As I understand it 2.5 and 5G modes were originally primarily aimed at WiFi APs as real-world capacities started to scale past gigabit speeds but replacing exis

As I understand it 2.5 and 5G modes were originally primarily aimed at WiFi APs as real-world capacities started to scale past gigabit speeds but replacing existing wiring for an entire building worth of APs to support 10G or completely redesigning the power infrastructure to support fiber would have been impractical. Instead we run 10G signaling at half or quarter clock rates and get something that works on the majority of existing wiring. AFAIK the IEEE was initially resisting supporting this, but enough vendors were just doing it anyways that it was better to standardize.