFTP (Foiled Twisted Pairs)

These types of cables have a foil shield to secure the wires. You can see most people use these specific cables to boost connectivity, reduce noise, and achieve a better connection.
 
Shielding and Foil Wrapping
 
A layer of grounded foil help shielded Ethernet prevent electromagnetic interference. You may think where are the electromagnetic interference? Actually, in modern house, WI-FI, appliance activity and Bluetooth are common electromagnetic interference. If the house owners use unshielded cables, the cables would run into interference and distortion issues.
In normal condition, the foil wrapping is bound each twisted pair of wires within the Ethernet cable, so as to reduce “cosstalk” and signal pollution between the twisted pair itself.

Conclusion

In the modern life, we need to use shielded cable to ensure we have quick and comfortable surfing experience. Internet is one of the most important necessities in our modern daily life. Only we try to figure out what’s the meanings of the jargon, we could purchase the suitable cables which are not out of our expectation.