Splicing technician vs outside plant technician

The differences between splicing technicians and outside plant technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a splicing technician has an average salary of $42,815, which is higher than the $42,451 average annual salary of an outside plant technician.

The top three skills for a splicing technician include hand tools, OSP and OSHA. The most important skills for an outside plant technician are ladders, outside plant, and CDL.

Splicing technician vs outside plant technician overview

	Splicing Technician	Outside Plant Technician
Yearly salary	$42,815	$42,451
Hourly rate	$20.58	$20.41
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	40,752	67,234
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Associate Degree, 38%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	-	-

Splicing technician vs outside plant technician salary

Splicing technicians and outside plant technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Splicing Technician	Outside Plant Technician
Average salary	$42,815	$42,451
Salary range	Between $32,000 And $55,000	Between $29,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between splicing technician and outside plant technician education

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

	Splicing Technician	Outside Plant Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Associate Degree, 38%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Splicing technician vs outside plant technician demographics

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

	Splicing Technician	Outside Plant Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 95.0% Female, 5.0%	Male, 96.8% Female, 3.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 6.3% White, 60.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	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%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between splicing technician and outside plant technician duties and responsibilities

Splicing technician example responsibilities.

Manage main distribution frame (mdf) and record keeping.
Install, repair, maintain and provision high speed data lines including T1, ISDN , 64K lines.
Install and extend Cat3, Cat5e, and Cat6 for T1 circuits.
Install, connect, rearrange, repair, and maintain CAT3 and CAT5.
Install, provision, test and maintain pair gain digital electronics systems for the DSL network.
Install residential and business DSL lines, including modem configuration, inside wiring and telephone jack work.

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.

Splicing technician vs outside plant technician skills

Common splicing technician skills

Hand Tools, 26%
OSP, 10%
OSHA, 9%
Test Results, 9%
Cable Lines, 7%
Fiber Optic Cables, 6%

Common outside plant technician skills

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

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Splicing Technician
Splicing Technician vs Outside Plant Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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