No installation will ever be perfect, however get the best possible at the start. And that one certainly needs improvement.


I know I have an extension phone on Cat5e which gets near power cables and depending on what is running I might get a little extra or less noise being fed back.and maybe sneaking through the filter to the VDSL side,

Hi

I wouldn't be too concerned with separation at all, except for what is recommended for safety reasons. Has anyone seen any ill effects from running a network cable next to mains cable? I've got 7 metres of mains extension wire and two network wires all bundled together around the parameter of the room to get from one side to other, and the switch has never reported a single CRC error in all the time it's been like that (months), showing the connection is unaffected.

I suspect more interference is entering the mains wiring from the network cable than the other way around, besides the twisted pair allows the equipment to cancel out any interference introduced this way.

Think of it this way, lots of switches include their own switch mode power supply which you never see separately screened in the case and mains entering directly into it, pumping out tonnes of noise, yet these switches work fine. Server rooms are often the worst places for electrical noise with tonnes of equipment stacked on top of each yet it all works fine.

Might have been a problem many years ago but modern electronics in switches aren't affected as much as most people think.

Regards Phil

I agree. Ethernet uses twisted-pairs and especially digital transmission which are well known for their rejection of analogue noise from the mains for example.

Ethernet may not be effected although I have come across instances where it happens. However, at least one of te cables will be carrying base VDSL signal and they are very likely to be affected.

Twisted pairs do not fully cancel out interference. some will still remain.

It is much better to install it in such a way to minimise potential issues at the start and do a nice neat job.