[stoobs]

Can confirm, my parents had an aluminium telephone line in the UK until it failed and had to be replaced. Moot point as it's replaced with a fibre optic cable now though.

[cf141q5325]

The problem is with their usage as mains power. I think they are considered a fire hazard in older German homes.

[stoobs]

Not surprising, any degradation in the connection leads to intermittent connection/high resistance fault = heat and poof, there it goes.