Dan Nanni’s Post

They are all copper. That hasn't changed. What has changed is the interfaces, and the speed at which they can send representations of zeros and ones from one interface to another. The big change in recent years has been the introduction of SFPs (small form factor pluggables). These mean you can now use copper or glass (fibre optics) on the same interface - other end must be compatible. All manufacturers now produce interfaces that are SFP capable. Unfortunately the individual manufacturers have not adopted a standard for the control plane ie if you have an SFP from different manufacturers at both ends they often don't "come up" when you plug them in.

So what happens after CAT 9? Do we switch over to DOG 1, DOG 2, etc? If so I vote we change the nomenclature to mega/giga boofs per second.

I don't think it's a good explanation, because in reality categories have nothing to do with shielding. it takes a minute and I find a Cat 8 U/FTP cable. Where is the shielding? and don't tell me that a foil protects against magnetic fields. Furthermore, the test frequencies shown here do not mean that the cable guarantees transmission with proper attenuation. Without a test report, the category says nothing. Not to mention the AWG value, as some people are talking about cable lengths here.

Cat6 supports 10gig up to 150 feet. Cat5e also support 10gig at very short distance such as patch cables.

It was just called Communications cable before Cat3. Cat3 (CM) cable was anywhere from 1-25 pairs. TIA 568 just uses the first 4 pairs of the White color of a bundle. The stripe colors are Blue, Green, Orange, Brown and Slate. The back colors are White, Red, Black, Yellow, and Violet. The difference between the different Catagory cables is the density of the twists, not the number of pairs in the sleave. I've seen Cat5 in 20 pair bundles its used mostly in hi-rise buildings. The other thing you left out was STP or Shielded Twisted Pair available in Cat5 and higher. STP has a foil shield and a drain wire to provide additional RF noise reduction which links the grounds of different devices. It is particularly useful for POE devices because it limits the electrical noise from the floating device on the end of the wire.

Is it wrong that my house is fitted with Cat8 ? 😬 (yes it was a bugger to install)

There's no such thing as an ethernet cable. Ethernet is a communications protocol. Your sharing categories of twisted pair cables. 4 pairs is just a sub section of the standard. Ethernet can go over twisted pair, fibre, coax, and anything else. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair

This one deserves to get printed and go on the wall

Not all CAT cables are created equal. Many of the bargain brand CAT 6A patch cables aren't even labeled with a speed rating. Manufacturers marketing sites don't assert it.

Don’t forget that plenum rated cable when installed vertically is faster in one direction. ;-)