In his presentation at the BICSI Spring Conference this week, Robert Jensen alerted the assembled audience to the emergence of knockoff cables that are packaged to resemble familiar brands, and even carry false marks of independent performance verification.
Jensen took several minutes near the end of his update on National Electrical Code activities to caution members of the audience to look closely when purchasing unshielded twisted-pair cable. Several cable manufacturers, he said, have reported the circulation of knockoff brands, which are often sold in boxes marked to resemble those of familiar brands. Specifically, cable makers Avaya, Belden, Coleman, Genesis, CommScope, Mohawk/CDT, and Nexans (Berk-Tek) said their cables and packaging have been counterfeited. The jackets of many of these cables falsely include the familiar ETL or UL marks, indicating that their performance has been independently verified when in fact it has not.
Jensen said that many of these cables are manufactured outside the United States. It was not immediately clear whether these cables are available through nationally recognized supply houses or through lower-visibility, bargain-basement-type suppliers. Jensen advised users, in the event they find a knockoff brand, to notify the manufacturer whose cables they believed they were purchasing, and to notify UL or ETL/Semko if either mark appears on the cable.
