Outside plant technician vs telecom technician

The differences between outside plant technicians and telecom technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a telecom technician has an average salary of $54,352, which is higher than the $42,451 average annual salary of an outside plant technician.

The top three skills for an outside plant technician include ladders, outside plant and CDL. The most important skills for a telecom technician are fiber optic cables, voip, and switches.

Outside plant technician vs telecom technician overview

	Outside Plant Technician	Telecom Technician
Yearly salary	$42,451	$54,352
Hourly rate	$20.41	$26.13
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	67,234	111,865
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Associate Degree, 40%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	-	-

Outside plant technician vs telecom technician salary

Outside plant technicians and telecom technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Outside Plant Technician	Telecom Technician
Average salary	$42,451	$54,352
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $61,000	Between $33,000 And $89,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between outside plant technician and telecom technician education

There are a few differences between an outside plant technician and a telecom technician in terms of educational background:

	Outside Plant Technician	Telecom Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Associate Degree, 40%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Stanford University	Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon

Outside plant technician vs telecom technician demographics

Here are the differences between outside plant technicians' and telecom technicians' demographics:

	Outside Plant Technician	Telecom Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 96.8% Female, 3.2%	Male, 92.0% Female, 8.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 14.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 6.2% White, 56.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 12.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Asian, 6.3% White, 57.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between outside plant technician and telecom technician duties and responsibilities

Outside plant technician example responsibilities.

Manage and administer documentation of OSP fiber optic plant in support of customer projects, network planning, and municipality requirements.
Move and/or lift items such as ladders, tools, air tanks, cable reels, and test equipment
Install residential and business telephone lines, including premise CAT5 wiring and jack work.
Perform construction work such as digging holes, installing inner duct in various types of conduit systems and open excavations.
Organize projects that include open excavations, placing cables, air pipes and inner duct in various types of conduit systems.
Install and repair T1 and T3 systems.

Telecom technician example responsibilities.

Manage and report on SLA's and work with vendors for any corrections or necessary actions.
Implement and manage UHF radio base stations, repeaters, and command network, effectively linking all regional headquarters.
Pull CAT5e, CAT6, coax cable, install patch panels and connect network devices including routers and switches.
Work with passive equipment such as: RF cable, connectors, twist pair cable, CAT5 and CAT6.
Create new, augmenting, or deleting trunks in the Nortel DMS switch.
Install and repair coax cable, CatV, and fiber optic and copper lines.

Outside plant technician vs telecom technician skills

Common outside plant technician skills

Ladders, 10%
Outside Plant, 10%
CDL, 8%
Test Equipment, 6%
Safety Procedures, 6%
OSHA, 5%

Common telecom technician skills

Fiber Optic Cables, 7%
VoIP, 7%
Switches, 6%
IP, 6%
Ladders, 5%
Technical Support, 5%

Outside Plant Technician vs. similar jobs

Outside Plant Technician related careers

Outside Plant Technician related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Installation, Maintenance and Repair Industry
Outside Plant Technician
Outside Plant Technician vs Telecom Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse installation, maintenance and repair jobs