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Wiring A New House?
jbp123 asks: "I'm building a new house. Once the electrician has run the phone lines I want to run cat5e ethernet cable. I figure two drops to each of the 6 rooms with phone lines. I've never done this but my plan is to run the ethenet cable through the same path that the phone lines follow. I'll use up the rest of the 1000 foot spool by running a third cable to a few of the rooms. Ethernet cable is cheap. I found solid cat5e 1000 foot spools for $60 delivered so the decision to run cat5e cable is a no brainer. The question is should I run fiber? I really don't know how much the cable costs since I don't know what cable to use. It is much easier to run cable before the drywall goes in so I want to make an informed decision now. Ten years from now will I need/want fiber?"
Just use the Cat5 for everything. An RJ-11 will fit in an RJ-45 jack just fine. Tie it all back to a patch pannel in the basement and then you can patch phones/ethernet/whatever to your hearts content.
How about this stuff
A lot more expensive than plain cat5 though.
http://www.thehungersite.com
You may not be aware of this but you can use your Cat-5E cable to run your telephones over.
I don't think you'll need Fibre - doesn't Cat-5E support gigabit speeds?
Fiber is highly unlikely to be necessary or desirable in the next 10 to 20 years in residential housing. Install Cat5E cable, it'll handle gigabit which should be fast enough for just about everything.
Instead of spending money on fiber, spend money to install conduit. Conduit conduit conduit! Conduit is nice since you can later on pull fiber or additional wires more easily.
Why not forgo the whole cabling experience and go wireless instead? You can connect every room in the house with a single hub. It's cheaper than buying the cable and hub/switch, and a whole lot more convenient.
You should run two drops of Cat5 and two drops of RG6 Coax to every "main" room you may have people. Run it to a central cross-connect in the basement or garage.
:-)
The reason you want to run two coax drops is that if you get a dual-tuner sattelite decoder (like a DirectTV TiVo) you will need to lines going out to your dish or to your multiswitch (which splits the signal between >2 lines, so you can put receivers in multiple rooms).
You could also run a Left/Right RCA audio system to each room, but audio will travel decently over Cat5, so you shouldn't have to worry about that.
Fiber would be useful, but frankly you don't need it now because nothing we are doing iwll need fiber probably for 10 years. If you want to prep for it, you can run conduit (probably 1.5" would be sufficient) to each room, to make pulling new cables in (or pulling old cables out) easier in 5 or 10 years. Run it to a modular mounting jack so you can change stuff out if need be.
Having just recently gotten my DirectTV TiVo (and hacked it to 146 hours of storage), I know my next house is gonna need twin coax to every main room.
don't secure the wire to the studs in the wall. That way whenever fiber is more prevalent, you can use the Cat5 to pull the fiber down into the wall from the attic.
:/
Pull the Cat 5 to a central place down inside your house - locate your router/hub there - maybe even your home server.
Think about providing excellent grounding and maybe even heatsink capability to your server closet. Run a separate breakered power to the server closet.
Run coaxial cable for TV - double shielded - to each room and have it go either to the attic for split or better yet have them terminate at the power mast outside the house - leave plenty of extra cable.
Wire your house for security prior to putting in the insulation - insulation and sheetrock guys just love to cut wires that are in their way.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
My father was building his new house and wanted it "wired for the future". My brother and I were to develop his idea and install it (after the electrician and before the drywall).
We decided that is wasn't practical to run fiber. How much speed to really think you will need? How much faster can a home user get? Even if the broadband ISPs upgrade their system to allow anything faster than a maximum of 10mbps...are you _REALLY_ going to need that?
If you are concerned about the speed in your home area network, then just make sure your network equipment is 100meg...that should be more than plenty for every person in those six rooms to be swapping high-quality multimedia back and forth.
The point is, fiber really isn't for the home user...it's more for other intensive bandwidth situations. What I can definately recommend is that if you can afford it and it won't break your budget...then by all means go for it!
However, if it _will_ break your budget, or you want to spend that money on a bunch of X-10 equipment for a semi-Jetson-type house, then run conduit and pull strings. So if you ever get the cash or get the itch to install fiber, all you gotta do is attach it to a pull string and go...it will slide nicely through conduit.
As for the phone and other stuff...just run Cat-5 all the way through. You can use it for phone and sound (maybe other things). If you want video, just run a coax to each room and get a fancy distribution panel to manage all this neat stuff. I wouldn't recommend running S-Video throughout. Have you ever bought a 6-foot s-video cable? They are expensive. Coax does its job just fine. Make sure you run the high quality stuff.
