Giganet Category 6A Solid F/UTP PVC Outdoor Cable

Giganet Category 6A Solid F/UTP PVC Outdoor Cable — 305m Reel

The Giganet Category 6A Solid F/UTP PVC Outdoor Cable is a foil-screened augmented Category 6 cable designed for external horizontal runs, inter-building links, and outdoor installation environments where both 10 Gigabit Ethernet performance and EMI protection are required. It is manufactured and tested to exceed ANSI/TIA-568.2-D, ISO/IEC 11801-1, and EN 50173-1 Category 6A performance requirements at 500 MHz, and carries an outdoor-rated PVC jacket for UV and moisture resistance across exposed installation environments.

Within the Giganet Cat 6A outdoor cable range, this variant occupies a specific position: it combines the overall foil screen (F/UTP) of the shielded outdoor range with a PVC outer jacket, rather than the LDPE compound used on the F/UTP LDPE variant. The outdoor PVC jacket provides effective UV and moisture resistance for surface-mounted external runs, aerial installations, and conduit-protected underground routes — while the overall foil screen addresses electromagnetic interference from power cabling, electrical plant, and other noise sources encountered on outdoor cable pathways.

Performance and Bandwidth

The Giganet Cat 6A F/UTP PVC Outdoor cable is rated to 500 MHz, supporting 10GBASE-T (IEEE 802.3an) across the full 100-metre horizontal channel. This full-channel 10G support is the defining Cat 6A performance requirement — distinguishing it from standard Cat 6, which supports 10GBASE-T only over runs of approximately 55 metres or less.

The overall foil screen contributes directly to electrical performance beyond the outdoor jacket’s environmental role. In external cable routes — where cables frequently share conduit or cable tray space with power conductors, lighting circuits, and building services cabling — the foil screen attenuates externally induced electromagnetic interference before it reaches the twisted pairs. Consequently, the F/UTP construction maintains signal integrity on routes where an unshielded U/UTP cable would be susceptible to interference-induced performance degradation.

Cable Construction

The Giganet Cat 6A F/UTP PVC Outdoor cable is assembled from the following layers:

Conductors — 23 AWG (0.575mm) solid bare copper, individually insulated with polyethylene and colour-coded across eight conductors forming four pairs. Solid bare copper is the correct conductor type for permanent horizontal fixed runs. It provides lower attenuation per metre than stranded cable and is fully compliant with TIA-568.2-D conductor requirements. Copper-clad aluminium (CCA) and copper-clad steel (CCS) alternatives are not used in this cable — both are non-compliant with international structured cabling standards and introduce elevated resistance that degrades signal performance and PoE power delivery over longer runs.

Twisted pairs — Four pairs formed with varying lay lengths to control pair-to-pair crosstalk (NEXT) across the 500 MHz bandwidth. The central polyethylene X-filler maintains consistent physical separation between pairs throughout the cable, preserving pair geometry and preventing compression within the jacket that would degrade high-frequency performance.

Clear Mylar tape — A clear polyester Mylar tape is wrapped around the four-pair unit beneath the foil screen, providing a clean, non-conductive separation layer between the pairs and the foil screen.

Overall foil tape screen — An aluminium foil tape screen encloses the complete four-pair unit. This overall shield provides EMI rejection — attenuating external electromagnetic interference that would otherwise couple into the twisted pairs during transmission at high frequencies. A 24 AWG drain wire runs alongside the foil screen for grounding continuity, allowing the shield to be earthed at the termination point.

Outdoor PVC outer jacket — An outdoor-rated UV-stabilised PVC compound provides the environmental protection layer. The outdoor PVC jacket resists UV radiation, moisture ingress, and temperature cycling across the range encountered in external building and infrastructure installations. The jacket is black — the standard colour for outdoor cable compounds where UV resistance is provided by carbon black pigmentation.

F/UTP vs U/UTP Outdoor — Shield Benefit in Context

The choice between the F/UTP and U/UTP outdoor Cat 6A variants depends on the EMI characteristics of the specific cable route, not simply on the outdoor environment itself.

The U/UTP outdoor LDPE variant is appropriate for clean external routes where the primary concern is environmental exposure — UV, moisture, and temperature — rather than electromagnetic interference. By contrast, the F/UTP PVC outdoor cable adds an overall foil screen that is specifically valuable on routes where:

• Cable runs alongside external power distribution conduit, lighting circuits, or HVAC electrical feeds
• Aerial spans pass near overhead power lines or electrical infrastructure
• Underground duct routes share a trench with power cabling
• The installation site generates significant broadband EMI from motors, variable frequency drives, or industrial equipment adjacent to the cable pathway

On routes with negligible EMI exposure, the U/UTP outdoor variant provides equivalent data transmission performance with simpler unshielded termination. On routes with identified EMI risk, the F/UTP construction’s foil screen provides measurable interference rejection that the U/UTP construction cannot.

