Understand Wired Comms at Setup

[NumberSix]

Hi Guys,
First off thanks for your help and commitment to this game, makes it so much easier for a new player like myself to learn the ropes.
I'm slowly getting to grips with the game (sim rather) and am playing through Op Blau as Germans as was advised here. I do have a question regarding wired communications and how it is established during deployment / initial orders. When I enter the tac map my units have the blue telephone symbol as you would expect. However as soon as I move them the symbol goes red. The distance moved doesn't seem to matter. I can move the commander (any commander, battery, platoon or company) one deployment square (ie a few meters) or to the comple other side of the deployment zone, the phone goes red.
When I then end deployment and start initial orders the phone is still red. I tried a test; I set my men well back to avoid unwanted confrontation and forwarded time. I thought the wire teams would attempt to set the communication net but they just sat and waited. The AI commands were on default, apart from fire at will being deactivated.
I then wondered if the Wehrmacht had neglected to pay their phone bills, or the cable layers had decided to become unionised and go on strike.
I started a custom battle with the Battle Editor and gave myself an on map howitzer battery and a company command team. I set the battery as I have seen described ; battery commander adjacent to the guns and cable layer, spotters / other commanders forward. All AI behaviour was set but still no blue phone symbol for the forward observer during either deployment or initial orders. The only difference between the experiment and the operation was the Red Army cable layers actually set up Comms when the battle started (benifit of the socialist workers paradise, maybe).
I feel like there is some obvious thing I am doing wrong or some game option that isn't set right. Has anyone else seen anything like this (I searched but couldn't find anything).
Cheers,
James

[Irahoj]

First idea on my side: signallers will not draw lines to units that are further than 1km away.

[Ezra]

I do not believe there is a hard and fast rule here and it certainly cannot be gamed to any standard order. The 1km rule may be applicable but is certainly is not reliable.

The real rigors and unpredictable nature of comms in Mius appear to be close to realistic. Once again I am humbled. I try and set the comms units for each company in relative close proximity of other units. At the start sometimes things work out and the cable guys get to work. Other times they simply hunker down and cower. They fail under combat duress.

I just treat comms like the unpredictable nature of human stress in war and the fallibility of assumed order. One never knows how things will unfold in Mius Front. It all adds to the mystique of the game in my opinion.

Maybe there is a better answer. But I have never been able to reliably count on the cable guys when I really needed them. On the other hand, they were often there when I never realized it.

[Flan]

I thought the wire com was pretty simple for deployment?
If you dig trenches you get wire com when you start if you don't dig them you have to lay it during the mission.