cable sharing

Cable sharing is the use of a cable consisting of several wire pairs for different services.

Cable sharing is a type of spatial multiplexing used in cabling with TP cables, whereby different services are transmitted via the different wire pairs and several terminal devices share a cable via the parallel wire pairs.

Since twisted pairs of wires can cause crosstalk from one pair of wires to another, cable sharing should only be implemented with data cables whose pairs of wires are individually shielded. Even when using appropriate STP cables, there is a risk of interference at higher frequencies.

Cable sharing was once part of the EN 50173 cabling standard, from which it was removed again. In addition, cable sharing conflicts with the supply of Ethernet devices according to the 802.3af standard.