I'm curious what everyone is installing these days. Cat5e is still common in many places, but Cat6 and Cat6a seem to be taking over for new projects. What's your go-to choice, and why?

Cat 8.

Not for the speed, but for the shielding.

Interesting results so far. Cat6 being ahead doesn't surprise me, but the Cat8 vote is interesting too, especially since the reason given was shielding.

I think the category gets a lot of attention, while things like cable construction, conductor material, installation environment and termination can be just as important. For a normal network, there isn't always much benefit in jumping to a higher category just because the number is higher.

I recently went through a good breakdown of the different Ethernet cable categories and what they're actually intended for: https://www.smartechcables.com/blog/different-types-of-ethernet-cables/

It'll be interesting to see where the poll ends up once a few more people vote. What usually makes you choose one category over another?

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Mike Frank

1 hour ago, Mike Frank said:

Interesting results so far. Cat6 being ahead doesn't surprise me, but the Cat8 vote is interesting too, especially since the reason given was shielding.

I think the category gets a lot of attention, while things like cable construction, conductor material, installation environment and termination can be just as important. For a normal network, there isn't always much benefit in jumping to a higher category just because the number is higher.

I recently went through a good breakdown of the different Ethernet cable categories and what they're actually intended for: https://www.smartechcables.com/blog/different-types-of-ethernet-cables/

It'll be interesting to see where the poll ends up once a few more people vote. What usually makes you choose one category over another

In the context of the home user, does it really matter? Most people are connecting from a carrier's router to their access point.