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I have a 35-foot long shielded CAT6a patch cable running between two double-female shielded keystones. There is no patch panel, this is a direct connection from one jack to another. One keystone will connect to the router, the other will connect to a desktop PC.

I have two sources of ground available. One is for the home's coaxial cable system, which is currently being utilized to supply a primary internet connection to the modem, and the other is the home's main breaker box which would most likely be supplied to the ethernet cable from the nearest junction box in the case that it is a viable solution.

Could I connect the shielding to either of those ground systems without adverse effects?

Would the answer be different in the case of a ground fault in the power system? I don't know if this detail matters, but in my main breaker panel, the neutral wires and the ground wires connect to the same bar.

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The cable should be effectively grounded by the devices' grounds and by continuity in the devices' jacks from shell to their grounds. Why do you need an external ground?

If your concerned about EMI or surge protection ("lightning" protection, though all bets are off for a direct strike), use a device for that, e.g., these from Ubiquiti or from Amazon . Those do have external ground connections, and the best choice is a direct ground to damp earth, or to a buried metallic water pipe. The existing one for the the home's coaxial cable system should work well, too, if easily accessible by a short (no more than a few meters) wire.

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    I agree with you
    – anon
    Commented Aug 11, 2022 at 22:14
  • Are you saying things like routers automatically ground the shielding on an STP cable? If so, then I thought this was way more complicated. My router does not have a ground prong going into the outlet.
    – Ryan Mortensen
    Commented Aug 11, 2022 at 22:30
  • "Are you saying things like routers automatically ground the shielding on an STP cable?" - Yes; The ethernet adapter handles the connection to ground, the port connected to that adapter, is connected to ground. Don't attempt to connect the ground cable, outside of the connector, that is a horrible idea. You are over thinking it. If you are worried about ground, for whatever reason, connect the devices themselves to the common ground. You have indicated this isn't possible.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Aug 11, 2022 at 23:15
  • As @Ramhound states, do not directly ground the cable. If it is run outdoors, you can install a surge protector, which does require a ground, whether from the AC mains outlet into which some plug, or otherwise.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 1:22
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    If your router is a plastic box with two-prong adapter, it can might use connectors that don't connect to RJ45 shield at all. On the other hand, a metallic desktop PC with grounded/earthed plug grounds the metal chassis and generally RJ45 connector will connect shield to chassis. Usually you don't need to ground anything yourself. If you are making an official installation with a patch panel, all the CAT cable shields would be earthed at the patch bay. Well, Ethernet is a transformer isolated data interface anyway, so grounding the shield makes little difference in home use and PC grounds it.
    – Justme
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 17:22

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