this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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All the comments are fun and games but they could've used aluminium which is way cheaper. It's nothing more than a marketing gimmick.
Was about to say
How is aluminum non-conductive? It's literally used as a lighter and cheaper alternative to copper in wires
Aluminium is a better conductor than copper by weight, but not cross sectional area. It's used in aerial conductors because the weight is more important than the diameter. And it's cheaper.
CCA Ethernet cables are literally the worst. The wires are much more brittle so it's much easier to break the cable just by bending it a little bit, and since the resistance is significantly higher, they can't go as far as regular pure copper cables, and you can't use them for Power over Ethernet (they'll overheat).
People buy them to save money since they can be a lot cheaper, but often end up having to re-run a lot of the cables in the future. Better to just buy the high quality cables from the beginning. "Buy once, cry once" as the saying goes.
Sure, aluminum as the sole conductor is rare, but as you said, there is CCA, which is ridiculously common. CCA is mostly aluminum to save cost but is still 60ish% as conductive as copper.
Aluminium corrodes, and is a relatively soft metal.