CW1308 Cable

[Astra99]

A word of warning. I added an extension using CCA (copper-clad Aluminium) cable. Connected it up, it tested OK, and worked perfectly with both speech and BB .......... for half a day. A cable had fractured where it had been routed around a door frame and everything stopped!. I eventually found some pure copper 2-pair from TLC-direct (other suppliers are available) which, incidentally, is much easier to work with, and *considerably* more flexible, and only about 15% more expensive. Caveat Emptor!

I have also seen CAT5e/CAT6 cables in CCA. After the fiasco with the CW1308, I wouldn't touch 'em with a double-insulated bargepole.

(I hate having to do a job twice, total waste of time and effort!)

 

[sparkymarka]

Old saying buy cheap ...buy twice !

 

[Lectrician]

I would never touch the stuff! Live and learn!

I believe (not too sure) that they cannot call it CW1308, as its not to spec.

http://www.aci.org.uk/images/Copper Covered Steel Telephone Cables - 12-02-2013 _final_.pdf

 

[AlanE]

I have also seen CAT5e/CAT6 cables in CCA. After the fiasco with the CW1308, I wouldn't touch 'em with a double-insulated bargepole.

CCA cable shouldn't be described and CAT5/CAT6 as it simply doesn't meet the specification for CAT5/CAT6 cable.

 

[sparkymarka]

I would never touch the stuff! Live and learn!

I believe (not too sure) that they cannot call it CW1308, as its not to spec.

http://www.aci.org.uk/images/Copper Covered Steel Telephone Cables - 12-02-2013 _final_.pdf[/QUOTE]

That's for CCS cable steel ( horrible stuff ) not CCA aluminium.... Didn't bt use aluminium cable at some stage !

 

[Spark123]

I thought CW1308 is tinned copper cable, afaict it is a British Telecom standard. Certainly the CW1308 I got from TLC is. Their cheaper stuff isn't labelled as CW1308.

 

[tomy]

There is still a lot of ali still in the phone network

 

[BigRobCanUFixIt]

There is also copper clad steel cable out there!!!

Subby supplying cable and labour finds CAT5 on ebay half the price of all the wholesalers and stocks up. Go live time and nothing worked. Essentially the 80 runs in the block were great electro magnets though. its quite dificult 1st fixing a building after all the other trades have completed the 2nd fix!.

 

[SimonH2]

Didn't bt use aluminium cable at some stage !

Yes, a lot of it at one time. It only gets replaced when it causes enough problems

In a previous job, we had a site on the Isle of Wight. Multiple analogue lines, a KiloStream (date line), and an ISDN2 backup. It got to the point of reporting line faults weekly if not more often - they'd fix one fault, then a few days later another would happen. Eventually they admitted it was a run of alli cable and replaced it - no more problems after that.

As for CCA, yes avoid it like the plague. But always read the small print as a lot of it is (incorrectly) described as Cat<whatever>.

 

[SimonH2]

Oh yes, alli isn't the only substitute that's been used. Dad used to tell of how during the war, copper could be so hard to come by that some electrical cabinets were built using silver busbars Yes, they did keep records of where they were, and the silver was replaced with copper once it was available again.