Fortunately, those are only necessary for long distances. For most purposes, Gigabit Ethernet works well using a regular Ethernet cable (specifically, the CAT5e and CAT6 cabling standards). These cable types follow the 1000BASE-T cabling standard (also called IEEE 802.3ab).

Do I need a special Ethernet cable for gigabit?

If you have gigabit internet (1Gbps), an old Ethernet cord will hold you back. If you have a slower connection — perhaps 10 or 20 megabits per second — you're good with anything Cat 5 or newer.

What cable is needed for Gigabit Ethernet?

Category 5e cable is now the minimum recognized cable for data networking applications, as defined by the current standard. Like Category 5 cable, it also is rated for up to 100 MHz frequencies. Additional performance standards enable it to support transmission speeds of up to 1000 mbps ("gigabit Ethernet").