[TowerTalk] network cable outdoors

[Just Justin]

While you can most certainly use indoor rated CAT5 outdoors, we only
use the outdoor type and know reasonably sure it won't fail and require
a call back to replace it.

I had a "temporary" two hundred foot run that ended up in place three
years. I eventually replaced it with gel filled cable inside buried
PVC. I pulled back the sheath of the old cable and the inner wires were
moist.

Now why did I bother to use PVC...or why not use indoor cable in PVC. I
always run two inch PVC in case I have to retrofit more cables. Plus
this customer was notorious for digging up my lines (see comment below)
and PVC would be a little more robust. A car dealership had hundreds of
feet of gel filled 25 pair phone cable buried in PVC, except for one
run - and over the years I've had to abandon almost half the pairs that
from water damage. Likewise I had a contract bury 33 feet of PVC that
may not have been glued very good as I sucked out several gallons of
water when I vacuum fished my pull string.

Comment here...

I warned a contractor there was a buried 240 volt line he had to cross
over with his water and septic lines. After cutting through my buried
25 pair, two water lines and septic line - ALL in different places, he
finally "found" the power line. The ditcher whipped that line out of
the ground and it flopped all over the place with pink, green and
purple fire. You could taste it!. Funny why it didn't blow the circuit breaker.