Abstract: A flat drop cable has notches or other structures for enhancing the stripability of the jacket from a core of the flat drop cable. The notches can have an angled configuration with surfaces that converge as the notches extend into the jacket. Inner edges, or rounded valleys, at the bottoms of the notches can be positioned along a tear path that intersects the core of the flat drop cable at an angle relative to a major axis of the flat drop cable. For example, the notches can be offset from a minor axis of the flat drop cable a sufficient distance such that the notches are positioned outside a central boundary region that extends tangent to sides of the core and parallel to a minor axis of the flat drop cable. The shoulders of the notches, where the notches transition to an outer jacket wall, may also include a radius of curvature.

Abstract: A cable includes an inner core. In one embodiment, the inner core includes at least one optical fiber, plural flaccid strength members, such as aramid yarns, and at least one rigid strength member, such as one or more GRP rods. A jacket surrounds the inner core. The jacket has an undulating thickness which results in plural projections formed on an outer surface of the jacket, extending along the length of the cable. In a first embodiment, the at least one optical fiber is centrally located within the inner core and surrounded by a buffer tube, which is surrounded by plural GRP rods. In other embodiments, the at least one optical fiber is centrally located within the inner core and located within a channel formed in a single GRP rod or located within a buffer tube, which is placed in the channel formed in the single GRP rod.