CCA — copper-clad aluminium — is one of the most persistent problems in the structured data cabling industry. It is sold as Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat6A cable at prices that undercut genuine copper cable, it looks identical from the outside, and it has ruined installations, failed Fluke tests, caused PoE devices to drop off the network, and in worst-case scenarios created fire risk in bundled cable runs. As a data cable it is non-compliant with every major structured cabling standard, it carries legal liability for anyone who installs it, and the money saved at point of purchase is invariably spent several times over in remediation, recabling, and damaged reputation.

This article explains exactly what CCA cable is, why it fails as a data cable, how to spot it, and why every data cable DTECH supplies uses pure solid copper conductors — because there is no version of CCA that is acceptable for a permanent structured data cabling installation.

What CCA cable is

CCA cable has an aluminium core conductor coated in a thin layer of copper — typically copper makes up around 10% of the conductor cross-section by area, aluminium the remaining 90%. It exists because aluminium is significantly cheaper and lighter than copper. The thin copper coating allows current to flow on the surface of the conductor — which at high frequencies is where most signal current travels, due to the skin effect — and gives the cable a copper-coloured appearance that makes it visually indistinguishable from a genuine copper cable.

The problem is that the skin effect only holds at high frequencies. At lower frequencies — and DC, which is what PoE uses to deliver power — current flows through the entire cross-section of the conductor, not just the surface. At DC and low frequencies, CCA behaves like aluminium, because it is mostly aluminium. Its resistance is 55–60% higher than pure copper of the same gauge. That resistance difference is where every CCA data cable problem originates.

CCA is marketed under various labels — sometimes listed as Cat6 or Cat6A with no mention of aluminium, sometimes with small print noting “CCA” on the drum or box, and sometimes with outright counterfeit compliance markings claiming TIA or ISO certification that the cable cannot legitimately hold. Fluke Networks has documented cases where CCA cable carried UL listing marks that were unauthorised — the cable had not passed the flame-spread testing that a genuine UL listing requires.

Why CCA fails as a data cable — and what it costs you

It fails Fluke certification

CCA cable fails structured data cabling certification testing. Fluke Networks — the industry standard test equipment manufacturer — has documented that CCA cable fails DC Resistance Unbalance testing regardless of link length. DC Resistance Unbalance measures the difference in resistance between the two conductors in a twisted pair. In CCA cable, manufacturing variation in the thickness of the copper cladding around the aluminium core means the two conductors in a pair can have measurably different resistance — a condition that affects PoE performance and data signal integrity. This failure is built into the cable construction and cannot be remediated by installation technique.

The practical consequence: an installer who puts in CCA data cable and attempts to certify the installation with a Fluke DSX or equivalent will get failures. Those failures mean the installation is uncertified. The cable has to come out. Every metre of CCA that goes into a building risks a full recabling job — at the installer’s cost, because the installer specified non-compliant cable. A box of CCA cable is cheap. Recabling a building is not.

It is dangerous for PoE

PoE delivers DC power over copper conductors. The power dissipated as heat in a conductor is proportional to its resistance and the square of the current — P = I²R. CCA has 55–60% higher resistance than pure copper of the same gauge. Under PoE load, particularly PoE+ and PoE++ at higher wattages and longer run lengths, CCA conductors generate significantly more heat than pure copper. In a single cable on a short run, this may manifest as reduced power delivery to the end device — a PTZ camera that reboots intermittently, an access point that drops clients, a VoIP phone that fails to negotiate power correctly. In a bundled cable run — twenty or forty cables in a tray, all carrying PoE — the cumulative heat from CCA conductors is a fire risk. The Communications Cable & Connectivity Association has warned explicitly against CCA in structured data cabling installations, citing elevated fire hazard from excess heat in PoE applications.

It is mechanically unreliable

Aluminium is more brittle than copper. It has lower tensile strength, less flexibility, and breaks more readily under repeated bending or mechanical stress. During installation — pulling cable through conduit, around corners, through J-hooks — CCA conductors are more likely to develop micro-fractures that are invisible from the outside but create resistance hot spots in the conductor. At IDC termination points — keystone jacks and patch panels — aluminium conductors can break during termination or develop poor contact over time as the aluminium oxidises. Unlike copper, aluminium forms a non-conductive oxide layer when exposed to air. At connection points where the copper cladding is broken or thin, this oxidation increases contact resistance over time, degrading performance years after installation when the cause is difficult to trace.

It is non-compliant and carries legal liability

ISO/IEC 11801, TIA/EIA-568, EN 50288, and every major structured data cabling standard requires pure copper conductors. CCA cannot comply with these standards — not because it has not been tested against them, but because its fundamental electrical properties prevent it from meeting the resistance and performance requirements those standards specify. Installing CCA and labelling it as Cat6 or Cat6A is selling a non-compliant product as standards-compliant — which carries legal liability for the supplier, the installer, and in some jurisdictions the building developer. A 2012 white paper by law firm Crowell & Moring, commissioned by the CCCA, outlined the liability exposure for manufacturers and installers of CCA cable in structured cabling installations and is still referenced by the industry today.

How to identify CCA data cable

Scrape a conductor end. Cut the cable and scrape the exposed end of a conductor with a knife or fingernail. Pure copper stays copper-coloured throughout. CCA reveals a silver-grey aluminium core beneath the thin copper cladding.

Weigh the box. Aluminium is approximately one third the density of copper. A 305m drum of genuine Cat6 copper cable weighs significantly more than a drum of CCA. If a box feels noticeably lighter than expected for its stated length, CCA is the likely explanation — though some counterfeiters have been reported to add ballast to boxes to match the expected weight.