Of course, if you run fiber you can pipe it all through the same wire, but each room will need an EXPENSIVE thingy to split all signals to the designated device.
I wired my own house a few years ago.
Here is some advice based on what I did. Note that I was at the time a licensed communications wiring contractor, so the house is wired a litte more than perhaps is usefull, but here goes.
1. Put muliple locations in each room. I put to faceplates in each bedroom, typically near a corner and opposite each other ( diagaonally opposite corners ) a cable from the outlet can be run along either adjacent wall for convienience in locating phones or computers. In each outlet are two cat 5 data cables and 1 4pair telephone cable. In one of the two outlets is an RG6 CATV cable.
2. Home run telephone wires - I ran all the telephone cables directly from the outlet to a telephone junction box in the garage which was mounted directly above the one from the phone company. The phone company box faces outside, mine faces inside and there are some holes in the 2X4 seperating them for cables to run through. I mounte 4 type 66 punchblocks in the inside box and terminated all 32 cables there. All multiple jumpering etc. is done in that box.
I ran all the data wiring ( 48 cables ) to 4 dual gang boxes inside the master bedroom closet. Using ortronics IMO2 dual gang faceplates with 6 double port modules, I got 48 ports in the 4 outlets and its is not cludgy like a patchpanel on a swingout door would be- it has a finished look. I also got the electrician to put a utility outlet inside the closet close to the ports to power the switch and localtalk bridge.
3. Put a telephone outlet near your CATV outlets - if you want to use satellite tv or some other service which requires a telephone connection it will be very good to have.
4. Put data outlets in common rooms - the livingroom, dining room den etc. These areas could end up as common homework computer areas for the kids. I have a table in the living room and one in the dining room ( we eat in the kitchen ) with some older computers on them that the kids use for homework.
Note that the contractors installers may be very helpful if you offer a 6 pack or two of beer to help grease the skids. I got all kinds of built-in bookshelves, nooks and other cool customizations this way.
Another suggestion !! Put in the return line for a circulating hot-water system during construction. If you can not afford the pump now, you can add it later, but it is a pain to put the return line in.
Also consider insulating hot water lines and putting insulation inside the inner walls to give some soundproofing.
Good Luck
Zoot
enough is too much
not really...if you're happy w/cat 5e run that...if everything is through the walls and you ever want to change the type of wire, just pull out the cat 5e and hook the new fiber to the one end of the cat 5e when you pull it out. everything is already strung then.
I always found it easier to just find the cable lines. Because they are pretty much in every room, you can just tie the cat5 wire to the cable line along with some string. Go up to your attic and just pull the whole thing up, then untie the cat5 wire and pull the cable back down with the string. They even sell face plates with both an ethernet port and place for the tv cable. That way you dont have to put more holes in the wall. Just a lot easier in my opinion.
I wired the house with cable and two CAT5e cables to each telephone housing, plus security and some audio cabling to a few select areas. I also set up the internal vacuum system.
Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT wire anything before the electrician has wired for power. Plan with the electrician so that you can make sure your wire is at least 1 foot, preferably 2 feet away from his wire when running in parallel, and otherwise crosses at oblique (near to 90 degrees) angles. Master electricians are smart, but the workers they employ are morons. We had to yank out a lot of wiring because the electricians laid power cable in all sorts of unfortunate places right next to ours. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Do nail in wire protector plates onto wood just like your electrician does for the power cables. They're to keep the drywallers from wrecking your wiring with their drywall nails.
Do consider running a little conduit, but only a little. Don't conduit the whole thing: what we wound up doing was running conduit from the basement up to the attic. The house is two-story. That way if we absolutely had to, we could wire things in the future without massive rebuilding.
Do run everything (phone, cable, network, fiber) in a star configuration to a central hub.
Do do both the telephone and networking and cable yourself. It's simple. Don't pay the electrician to wire for telephone if you're going to wire for networking; you're just wasting money.
Do Not use plenum, braided, or shielded CAT5e cable. Plenum cable has basically one use: to be run through air ducts in old office buildings as a fire precaution. Shielded CAT5e will turn your network into an antenna if not properly grounded. In general, you don't need it unless you're running along with lots of electrical lines in close conduit areas. Braided cable is only for patch-cord use.
