Network engineer here. - Don't install Cat8. Install high-quality Cat6, or Cat6a, if you must. If you insist on 6a/7/8, be sure you have the conduit space allo

Network engineer here. - Don't install Cat8. Install high-quality Cat6, or Cat6a, if you must. If you insist on 6a/7/8, be sure you have the conduit space allocated, those are typically thicker. I'd just install Cat6. - Cat6 will do 10G over approx 180 feet or so. A lot of people don't know this. By the time Cat6 is truly obsolete, so will the Cat7/8 flavors. - Don't sweat the switches. It's an ever-changing, ever-cheapening game. - If you want 10G port switches, buy used switches from Ebay or a used switch vendor. Enterprises are offloading tons of switches due to upgrading to 100G and whatnot. Look for well-known names like Brocade, Ruckus, perhaps even Cisco, etc). - You could potentially run singlemode fiber (SMF) to key spots around the house. Do not install multimode fiber (MMF) -- even OM4, it's obsolete. SMF is far more scalable and these days is about the same in cost. SMF fiber is usually a bit cheaper, the modules are a tiny bit more $. Buy from fs.com -- they're cheap, well-made, and that's what your upstream providers probably use. - Terminate all wiring to patch panels in a wall-mount rack somewhere out of the way.