Chris Eddy wrote:

> Yes, you are safe.  Cat 5 and other twisted types (twisted pair, not
> mentally) are reasonably good at keeping signals to themselves.  Think
> of phone lines on the pole.

  I'd take this all with a "grain of salt".  Six feet, you should get
away with it.  Some longer distance, maybe fifty feet, you may well
strike problems.

  I'm not actually sure what is meant by "cat 5".  If it refers to
shielded lines, no complaints at all.  If it refers to 10BaseT cabling
using 4 out of an 8-wire cable, then there is a trick as this is *not*
in fact twisted pair.

  Telephone lines on the pole *are* twisted pair as they are carefully
balanced by regular swapping of individual pairs in a pattern (Gray code
variant - it's  abit of a subject in itself); it it to *this* that the
"twist" refers.  Pairs in a composite cable are actually twisted at
different pitches.

  It's all about balancing out "crosstalk".  The flat "strap" cable used
with "RJ" connectors is not twisted pair, and is *not* designed as such
to avoid crosstalk.  Randomly and separately pulled through a duct with
other like cables, it may act "twisted", but if the straps are
accidentally or deliberately laid neatly together for any distance you
really are "asking for" crosstalk problems.

  This is of course exactly what Chris goes on to describe.

  Cheers,
        Paul B.