TL;DR
UTP — twisted-pair balance only. Cheaper, easier, fine for clean office cabling.
FTP/F/UTP — overall foil. Light industrial, moderate EMI, 10G runs.
STP/S/FTP — per-pair foil + overall braid. Heavy EMI, alien-crosstalk control.
The gotcha: a shield only works if it's bonded to ground end to end. Floating or pigtail-only shields can re-radiate and perform worse than UTP. Match shielded cable + jacks + panels + cords — one unshielded part breaks the chain.
Rule of thumb: clean office → UTP. Factory floor / near VFDs / long bundled 10G / outdoor → shielded, if you can ground it properly.
Anyone seen a shielded install underperform UTP because of bad bonding? Full guide → [link]
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