On Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:11:36 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Just look at the BT style of
crimp for telephone cables. Jelly filled, self amalg tape..and they
STILL fail.

Considering how many millions of those are in use the failure rate is
negligible. I'm not sure why one would ever waste time putting tape
over them as they work very reliably as they are. (Again assuming they
are assembled with the correct tooling - I've seen electricians using
girt big pliers to crush them flat).

There are no critical applications (aerospace, nautical,
communications or vehicle) where solder connectors are recommended
over crimp connectors. In most such applications solder connections
are prohibited.