25GBit via CAT7A

[farmernr1]

Hi everyone

I was wondering whether it'd be possible to use CAT7A S/FTP 1200MHz network cabling in combination with a CAT8.1 Keystone module in order to achieve 25GBit Ethernet?
Has anybody ever tried that or is it just impossible?

[Kilrah]

The cable alone doesn't matter without 25G NICs/Switches/transceivers...

[farmernr1]

1 minute ago, Kilrah said:

The cable alone doesn't matter if you can't get 25G NICs/Switches/transceivers...

Let's assume I have all that... 25GBit NIC/Switch etc.

 

I just would like to know if the Keystone Module (CAT8.1) and the cable (CAT7a) would be able to achieve the 25GBit since I cannot find anything about the intercompatibility online...

[tkitch]

Everything I see online says that Cat7/7a support 1000mhz and 10gbps 

 

I don't see anything about 25gbps

[Kilrah]

25Gbit is only specified on 2000MHz-capable CAT8, so it's most likely a "your mileage may vary" situation, maybe it could work for unknown short distances, maybe not. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

12 minutes ago, farmernr1 said:

Let's assume I have all that... 25GBit NIC/Switch etc.

 

I just would like to know if the Keystone Module (CAT8.1) and the cable (CAT7a) would be able to achieve the 25GBit since I cannot find anything about the intercompatibility online...

There's very little equipment that actually utilises the Cat7a and Cat 8 standards and even less that uses both. Cat7a isn't recognised by TIA, while Cat8 is, though its use case is for very short runs in datacentres and even then it's rarely used as fibre is the better option for that use case. 

 

Vast majority of Cat8 stuff is going to be using RJ45/8P8C connectors which are not compatible with the Cat7/a standards. Cat7/a uses TERA or GG45 connectors which are pretty rare, though Cat8 is technically interoperable with Cat7/a standards when using TERA or GG45. 

 

Technically, it should be possible, but that's assuming you've got Cat8 TERA or GG45 keystones, which basically just means you'd be running Cat7a which can do 25Gbit. If you use Cat7a with 8P8C keystones, you're out of the specification of the standard so don't expect anything to work and if you use full Cat8, you'll be limited to 30 or 36m depending on the cable. 

[Lurick]

Well step 1 is finding equipment with RJ45 interfaces capable of doing 25Gbit over RJ45 copper or finding 25Gbit copper SFP28 modules.

Hint: There are none on the market.

[Alex Atkin UK]

If you're trying to future proof, fibre is the only option.

 

Just because copper can technically handle those speeds, doesn't mean the hardware will ever make it to market when fibre is so much more practical at that point.  Even at 10Gbit right now you pay a huge premium for copper vs fibre.