Cat 6A Shielded Keystone Jack

Here is the break down of the jack: Design (5/5): This is the design where you lay the wires across the jack portion and not the plastic cap portion, which means that you can punch down these wires instead of pushing the cap down to finalize the wire connections. The cheap Chinese connectors will have a design where you are forced to wire the cap instead of the jack and then force it down to finalize the connection, which results in bad connections many of the times. This jack also comes with the peaks required to split the wires, making it easy to use the peaks to split the wires (the correct way) instead of having to unwind them prior (incorrect way). However, in order to accommodate larger sized wires, they have opted for a zip tie to bring the metal shield up to become flush with the wire at the end. I find this to be both a good and bad thing, but I am glad that they added support for larger cable sizes. Quality (4/5): Metal could possibly be thicker, and some of the mechanisms used in the jack could be done to be more sturdy. However, this is still a vast improvement from the alternative cheap Chinese jack which has MAJOR issues, and the stamped jack which features thin metal which can be bent with a little force from the fingers. This jack is also machined well, and fits RJ45 jacks with no issues, unlike the Chinese jack, which must be forced. Value (5/5): Comparable jacks are big branded, such as Belkin, however, those are $10-11 a piece. These are vastly cheaper. The review which states this cannot be used with a 110 punch is incorrect. That was for an older version of the jack, and Cable Matters has updated the design to allow for punch down tools. I highly recommend using the Trendnet 110 Punch as a cheap punch tool, as it will give you much more solid connections. It's a very good value buy as well. This jack is the best all-around buy hands down. There are several other competitors out there, but they are either too expensive or poorly built.

I was initially a little skeptical of the toolless punchdown, but it worked really well on 23 AWG solid core CAT6a. I used a C-clamp to cinch mine down tight, but a small bench vice with soft jaws would be most ideal. Channel lock pliers would do it, but will scratch the metal. The plastic guide is designed to accommodate the cable jacket, which encourages you to pull the wires tightly through, and it holds the wires in place before crimping. This helps to minimize the untwisted portion of wire. The finished termination is tidy and strain relieved with no exposed wires on the back side of the keystone. I like that the shielded metal housing completely encloses the connections, and the zip-tie strain relief is a convenient place to attach the foil shield and drain wire. You could use this to make a male to female extension cable for your toolkit, although flexing it too much would eventually make it fail. The plastic gate cover is of debatable usefulness, but for my application (home with 2 dogs that shed a lot) it's definitely a plus, and I think it makes open ports look a lot more presentable.

I have steadily relied on CableMatters for our entire house project. These are the cream of the crop when it comes to keystone jack quality, installation ease, and performance. Over the last 5-6 years, we've used them for our entire house. 48 drops, patch panels, keystones, 1 gang, and 2 gang outlets, CAT6, CAT6A, and CAT6A Shielded. Bullet proof and forever reliable.

I purchased these to run cat6a throughout my house(unshielded cable). This allows me to get POE throughout my home using ubiquiti switches. Overall, utilizing these keystones was a bit tricky at first. It is very difficult to snap the keystone together after getting the cables ready to be punched down to the keystone jack. However, it is nice that they are tool-less. The easiest method I found to snap these closed was utilizing a pair of pliers. This worked perfectly. Once closed, they are very secure. Also, I do feel they should QA the keystone toolless plastic pieces a bit better. I did notice that on one of my tool-less punch down Jack's the 568-b labeling was not clear. This was possible a printing mis-alignment. I just utilized another Jack to be sure everything was fine. However, if you only had one of the keystones left, you could potentially be out of luck. Other than that, these metal keystones fit perfectly within my wall plates. They can be a bit tricky when it comes to pulling ethernet cables out of the Jack itself occasionally. I dont necessarily consider this a bad thing as people in general dont constantly move ethernet cables around their wall Jack's at home. Also, the metal etching of 6a is a nice touch and ensures that you know the recommended patch cables for these keystones.

Quality material. 95% guaranteed connection/termination (depending on the technician)....overall, saves time in the field as a technician. As a bonus, they add to the decor of any wall. OK to use for Unshielded and Shielded CAT6A cables.