Do consider the new combination cable available, which has fiber, cable, CAT5e, low-power DC, and audio all in one bundle. But it's a pain to wire because it has to be bent at very gradual angles. Might be a good way to go though, and cheaper.
Do not expect that security is wired in a similar fashion. In particular, 4-wire smoke detectors cannot be wired in a star configuration at all: they must be wired in a specific, unusual serial topology.
Do remember that your hub must be in a locked area.
That kind of signal loss is going to be insignificant. The real problem with bending fiber around corners, is that the strands are somewhat fragile. I've seen runs of fiber that had to be doubled because some of fibers the first one had broken when the cable was bent too sharply. The best thing with fiber is conduit, because it gives smooth rounded corners.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
I ended up running 2 runs of Cat5e and 2 runs of quad-shielded RG-6 to 6 drops.
You will want the coax... trust me. While I'd like to run everythng over UTP or fiber, the costs of locating things like VCRs, and satellite receivers at a head end, and streaming video digitally are prohibitive compared to the costs of running the coax. You may want to plan for the day when everything is streamed over IP and carried on an ethernet or fiber physical layer, but I think it is far better to have dead cable in the wall than to use horribly expensive equipment today as opposed to your neighbor who just hooks up the new TV to the cable outlet and is done.
Fiber. I didn't run any, but mostly because of the cost -- it's still too expensive. Also, don't forget headend terminations for all those fiber lines -- they are expensive. If you can afford it, by all means. In my case, I figure I'll sell the house and build a new one before I have a real pressing need for fiber: am I really going to want to stream full-resolution uncompressed video room to room? I doubt it.
Do put in as many drops as you think you'll need, and then some. You have an advantage over me: your walls aren't up yet. Plan for a minimum of one per room, more if there are multiple entrances. For example, many central family rooms open up to formal dining/living rooms and kitchen -- place the outlet on the "wrong" wall and you'll have to snake a cable across an entryway... not cool.
If you can afford the cabling, make EACH 110VAC outlet have a co-located (but not sharing the box-- that violates code) coax/data drop. That's excessive, and you immediately have to separate the AC and other cables to avoid interference, but you'll have a drop whereever you need one. Personally, I'd probably stick with one outlet per continuous wall segment, more for bigger rooms.
I ran 2xCat5e and 2xRG-6 (quad-shielded). You can get combo cable (speedwrap) that contains this (with or without fiber) in a single jacket that makes for easy pulling, but expect to pay double over individual cables. If you're paying for installation, the reduced labour might pay for the more expensive cable. Note: the reason for two runs of coax is in case you want to run a video stream back to the headend, like, perhaps a baby monitor camera. However, with recent PVR having TWO tuners, you'll find you need to use both coax cables, espescially with satellite systems (the receiver sends a signal selecting satellite and polarization to the multiswitch over the coax -- you don't have all channels on the cable at once). If you want to do this and send video back to the headend you may need three coax cables.. though a cheap PC and webcam might do the trick over the Cat5-e instead (and I can think of creative uses of satellite diplexers to use two coaxes for two satellite signals, one cable/off air signal, and a backfeed, but I haven't tried it).
As for plugging phones into RJ-45s... why bother? Just terminate one of the Cat5e cables in an RJ-14 jack, leaving one pair not connected... you can have up to three lines on that RJ-14. Alternately, split it out in the box to two RJ-14s. You can always require for ethernet later, if you have to (or use a PBX that requires 8 wires). This also ensures that you don't accidently plug the phone in the wrong outlet (confusing the coax ports is bad enough).
I'd post more, but have to go.
You could've hired me.
Actually, phone lines are low-voltage and should not represent much of an interference problem with your ethernet signals. Keeping your CAT5 at least 6-12 inches away from any 120V AC lines running parallel is always a good idea.
Always cross your CAT5 and 120V power cables as perpendicular as possible to avoid crosstalk.
you can only go a few meters with Gigabit over Cat5e before attenuation takes effect. fiber doesnt have this limitation
Both half and full duplex ethernet in the 10mbit and 100mbit variety use 2 pairs, one for sending, one for receiving.
cat5e is definitely gigabit, according to my handy Black Box catalog.
cat6 hasn't been ratified yet, but will allow gigabit and beyond.
-- Veni, vidi, dormivi
Ring voltage is around 90V, so please don't think of phone lines as low voltage. Also, have you ever seen the spikes on a phone line when there is a lightning strike at a telephone pole?
Low voltage? Guess again...
