Central office equipment installer vs telephone technician

The differences between central office equipment installers and telephone 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 $45,477 average annual salary of a telephone technician.

The top three skills for a central office equipment installer include hand tools, AC and fiber optic. The most important skills for a telephone technician are fiber optic, phone system, and PBX.

Central office equipment installer vs telephone technician overview

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Telephone Technician
Yearly salary	$48,855	$45,477
Hourly rate	$23.49	$21.86
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	62,884	45,522
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 35%	Associate Degree, 36%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	-	-

Central office equipment installer vs telephone technician salary

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

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Telephone Technician
Average salary	$48,855	$45,477
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $67,000	Between $34,000 And $59,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between central office equipment installer and telephone technician education

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

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Telephone Technician
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 35%	Associate Degree, 36%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon	Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon

Central office equipment installer vs telephone technician demographics

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

	Central Office Equipment Installer	Telephone Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 93.3% Female, 6.7%	Male, 88.2% Female, 11.8%
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, 11.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between central office equipment installer and telephone 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.

Telephone technician example responsibilities.

Implement and manage UHF radio base stations, repeaters, and command network, effectively linking all regional headquarters.
Pull CAT5 cable from workstations to closets, and connect to patch panels.
Install and terminate CAT5, CAT6 and multi-pair cabling in businesses for new or retrofit data network.
Set up MDF s and IDF's to include racks and trays, terminate both copper and fiber.
Install equipment racks, ladder racks, cable management systems along with the electronic data switches and associate hardware.
Install trunks lines, T1's switches (small and large).

Central office equipment installer vs telephone technician skills

Common central office equipment installer skills

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

Common telephone technician skills

Fiber Optic, 10%
Phone System, 9%
PBX, 7%
System Installation, 5%
Telephone Lines, 5%
Avaya, 4%

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Central Office Equipment Installer vs Telephone Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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