We still run comms over steel wire today, only most of the time we don't know it, it's called CCS and makes for really cheap "copper" wire. For example a neigh

We still run comms over steel wire today, only most of the time we don't know it, it's called CCS and makes for really cheap "copper" wire. For example a neighbour bought a roll of remarkably cheap Cat5 a few months back and, yeah, I don't think your ethernet cable should have a magnet able to stick to it.