[Jazzbass]

I'm doing some renovation work on my study and installing new CAT6 in the basement and running up into my office. As far as I know, there are only three NEC code issues I need to be aware of:

1. Don't run low voltage and high voltage wires through the same holes into the walls
2. If installing in a multigang box, the low voltage and high voltage sides must be separated
3. Fire stop all holes drilled from the basement into the first floor walls (esp interior, non insulated walls)

Running these wires, a lot of the places that is the most convenient is along the beams or joists where 110VAC NM is already run. I've never thought of it being an issue running UTP cable next to (even zip-tied to) NM cable. Yeah it can induce 60Hz noise into the network cable, but that's why it's a twisted pair balanced line, right? Noise cancellation and all that.

Out of curiosity I did a Google search and was surprised at how many people warned against running CAT6 next to A/C lines. Always with the same info - keep them 6" apart or the A/C will induce noise into your network and f**k things up. Here's the interesting bit - most of the guys that say to keep them separated have some story about A/C induced noise screwing something up. On a speaker wire, coax, etc., but never a story about it messing up a UTP network run.

I know we have a lot of network engineers and EEs here, so I was curious if you guys had any thoughts/real info on this, beyond the typical "you can run speaker wire next to A/C, so keep the CAT6 away as well" type stuff I've found on the interwebs.