Deal: TP-Link LS1005G 5-Port Desktop/Wallmount Gigabit Ethernet Switch/Hub, Network Splitter, Plug and play - £8.99 @ Amazon

This little thing took down the network in one floor of our office back about 20 yrs ago. Gobshite had plugged both ends of one cable into the same hub

Standard price
Have bought at 6.99 (yeah whatever timemachine .. )

Didn't realise this was an offer! Have bough this on 2 separate occasions at this price and never knew, great lil thing for the price

They're good budget switches, and if you're like more than 99% of the population you won't need anything above gigabit for a long time. The only time I'd ever recommend anything higher than Cat5e is if you're cabling directly into the wall, in which case go as high as your budget allows as at the very least it's there if you ever need it.

The only actual usage most of us mere mortals have for 2.5+ speeds is for if/when broadband speeds go above gigabit, and even then you have to rely on ISPs providing routers/modems with a port higher than gigabit. Then there's the issue of virtually every device still being stuck on gigabit ports regardless.

So yeah, unless you're an enthusiast, just get this along with some cheap cat5e cables (which also support 2.5gbps if you ever get there, contrary to popular beleif). You could also spend 20 quid at Screwfix and learn how to terminate your own cables, enabling you to make cables of any length you desire.

Guess we just have a fascination as humans with higher numbers. Placebo is a strong force to contend with. (edited)

About £11 on eBay so yes cheaper here

worth getting or should i just run 4 ethernet cables instead? what sort of latency/speed loss would this introduce?

it would be 3 meters tops from the router, but i guess this would be a lot neater for my room?

also CCA is bad, but how can you tell or will it say pure copper? also Aluminium anywhere is bad? (edited)