What are the differences between the Category classifications of copper cables?

The different categories denote the frequency at which the cable will pass or fail at a number of parameter tests. In theory, the higher the frequency, the more data (megabits per second / Mbps) you can transmit. The word Category is often abbreviated as Cat, as we have below.

Cat5e - These cables have a transmission frequency of up to 100Mhz and supports GbE (Gigabit Ethernet/1000Mbps) up to 100m

Cat6 - The transmission frequency is up to 250Mhz and supports GbE up to 100m

Cat6a - Transmission frequency of up to 500Mhz and supports 10GbE up to 100m

Cat7 - Transmission frequency of up to 600Mhz and supports 10GbE up to 100m

Cat7a - Transmission frequency of up to 1000Mhz and supports 10GbE up to 100m