Test with a Fluke. Fluke Networks’ DSX CableAnalyzer tests DC Resistance Unbalance, which CCA fails regardless of link length. If a cable consistently fails DC Resistance Unbalance on a calibrated Fluke, CCA is the most likely cause.

Check the price. Pure copper has a commodity price that sets a floor on what genuine copper data cable costs to manufacture. Cable offered at prices significantly below market rate for genuine Cat6 or Cat6A bulk cable is almost certainly not pure copper. If the price seems too good to be true, it is.

Read the small print. Legitimate data cable manufacturers state pure copper or bare copper on their product specifications, data sheets, and drum markings. If a cable specification does not explicitly state pure copper, it should be treated as unverified until confirmed.

What to specify instead

Every data cable in the DTECH range uses pure solid copper conductors. The cost difference between CCA and pure copper data cable at point of purchase is real but modest relative to the total cost of a structured cabling installation, and it is nothing compared to the cost of a failed certification, a recabling job, or a PoE-related failure that brings down a security system or wireless network.

For standard commercial horizontal cabling, DTECH’s Cat6 UTP 500MHz internal cable is pure solid copper, rated to 500MHz — above the standard Cat6 specification — and supports 10GBase-T to 90 metres and PoE++. It certifies cleanly on a Fluke and carries DTECH’s 30-year trade partner warranty.

For installations requiring Cat6A — higher-density PoE deployments, 10GBase-T at full channel length, or any installation where Cat6A is the specified standard — DTECH’s Cat6A U/FTP 650MHz internal cable uses 23AWG pure solid copper conductors, rated to 650MHz — above the standard Cat6A specification — and supports 10GBase-T to the full 90-metre permanent link with full PoE++ capability. View the full DTECH bulk data cable range for all available specifications.

CCA vs pure copper data cable: the comparison

View our pure copper bulk data cable range: Bulk data cable

Frequently asked questions

Does this apply to all types of CCA cable?

No — this article is specifically about CCA in structured data cabling installations governed by TIA, ISO/IEC 11801, and EN 50288 standards, where pure copper conductors are a mandatory requirement. CCA conductors are widely used and accepted in other cable categories such as alarm, security, and fire cable, where the governing standards differ, PoE is not a factor, and the electrical characteristics of aluminium are not a problem for the application. The concerns outlined here — Fluke certification failure, PoE overheating, and standards non-compliance — are specific to CCA marketed and installed as Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat6A structured data cable.

Is CCA data cable illegal in the UK?

CCA data cable is not explicitly prohibited by name in UK legislation, but installing it as a standards-compliant Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat6A cable is installing a non-compliant product as compliant — which carries liability under consumer protection and trading standards law. More practically, any installation using CCA that is tested against TIA or ISO/IEC structured cabling standards will fail certification, which means the installation is non-compliant and the installer is liable for remediation. In commercial building projects where system warranties and certified installation programmes are involved, using CCA data cable is a clear breach of specification.

Can CCA data cable work for basic applications?

On very short runs at low data rates with no PoE, CCA data cable may appear to function. The higher resistance of aluminium is less significant at short distances and at frequencies where the skin effect means more current travels on the copper surface layer. This is why CCA installations sometimes appear to work initially — the problems emerge over longer runs, under PoE load, as oxidation develops at connection points, and when the installation is tested against the standard it was supposedly installed to. Apparent function is not the same as standards compliance, and a cabling installation that appears to work is not the same as one that is certified to perform.

How do I know if data cable I have already purchased is CCA?

Cut the cable and scrape the end of a conductor with a knife — CCA will show a silver aluminium core beneath the copper surface. Test with a Fluke DSX and look for DC Resistance Unbalance failures. Check the product specification for explicit mention of pure copper or bare copper — if it is not stated, contact the supplier and ask directly. If the price paid was significantly below market rate for genuine copper cable of that specification, CCA is the most likely explanation.

Why do some suppliers sell CCA data cable?

Because aluminium is cheaper than copper and most buyers cannot tell the difference from the outside. The margin on CCA sold as Cat6 is significantly higher than the margin on genuine copper Cat6 at the same price point. Some suppliers are transparent about it — selling CCA openly for non-PoE, non-critical applications at lower price points. The problem is CCA sold as standards-compliant Cat6 or Cat6A with no mention of aluminium, where the buyer has no idea what they are purchasing until the Fluke test fails or the PoE camera drops off the network.

Does DTECH sell CCA data cable?

No. Every data cable in the DTECH range uses pure solid copper conductors throughout. This is not a marketing claim — it is verifiable from the product data sheets, and it is what allows DTECH to offer a 30-year warranty to trade partners on qualifying installations. A warranty is only meaningful if the product it covers will actually perform over that period. CCA data cable cannot support that commitment.

Summary

CCA data cable is non-compliant with every structured cabling standard, fails Fluke certification testing on DC Resistance Unbalance, creates fire risk under PoE load in bundled installations, degrades mechanically at termination points due to aluminium oxidation, and carries legal liability for installers who specify it as standards-compliant cable. The price saving at point of purchase is real and modest. The cost of the problems it causes is neither. Every data cable DTECH supplies is pure solid copper — specified, warranted, and ready to certify.

If you want to confirm the specification of any data cable in the DTECH range before ordering, get in touch with the team — we supply pure copper Cat6, Cat6A, and fibre cabling systems to installers and IT teams across the UK, Europe, and the Middle East.