Twisted Pair Cabling
Copper cabling with pairs twisted to cancel interference, used for most Ethernet runs (e.g. Cat 6).
Twisted pair cabling uses copper wire pairs wound around each other to reduce electromagnetic interference and crosstalk. Both wires pick up nearly identical noise, which the differential receiver cancels as common-mode interference. Cat 5e runs 1 Gbps at 100 MHz, Cat 6 reaches 10 Gbps over short runs (about 55 meters) at 250 MHz, and Cat 6a extends 10 Gbps to the full 100-meter limit at 500 MHz. The key exam distinction is UTP versus STP: UTP is the default, while STP adds foil or braided shielding for noisy areas but needs proper grounding.
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