Purchasers, specifiers, installers and inspectors of telecommunication cables placed in risers or plenums during building construction or upgrade must be aware that cables that do not meet safety requirements present a significant risk of hastening the spread of fire. This [...]

CCCA has discovered that certain four pair unshielded twisted pair communications cables made with copper clad aluminum conductors (“4 pr. UTP copper clad aluminum cable”) are being improperly labeled and marketed. These cables are being sold as “category” cable [...]

This paper by the Fiberoptic Industry Association (FIA) reviews the implications of using low cost imported products that claim to be “Category 5” or “Category 5e” using Copper Clad Aluminium (CCA) conductors. This document supports many others prepared by [...]

The Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (“CCCA”) has found that certain imported communications cable does not comply with National Electrical Code (“NEC”) standards. Contractors that install this non-compliant cable, whether known to the contractor or not, may be exposed to [...]

What to look for when selecting structured cabling, and when to be suspicious.

Their customer wanted to provide some less expensive cable they had purchased themselves.

CCCA is part of an industry consortium supporting the effort to generate the SHOP SAFE Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and the INFORM Consumers Act in the Senate. These two pieces of legislation aim to fight the sale [...]

The existence of non-standards compliant, and often counterfeit, cabling products in the market can present serious problems for the companies using them, as well as the cabling installers and engineers who place these products within their customers’ network environments. [...]

This presentation covers what you need to know about counterfeit and non-compliant communications cable, what CCCA is doing about it, and what you can do to protect yourself, the customer and the public.

Non-compliant and counterfeit cabling pose significant risks to health and safety, and could cause major damage to critical infrastructure. Use this 2-page flyer as a handy reference on what to avoid.

The Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends that consumers should stop using this product, which is being recalled voluntarily. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. Recalls Home Depot Recalls CE Tech Riser Cable [...]

Testing by CCCA Finds High Failure Rate in Electrical Performance of Imported Category 6 Copper Patch Cords The Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA) announced that it recently completed large-scale, electrical performance testing of Category 6 copper patch cords. Test [...]

The evolution and growth of applications and new technologies are driving the need for high-performance and high-value cable, a crucial infrastructure necessity that is often overlooked or thought of as a “commodity”. Today’s critical applications require 100% reliability and ever [...]

This News Flash highlights several changes in the 2020 National Electrical Code® (NEC) published by the National Fire Protection Association.

In recent years, the industry has heard a good deal of discussion about noncompliant and counterfeit communications cable used for in-building information and communications technology (JCT) infrastructures that support network, security and building automation systems. Much of this has been [...]

As we have reported previously, over 80% of patch cords surveyed in the market, primarily from off-shore suppliers, failed to meet the performance specifications of ANSI/TIA-568-C.2. In these tests, almost half of the non-compliant samples failed 568-C.2 requirements by at [...]

Case Study Learning from an Encounter with Counterfeit Cable Over the past six years, one computer educator and IT coordinator for a small K-8 elementary school, had been pushing for the school to upgrade its aging category 5 cabling [...]