Category 8 was ratified by the TR43 working group under the ANSI/TIA 568-C.2-1 standard. It supports frequencies up to 2000 MHz and is specified for maximum distances of 30 meters or 36 meters, depending on the patch cords used.

The ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG 3 committee developed the corresponding international standard, ISO/IEC 11801-1:2017/COR 1:2018, which defines two options:

  • Class I channel (Category 8.1 cable): Minimum cable design of U/FTP or F/UTP, fully backward compatible and interoperable with Class EA (Category 6A) using 8P8C connectors.

  • Class II channel (Category 8.2 cable): Minimum cable design of F/FTP or S/FTP, interoperable with Class FA (Category 7A) using TERA or GG45 connectors.

up to 40Gbps at 50meters or 100Gbps at 15meters

If you don’t really need those bandwidths, a more wise choice would be CAT6A.