alt Hacker News> Regular people don't know this stuff...
Regular people don't know whether to get Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat7. So... yeah.
> ...OM3/OM4/OM5? Single mode/Multi mode? LC/SC?...
My answer is OM4, Multi-mode [0], LC. OM3, 4, and 5 will all work at 10gbit for any run you'd expect to make in most houses. I chose cable grade based on what was in stock at the local store. I chose connector type based on what fit into my NICs. I went with multi-mode because it was cheaper than single-mode and I wasn't going to be making multi-km runs.
[0] That's what the "M" in in the cable designation means.
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> Regular people don't know whether to get Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat7.
What are you talking about. It's right in the manual for some switches like the TP-Link TL-SX105 V4 [1]. It's not even an expensive or fancy one.
Network Media (Cable)
100BASE-TX: 2-pair UTP/STP of Cat. 5 or above (maximum 100 m)
1000BASE-T: 4-pair UTP/STP of Cat. 5e or above (maximum 100 m)
2.5GBASE-T: 4-pair UTP/STP of Cat. 5e or above (maximum 100 m)
5GBASE-T: 4-pair UTP/STP of Cat. 5e or above (maximum 100 m)
10GBASE-T: 4-pair UTP of Cat 6 (maximum 55 m) or STP of Cat 6, 6a, 7 (maximum 100 m)
In the worst case you'll buy some overboard Cat 7 cable, but at least things are simple unlike with fiber optics last time I've asked [2]. With cable all you need to know is the speed. You don't have to ask yourself what kind of module you have or maybe you don't even have one. All you need to know is the speed and perhaps the length although I think only "the 1%" will need more than 55 meters :-)
[1]: https://static.tp-link.com/upload/manual/2025/202501/2025012...
Go with single mode only for new installs.
Biggest install cost is labour. The cable and optics are cheap now, and with the future (200Gbps+) being multiple wavelengths in parallel[1], we’ve pretty much hit the end of the road for MMF.
[1] https://www.tiafotc.org/ieee-802-3-ethernet-standards-update...