19 March 2020

Advantages and disadvantages of unshielded twisted pair cable

UTP stands for unshielded twisted pair cable, it is different from shielded twisted pair cable. This cable consists of 100-ohm copper cable that consists of 2 to 1800 or more unshielded twisted pairs surrounded by an outer jacket. They have no metallic shield. This makes the cable small in diameter but it is unprotected against electrical interference. Now discuss the benefits or advantages of UTP and the Drawbacks or disadvantages of UTP to better understand this topic.

Benefits or advantages of UTP:

  • It is designed to counter EMI, RFI, and also crosstalk.
  • It is easy to handle.
  • These cables are used in most of the networking architecture.
  • It is flexible which further makes installation easier.
  • It is less expensive and less costly compared to other networking media types.
  • It is the most compatible cabling that can be used with most other major networking systems and does not require grounding.
  • It is heapest from the cable available for networking purposes.
  • It is smaller in size, Hence installation is easier as it does not fill up wiring ducts.

Drawbacks or disadvantages of UTP:

  • It can be used up to a cable segment length of about 100 meters only.
  • UTP cable should follow specifications for several twists or braids permitted per meter of cable to reduce crosstalk.
  • Bandwidth is limited.
  • Unable to provide secure transmission of data.
  • It is highly prone to external interference like EMI and RFI.
  • Susceptible to noise.
  • The distance between the signal boosts is shorter with UTP cable than for coaxial and other fiber optic cables and shielded twisted pair cable, making it less able to carry the signal for the long-distance network.
  • It is more susceptible to interference compared to most of the other cable types. 
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