What wire is acceptable for use in underground conduit to transmit Data/Communication? Does it need to be shielded? Are there any specifications listed in the National Electric Code? Thanks!
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If you are using it in outdoor conduit, it needs to be wet rated. Shielding is not required, and may offer little if any benefit, or detriment, for that matter. NEC says little indeed as it it is considered "Low Voltage" communications cable, but there are requirements for minimum burial depth to the top of the conduit, for instance. That is assuming you are using a conduit dedicated to communications/network wiring. There are also things related to the insulation type (outdoor-only insulation can only be routed a maximum of 50 feet inside a building, while "indoor/outdoor" insulation removes that limit (related to smoke and fumes in a burning situation.)
My professional advice as a low-voltage / network / telephone professional is to use fiber optics (also wet rated) when running between buildings, as it solves many repetitive problems that wired networking between buildings is prone to. One of the problems it can solve (if using "all dielectric" cable with no conductive members) is cohabitation with power wiring, but that is a poor idea from a "physical abuse of the fiber" point of view in any case.
When fiber is not an option, I frequently use "direct burial" Cat5e in conduit, since it's a conveniently available form of outdoor-rated cable, but I don't believe in direct burying anything I might want to work for more than a month or two (conduit resists rodent teeth and rocks much better than cable sheaths do.)
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