Residential Bonding and Grounding of Shielded Ethernet Cable (Full Overview)

It’s rare to actually need shielded Ethernet cable in a residential setting. Many DIY installers (homeowers) have the impression that shielded Ethernet is “better.” After all, wouldn’t shielded be somehow better than unshielded Ethernet?

Well, oftentimes, the answer is “no.” Shielded Ethernet does not make your cable faster. The shielding is designed to mitigate EMI/RFI interference or potential ESD discharges that you know you need to avoid.

In this week’s video our Technical Manager, Don Schultz, breaks down everything you need to know about this subject and demonstrates how you can get the most out of your connection!

If you found this video interesting let us know in the comments and subscribe for more!

Video Time Codes:
[0:00-2:02] - Intro & Overview
[2:02-3:05] - Checking Your Equipment First
[3:06-5:06] - How to Create Your Own Bond Wire
[5:07-6:07] - The Completed Bond & Ground
[6:08-6:34] - Outro

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[James_Knott]

First off, I'm a tech with half a century of experience in the telecom industry and more recently networks. I agree shielded cables are a waste of money for home networks. There have only been a few jobs when I used shielded Ethernet cables and that was when there was a risk of interference from machinery or radio transmitters. One thing to bear in mind is you shield at only 1 point, to avoid picking up interference. In telecom offices, there are 4 grounds, frame ground (cabinets, cable rack, etc.), power ground for DC, AC power ground and signal ground. They only meet at the common ground point for the building. You mentioned that little switch that didn't have a power ground. Well, if that's the end point and the rest of the cable, etc. is grounded at the other end, then you're fine, as you only ground at 1 point.

[impy]

Very well explained, as a complete (infrastructure) noob, now I understand the ground bond, and how it interacts with the patch panel and other equipment. I am planning to use Cat 6A, mostly for future proofing for video of ethernet, and getting part used boxes seems to be mostly F/UTP, which sort of forces the hand a bit regarding ground bonding.

[willis]

This is definitely best practice, however folks should know that endpoints also bond shield to chassis and that it's unlikely that none of them are bonded to ground. In practice Ethernet is making large ground loops everywhere but it doesn't affect performance because low frequencies aren't important. This does end up making ground a mild crosstalk aggressor, but there's no free lunch.

As long as you use shielded Ethernet end to end and at least one endpoint is grounded you're good to go.

[jonathanhulbert]

Thank you! This is really helpful Don. Scenario: I have a switch with an internal AC power supply connected to the mains socket via a 3-pronged plug. Just one shielded patch cable is used to connect a shielded keystone jack (within the shielded patch panel) to the switch. In this scenario, is a bond wire required or beneficial?

[archibaldsimms]

Hello. Thank you for your video on bonding and grounding patch panels. I have a small bar that goes on the wall, however my patch panel does not have a screw for placing the grounding wire on. What should I do in this case? How do I attach the grounding wire?

[mememaster]

In the UK, domestic earth bonding is usually a connection to either your gas or water main as they're usually a copper pipe. If you have a pipe near your patch panel that's copper all the way to the incoming main, you could use that as the earth.

[johnwetmore]

I just ordered some triple shielded Ethernet cable for my Ubiquity M5 bridge. Every time I key my 1000 watt radio transmitter, the M5 is destroyed, requiring me to climb a 100 foot tower and replace it. I have tried remotely locating the POE block away from my radio room and ran fiber between the buildings. Next, I am going to run the shielded cable up the tower, use surge suppressors and ferrite suppressors on both ends and hopefully this will stop the destruction. The only other time I have used shielded Ethernet wire was when I installed network wiring in a mine processing plant where there was 13, 000 volts running big motors all over the facility.

[RBBlackstone]

Trimming the bonding wire so that it reaches without introducing bends will keep the inductance to a minimum, too.

[Zaay]

do I have to bond to ground off my modem?? if im running 100' of shielded from my moment out to a shed?

[DavidM]

What about the paint or other coatings on the patch panel and the attaching screws. Would those coatings not be a barrier to the connection ? Those outlet screws are usually pretty well coated.

[garsideous]

What would you suggest for someone with an unmanaged and ungrounded switch? Is there a way to ground without using a rack?

[notquitecopacetic]

I am converting a 12 x 14 space in a detached garage into a workshop and plan to run six to eight cat 6a plates (four in two gang boxes with 20 amp outlets as the second and four in standalone wall terminals for future PoE cameras). I will have an 8 port PoE switch which I assume will not be three prong in a media wire box on the wall. There will be an outlet in the media wire box for the switch. If I ground the switch to the outlet in the media wire box, do I have to ground everything I plug into each of these ethernet wall jacks as well? For instance, if I plug in a PoE camera does the camera end have to be grounded as well? Everything ends up going to a sub-panel that is properly grounded to the main panel in the house by the way.

I was originally going to use cat 6 until I read i needed cat 6a for PoE. Maybe i am over enginneering for such a not critical small project? I mean, until I can run ethernet from the house all the erhernet cables are ultimately going through an ethernet jack on a wifi extender!

[anthonytaylor]

Awesome videos, I appreciate the quality of information. I do have a question though, are shielded cables able to be bonded to ground through the chassis of connected devices if your switch doesn’t have a three prong plug and you don’t use a patch panel?

[ouoxcbv]

Is this something that would only be done if you have shielded cable is there any other circumstance where we would this with network equipment

[majdq]

Do you need to bond the patch panel if your electrical plug and connection has a ground wire? I know that in some places the electrical plugs don't have a ground wire connected to the electrical switch, but where we are every switch has a ground wire ... so in that case do you still need to do the bonding?

[daraqnet]

This video may have just done a lot for me, Thank you!
I had a PoE switch and a patch panel for the CCTVs I dont necessarily run all shielded cables, most are just UTP, but my rack near the patch panel is tingly and sometimes shocks me a little, so I needed to figure out how to earth or bond this. One thing I did was change everything to 3 prong, but I am not sure if my dboard is earthed. So my main question in this video is, how can I check if my socket is grounded properly, is there a device or a test I can do?

[lev_anni]

I have an unshielded patch panel but shielded keystones in it. Can I wire up all shielded keystones together and then bond it to the ground point of the power outlet?

[dylan-nguyen]

Hmm I don’t know if the cover plate screw connects to ground on the receptacle end
But did this give me an idea. You can buy those 3 prong plugs to make your own power cord
I’m going to plug in only the ground wire and then into the receptacle itself

[AeroPR]

Great vid. What about using Ethernet Surge Protectors for each of the outdoor wires between the patch panel and equipment or before the patch panel connection? Is it necessary or helps at all?

[QualityDoggo]

couple questions since I've been trying to figure out the optimal method for a while...
Should you bond the other similarly and if so does that create a ground loop?
If your switch is not bonded to the patch panel, does that cause more interference?