# Do I really need shielded ethernet cables at home?



## Toshis8 (Nov 4, 2015)

Long story short I want to wire some ethernet cables from router to other rooms through walls at my home. There is short area (maybe like 4 metres) where ethernet cable will go near power cables (in parallel), so was wondering how much of a difference is FTP over UTP in this case? I read that in order for shielding to be effective all parts of the line must have shielding, not only cables, but also plugs, wall sockets and it has to be grounded. I am starting to have a headache just by thinking about this. Is it worth it performance wise? What do you think?


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## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

Best practice is to avoid power lines whenever possible. Maintain as much physical separation as possible when it's necessary to be near them. I try to maintain at least 6 inches to a foot.


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## GentleArrow (Aug 10, 2015)

" FTP over UTP "
You mean STP not FTP as in file transport protocol vs shielded twisted pair

"in parallel"

You have nothing to be concerned about as long as you keep the 6" to a 1ft distance between the two.

There is no "performance" issue/difference between shielded and unshielded cable.

You use shielded when traversing emf generating equipment like shop tools, generators, high power sources, etc. Use a gauss meter to measure your EMF


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## Toshis8 (Nov 4, 2015)

Thanks! I am leaning towards UTP and keeping distance from other wires as much as possible/where possible.

Regarding the "FTP", I thought that it is correct as it stands for "foil shielded twisted pair", manufacturers use this, for example:
LAN cables
FTP, STP, SFTP, F/FTP seen many different ways it was named, a bit chaotic 

Regarding the cables running in parallel and performance, packets of data get lost due to interference from external electromagnetic fields?

somewhat related example:







Also, question, will there be any interference if I run 4 UTP cables close to each other(in one group)? Will they interfere each other?


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## GentleArrow (Aug 10, 2015)

no problem in a group. we do it all the time with hundreds of lines.

You would think they would call it FSTP instead of FTP which has been around longer that twisted pair.


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