What I would do is build a patch panel or wiring closet in a basement or similar location, with all telephone/data/audio cabling to other parts of the house home-run to this location.
If you run 'smurf' (flexbible blue fire-rated plastic tubing) to each room, and two each to bedrooms, media room, then you should be ready for anything.
When you run the smurf, draw 2xCat5e to each room along with any necessary speaker cable. Most fire codes will permit you to leave in a 'pull line' of a code-accepted material, so you can easily draw more cables (fiber, etc) as needed.
When running the 'smurf' tubing, try to avoid running in parallel with power conduits, or if you must, maximize the separation. Where you pass power lines, try to intersect at right angles.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
Actually, whether or not the cable jacket is plenum-rated (usually with Teflon) is completely unrelated to whether or not they wrap an extra layer of foil around the wire (shielded vs unshielded). If you're running unbalanced signals down the wire, such as RS232 serial data (Like Cisco or Sun Netra consoles), shielding is good. But Ethernet and Telephone send electrically opposite signals down each wire, so the electromagnetic fields and the twisting of the wire helps fight interference.
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And if the contractor can't handle conduit (find a better contractor?!), you can do it yourself. Steel conduit is cheap (I know, 'cause I've done this), and conduit benders are not difficult to use. Of course, if you don't wanna use a conduit bender, you can buy prefab curved sections.
/. recently...
A few things to keep in mind:
0. Use METAL conduit rather than plastic - indefinite lifetime, RF shielding, and nailproof when hanging pictures. Also easily findable with stud-finder gadgets at need.
1. Use BENDS rather than square corners (and insist the contractor do so -- inspect before accepting...). Makes pulling cable more fun, and VITAL for fiber (if it ever comes to that)
2. If you do it yourself, make sure you debur the insides of all conduit ends with the little blade on the tubing cutter. It really sucks to have a short 'cause the conduit cut the insulation.
3. Check local codes and the building inspector on how to GROUND the conduit properly (one probably grounds this to the building safety ground at the electrical service entrance -- a definite building-inspector question). The building inspector can be made into a very handy resource if you social-engineer the interaction properly - you want him to take you seriously, and to understand that you want to, and are able to, do things right and with proper permits; at this point, he ceases to be an obstacle and becomes an ally. Also, be real clear to the building department that your conduit is LOW-VOLTAGE wiring and NOT power wiring; the code requirements are different.
Lastly, 3Com has a nifty mini-hub that fits into a wall box, seen on
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
I am not an electrician, but I've done my own electrical work, so here's my opinion:
The way I understand it, according to the National Electric Code, any box with wires running into it (even if it is just a pass-through) needs to be accessable. The thing to do in this case would be to cut the holes in the plasterboard and cover the box with a blank plate.
The bonus with this method is that the placement of the boxes is obvious and the plasterboard doesn't need to be cut later. Therefore a map is unnecessary. Also, if the walls are concrete block and plaster, not plasterboard, this is the only practical way to go (unless you want to start cutting holes in the block for new boxes).
oh great -
moderators mod this one up 1 (but I don't get any credit as my karma is 50 already), then two come alone a and mod it down...
back to 48... lovely...
It seems I have been mistaken though - I've looked and it seems that all use 2 pairs except for T4 and Gigabit Ethernet over copper... the best I could find was this reference, it makes no mention of duplex, but does give some information.
I have no idea where I got the idea that full duplex required extra pairs - I must be such a dumbo.
This is true.
I just did my own wiring in the house that I just bought a month ago. I ran Cat5e, because it much more inexpensive and I design and install LAN/WAN equipment, and deal with fiber everyday. I hate fiber. The Transceivers along will run you $900 per end, that's a minimum $1800 per drop. Plus you will need to by the switches.
Why do that when you can buy a four port Gigabit UTP switch for less than $300 and Gigabit nic's for $44.
The question is should I run fiber? I really don't know how much the cable costs since I don't know what cable to use. It is much easier to run cable
/type (10Gbps) probably named "Laser optimized multimode fiber" LOMMF or OM3 is still in the works.
before the drywall goes in so I want to make an informed decision now. Ten years from now will I need/want fiber?"
The only reason to run fiber is if the needed cable length, exceed recommended CAT5e length.
Fiber has several disadvantages (I am no cable expert); Connectors; There is a plethora of competing connectors. The most common; SC and ST connectors are rather bulky, and doesn't really work beyond 1Gbps. The new breed of small form connectors for >1Gbps hasn't been certified yet.
