The 10GbaseT switch I have (netgear) actually says it supports cat5e for 10G speeds up to 45M or some such (to lazy to dig up a manual for it). I was on the fen

The 10GbaseT switch I have (netgear) actually says it supports cat5e for 10G speeds up to 45M or some such (to lazy to dig up a manual for it). I was on the fence and prepared to upgrade some of my cabling when I purchased it, but decided to give the cat5 a try, and haven't regretted it. Given it has link quality, and mangled packet counters and if there were actually any issues with the runs in my house I would be able to see it in the link stats.. The cable modem OTOH... (a few bad packets a day). Edit: Also for most purposes 'modern' 5e (which tends to be more an ad-hoc standard due to people exceeding the base requirements) is basically as good as cat 6, its only with 6A do you get the longer runs with are a result of stricter termination rules, larger gauge cable, better cross pair (foil) shielding, and a bunch of other rules. As far as 2.5/5G, I was really annoyed that it wasn't just an optional part of the 10G standard. The idea being that vendors sell 10G switches and if the cables arn't up to the task to degrade to something slower. Initially the big vendor pushing seemed to be trying to market segment 2.5/5 and 10G, but more recently it seems sanity has prevailed and more recent switches are doing exactly that. You get 10G if the switching thinks the cable run is good, otherwise it drops to 1/2.5/5.