Central office equipment installer vs central office technician

The differences between central office equipment installers and central office technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a central office equipment installer has an average salary of $48,855, which is higher than the $39,043 average annual salary of a central office technician.

The top three skills for a central office equipment installer include hand tools, AC and fiber optic. The most important skills for a central office technician are fiber optic cables, switches, and T1.

Central office equipment installer vs central office technician overview

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Central Office Technician
Yearly salary	$48,855	$39,043
Hourly rate	$23.49	$18.77
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	62,884	79,138
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 35%	Associate Degree, 41%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	-	-

Central office equipment installer vs central office technician salary

Central office equipment installers and central office technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Central Office Technician
Average salary	$48,855	$39,043
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $67,000	Between $24,000 And $63,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between central office equipment installer and central office technician education

There are a few differences between a central office equipment installer and a central office technician in terms of educational background:

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Central Office Technician
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 35%	Associate Degree, 41%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon	University of Pennsylvania

Central office equipment installer vs central office technician demographics

Here are the differences between central office equipment installers' and central office technicians' demographics:

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Central Office Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 93.3% Female, 6.7%	Male, 79.5% Female, 20.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% Asian, 6.3% White, 58.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 13.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 7.3% White, 58.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between central office equipment installer and central office technician duties and responsibilities

Central office equipment installer example responsibilities.

Install and maintain all special circuits, DS0 and DS1 levels.
Maintain local area network (LAN) to ensure smooth operations.
Install fiber multiplexers, carrier, Nortel and Ericsson switch and power.
Plan and implement migration of legacy telephone services to VoIP switching platforms.
Install DC power and grounding cabling inside the data center for TDM and Ethernet gear.
Test and turned-up DS0, DS1, SS7 trunks, PRI trunks, and data communication circuits.

Central office technician example responsibilities.

Manage assigned Ericsson AXE patch upgrades and retrofits for all AXE sites.
Assist in managing CDMA network, Voice/EVDO circuit's layouts, CDM circuit inventory and roll over's for cell sites.
Install all Nortel DMS series equipment.
Operate power-meters, spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, and various RF test equipment.
Install and troubleshoot telecommunications circuits and devices including legacy, asynchronous, SONET, and Ethernet equipment.
Associate duties include running cable, lacing, stitching, wire wrapping, mounting bays, etc.

Central office equipment installer vs central office technician skills

Common central office equipment installer skills

Hand Tools, 15%
AC, 14%
Fiber Optic, 11%
Switches, 10%
Stitching, 8%
Rectifiers, 6%

Common central office technician skills

Fiber Optic Cables, 8%
Switches, 7%
T1, 5%
Provisioning, 5%
DS3, 4%
IP, 4%

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Central Office Equipment Installer
Central Office Equipment Installer vs Central Office Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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