In the US, it's usually called nichrome wire.
If you're talking to the people who make communications cables and such,
it's not surprising that they don't know what you're talking about. They're
all worried about insulation displacement, twists per inch, shielding, plenum
rating, UL approval, and so on.  You need to backtrack to the people who make
WIRE out of METAL, not cables out of wire.  Probably you need to find someone
who specializes in somthing other than copper.

I've seen multi-thousand foot spools of "resistance wire" (which is NOT
nichrome, generally) for sale more often at metal surplus dealers than
electronics dealers, for instance.

$12/20feet is NOT a good price - if you paid anywhere close to that much
in bulk (ie by the pound, for 8oz or more of wire), then you really got
ripped off...

BillW