If you plan to run fiber "end-to-end", you will have a really limited supply of products to choose from, pay premium prices, and to some extent be tied up with
with whatever connector you choose to begin with.
Changing or making the end-termination on fiber, is much more expensive on fiber, than on copper. (the SMF connector "VF-45" from 3M claims to be the cheapest to use, when doing end-to-end fiber).
The price difference between even a managed 24p 100TX switch and a 24p 100 FX (fiber) switch is significant. The price on 1000 SX fiber equipment is also much higher than 1 GBIC copper equipment.
We just evaluated upgrading our fiber backbone from 10Mbit to either 100FX or 1000SX. (we run a non-profit ISP for 300 apartments), and the price difference between a using a fiber or a copper core switch is very high indeed. If it wasn't for the fact, that our cable length requirements exceed Cat 5e/6, it would probably be cheaper to abandon the fiber and re-wire with copper.
Using fiber-converters (transceivers) also sucks; they cost too much (one needed for every connected device), is yet another source for network problems, and requires yet another power plug.
Actually I believe, that the money saved from investing in fiber and fiber equipment now, could pay for a totally fiber re-wiring if the need for such really should arise into the future.
I really think you will be much better off using copper. People in the know claims, that even though Class D/Cat 6 (200MHz) isn't certified as a standard yet (?), the commercial "Cat 6" cabling systems availably now, should conform to the coming standard. So Cat 6 should be a much better long term investment than fiber. AFAIK Cat 6 should do 10Gbps. Again, people who knows much more than I do, claims that the present standard for multi mode fiber (50 and 62,5 Micron)
doesn't do more than 1,2 Gbps reliably, and is a "dead" standard like Cat 5, and 5e. The coming fiber standards
To summon up;
Cat 5e is the cheap and tried solution. If future needs doesn't go beyond 1Gbps, then why not.
Cat 6 is slightly more expensive, but is much more "future proof" (10Gbps). Perhaps one is still advised to buy a complete system, from the same vendor though.
It allready seems, that Cat 6 rapidly has become the choice when people wire new offices.
Present day fiber standards are not future proof (1,2Gbps), too expensive; not only the fiber cabling systems, but all devices that need to connect with it, and is probably something best left to a professional electrician to install.
Peoples advice about conduit and pull wires, are probably the real key to a long term investment.
A cheap ethernet tester will probably pay for it self too, if you are going to make a lot of cables.
What I did was pull eight drops of six cat-5 and one RG-6 to six rooms. (Actually only seven RG-6 drops because I ran out.) I used up most of two 1000 foot boxes.
Don't pull single wires, pull bundles. When I had the holes drilled and the weather was cool enough to stay in the attic all day, I pulled the wire from both boxes through the house, along with the RG-6, then folded the end over and did it again twice. I used cheap box tape to hold the wires together in the interim, then I used cable ties to tie it together into one evil looking snake. It just barely fits in a 1" hole. So far I haven't crimped the ends of the RG-6, but when I do start using it, I'll just stuff the extra cat-5 keystone jack back into the wall.
In two of the drops, I didn't have to drill because there was no drywall over the cabinets (nowadays the ceilings go in first, so I was lucky), and in another, there was already a hole where I wanted it. The last hole was the toughest because it was on an outside wall, the roof about three feet above me. I cut a hole for three-inch pipe in my closet, giving nine times the area of a 1" hole, just right for eight bundles and the outside wiring, then put a pipe and a right angle joint at the top. The hole was cut well enough that the whole thing fits snugly with no glue or plaster.
Assorted bits of advice: Forget about fiber, it's too much of a pain in the arse for home use. The only fiber you want is one strand going out of your house (dream on!). And besides, there are two diameters, and single vs multi-mode, but cat-5 is cat-5. Don't forget about the RG-6, because that means you can have cable/satellite in any and every room in the house. And if you buy wood bits, get 1" bits, and get them made in the USA with lifetime warranty. Wal-Mart sells these for under three bucks each. The crap from China won't last for more than one or two holes. Ultrasonic stud finders kick ass. Wig pins are good for pushing through drywall to find out the exact point of a stud, both on walls and ceilings. Not all horizontal studs in your attic are directly over the wall; if you're not careful, you'll drill out the top of a wall or even worse, paneling. (Yes, I did drill out some paneling. That's how I know.)
