Central office technician vs telephone technician

The differences between central office technicians and telephone technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a telephone technician has an average salary of $45,477, which is higher than the $39,043 average annual salary of a central office technician.

The top three skills for a central office technician include fiber optic cables, switches and T1. The most important skills for a telephone technician are fiber optic, phone system, and PBX.

Central office technician vs telephone technician overview

	Central Office Technician	Telephone Technician
Yearly salary	$39,043	$45,477
Hourly rate	$18.77	$21.86
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	79,138	45,522
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 41%	Associate Degree, 36%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	-	-

Central office technician vs telephone technician salary

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

	Central Office Technician	Telephone Technician
Average salary	$39,043	$45,477
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $63,000	Between $34,000 And $59,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between central office technician and telephone technician education

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

	Central Office Technician	Telephone Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 41%	Associate Degree, 36%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon

Central office technician vs telephone technician demographics

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

	Central Office Technician	Telephone Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 79.5% Female, 20.5%	Male, 88.2% Female, 11.8%
Race ratio	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%	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 technician and telephone technician duties and responsibilities

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.

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 technician vs telephone technician skills

Common central office technician skills

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

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 Technician
Central Office Technician vs Telephone Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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