PVC vs LDPE Outdoor Jacket — Selection Guidance

Both the F/UTP PVC and F/UTP LDPE outdoor variants carry the same overall foil screen construction and identical Cat 6A electrical performance. The jacket material is the differentiating factor between them.

Outdoor PVC performs well across the majority of external installation environments — UV-stabilised PVC provides adequate UV, moisture, and temperature resistance for surface-mounted external runs, aerial installations on catenary support, and conduit-protected underground routes across temperate and tropical climates.

LDPE outperforms outdoor PVC in specific conditions: very low temperature environments where PVC jacket flexibility is compromised; direct burial applications without conduit where lower water absorption provides additional long-term moisture protection; and installations with extended service life requirements in high-UV or high-humidity environments. Where these conditions apply, the F/UTP LDPE variant is the more appropriate specification. For the majority of standard outdoor runs in conduit or on external walls, the F/UTP PVC outdoor cable provides reliable long-term performance at a lower material cost.

Grounding and Termination Requirements

As a shielded cable, the Giganet Cat 6A F/UTP PVC Outdoor cable requires grounded shielded termination hardware throughout the channel to realise the foil screen’s EMI rejection benefit. The drain wire must be connected to a clean earth point — typically via a shielded Cat 6A keystone jack or shielded patch panel port bonded to the rack earth bar at the head-end. The far end of the channel should be left floating to prevent earth loop currents.

Shielded Cat 6A keystone jacks, shielded patch panels, and shielded RJ45 field plugs are mandatory at all termination points. Mixing the F/UTP cable with unshielded termination hardware breaks shield continuity, negates EMI protection, and introduces impedance discontinuities that degrade channel performance at 500 MHz.

Outdoor termination points additionally require weatherproof shielded enclosures — IP65-rated shielded surface mount boxes or weatherproof shielded RJ45 field plugs at external camera, access point, and device mounting locations. Building entry penetrations must be sealed to prevent moisture tracking from the outdoor cable run into the internal structured cabling installation.

Supported Applications

The Giganet Cat 6A F/UTP PVC Outdoor cable supports the following applications within a compliant shielded 100-metre channel:

• 10GBASE-T — 10 Gigabit Ethernet at full 100m channel (IEEE 802.3an)
• 1000BASE-T — Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE 802.3ab), fully backward compatible
• 100BASE-TX — Fast Ethernet
• PoE++ — Up to 90W per port (IEEE 802.3bt Type 3/4)
• PoE+ — Up to 30W (IEEE 802.3at)
• Outdoor IP Surveillance in EMI Environments — IP cameras on routes with power cable proximity
• External Wi-Fi Access Points — PoE-powered 802.11ax outdoor WAP backhaul on routes near electrical plant
• Inter-Building Links through Mixed-Services Conduit — Campus connections through shared duct banks with power cabling
• Industrial and Commercial Perimeter Infrastructure — Data and PoE cabling across sites with significant electrical noise generation
• Access Control and Video Intercoms — PoE-powered shielded connections to external door controllers and entry systems

Ideal Users

• Network and Security Contractors on Commercial and Industrial Sites — Where external cable routes pass through shared conduit with power cabling, alongside external lighting circuits, or through building services zones with electrical plant, the F/UTP outdoor construction is the appropriate specification. The Giganet Cat 6A F/UTP PVC Outdoor cable handles both the outdoor environmental exposure and the EMI risk within a single cable, eliminating the need to separate data cabling from power on every external route.
• Structured Cabling Contractors on Specification Projects — On projects where the cable specification calls for shielded outdoor Cat 6A — common in healthcare, government, and commercial tender documents — the Giganet F/UTP PVC Outdoor cable meets the complete shield, bandwidth, and outdoor rating requirements. The 25-year system warranty supports project handover documentation when paired with matched Giganet shielded termination hardware.
• Security System Integrators on Industrial and Campus Sites — Manufacturing facilities, logistics parks, and multi-building campuses generate electrical noise from heavy equipment, motor drives, and power distribution infrastructure. IP camera and access control cabling on these sites requires shielded outdoor cable to maintain signal integrity on routes that cannot be fully separated from electrical plant.
• Campus Network Designers Routing Inter-Building Links — Where inter-building data links must share underground duct banks or overhead cable routes with power distribution, the F/UTP foil screen provides the electrical isolation required to maintain Cat 6A channel performance. The outdoor PVC jacket handles the conduit moisture and UV exposure on the same run.
• Education and Healthcare Campus Facilities Teams — Multi-building campuses with mixed services infrastructure — where data cabling routes inevitably share pathways with power, HVAC, and lighting — benefit from the EMI protection of the F/UTP construction on outdoor inter-building and perimeter segments. The outdoor PVC jacket suits the conduit and surface-mounted routing common in education and healthcare building stock.

Cable Specifications

Performance Specifications

Physical Specifications

Environmental Ratings

Installation Parameters

Certifications