Switched 100mbit Ethernet in the kitchen kicks ass. And it means you get to use more AC circuits for those big LAN parties.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
USE PLENUM
Yes, it costs more, but it meets building code, and isn't nearly so flammable. Please don't be cheap and use the PVC stuff that will help housefires spread wonderfully just to save $100.
Glad you mentioned this, because it reminded me how difficult it is to find good documentation about wiring Ethernet.
As a wise Slashdot reader once said, "You can't have too much overkill", so here is the wiring scheme shown 3 different ways. I hope it saves you the time of gathering it together yourself.
Slashdot doesn't allow the HTML PRE tag. Slashdot removes leading spaces, so I've used dots below. Another problem is that the lameness filter is lame. That lameness filter is definitely named correctly.
Use only Standard EIA/TIA T568B. This is also called the AT&T specification. T568A is NOT USED.
T568B:
When the hook of the RJ-45 Ethernet connector is underneath, pin 1 is on the left.
Pair 1 is pins 4 and 5, Blue and White/Blue.
Pair 2 is pins 1 and 2, White/Orange and Orange (Transmit Data + and -)
Pair 3 is pins 3 and 6, White/Green and Green (Receive Data + and -).
Pair 4 is pins 7 and 8, White/Brown and Brown.
Pair2 \--R22 Orange
/--------- -T33 White/Green
/
Pair3 \ Pair1 \-T15 White/Blue
\--------- -R36 Green
Pair4 \--R48 Brown
Pin ColorPairName
1 wh/or 2 TxData +
2 or2 TxData -
3 wh/grn3 RecvData+
4 blu 1
5 wh/blu1
6 grn 3 RecvData-
7 wh/brn4
8 brn 4
I know this sounds crazy, but standard Ethernet uses ONLY pairs 2 and 3, for both half and full duplex. The other wires just sit there, unused. (It is possible to buy external adapters to use the other two pairs as a second 10- or 100 Megabit 100Base-T connection.)
The R1, T1, R2, T2 designations are for telephones. R1 is Ring 1 (the red wire at the telephone box). T1 is Tip 1 (the green wire at the telephone box). Ring and Tip are old names for the telephone wires, but if you talk to a telephone company installer, he or she will use those names.
Quite obviously, someone messed this up majorly, as in "How can we make this confusing?"
If you are new to wiring Ethernet start with the simple explanation at Johns Closet (as in wiring closet): Wiring: Color Codes, Terms, and Tools.
See the Leviton Do and Don't Guides
See the Wiring Guides at the Leviton Learning Center . See the Residential And Light Commercial Installation Practices (Tia-570 Compliance) [PDF file] guide.
Also see the wiring specs at FAQS.org: 9.0 Standard EIA/TIA 568 (Use ONLY T568B)
More information about wiring: Data Communications Cabling FAQ
Your local store will probably try to charge too much. Shop around for Ethernet cable and connectors. You need the real thing, cable marked "Category 5". Other cable won't work.
One last thought to those who are new to Ethernet networking. A Hub broadcasts all data to all computers. An Ethernet Switch sends the data only to the computer that where the data will be used. Therefore, switches are faster in cases where the network is sending data between more than one pair of computers at the same time.
--
Senator Biden (and Osama bin Laden) say that the Saudi government cannot continue without U.S. support: What should be the Response to Violence?
Bush's education improvements were
Anyone can define "low voltage" however he wants. Check out this link for some of the ways NEC seems to define low voltage. Most electricians would say that less than 600 volts is low voltage, and this is also how the state of California defines it..
Phone lines carry the speech spectrum, roughly 300 hz to 3000 hz. They also carry DC (0 hz) and ringing current (20 hz). They can also carry square-edged pulses made by hanging up a phone with a mechanical switch, for example, or dialing with a mechanical rotary phone. Such pulses contain energy far up the RF spectrum. Of course, a phone line carrying DSL will have lots of high-frequency energy above 3000 hz.
Phone lines use a nominal 48 volt battery. When you pick up the phone, most of that voltage is lost in the loop and you get 6 to 8 volts across the line. Ringing current is AC, ranging from 80 to 110 volts.
Phone lines can run for many miles without significant loss of signal or power. 120 volt power lines cannot. If you live in a house in the US, your phone line probably goes several miles to the CO, but your power line goes straight to a nearby transformer that feeds it from a higher distribution voltage. As for interference, power lines don't just carry 60 hz - they carry substantial amounts of energy at higher frequencies, caused by motors, light ballasts, switching power supplies and other equipment. I think a power line is more likely to contribute noise to a data circuit than a phone line is.