Telecommunications technician vs central office technician

The differences between telecommunications technicians and central office technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a telecommunications technician has an average salary of $41,935, which is higher than the $39,043 average annual salary of a central office technician.

The top three skills for a telecommunications technician include broadband, customer service and fiber optic cables. The most important skills for a central office technician are fiber optic cables, switches, and T1.

Telecommunications technician vs central office technician overview

	Telecommunications Technician	Central Office Technician
Yearly salary	$41,935	$39,043
Hourly rate	$20.16	$18.77
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	70,494	79,138
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 35%	Associate Degree, 41%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	-	-

Telecommunications technician vs central office technician salary

Telecommunications technicians and central office technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Telecommunications Technician	Central Office Technician
Average salary	$41,935	$39,043
Salary range	Between $31,000 And $55,000	Between $24,000 And $63,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	-
Highest paying state	New Jersey	-
Best paying company	Nebraska Public Power District	-
Best paying industry	Technology	-

Differences between telecommunications technician and central office technician education

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

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

Telecommunications technician vs central office technician demographics

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

	Telecommunications Technician	Central Office Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 89.8% Female, 10.2%	Male, 79.5% Female, 20.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 13.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 6.2% White, 57.3% 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 telecommunications technician and central office technician duties and responsibilities

Telecommunications technician example responsibilities.

Project complete while simultaneously managing VoIP project.
Install cable television, high-speed internet, routers, VOIP phone services, and data services to residential and commercial clients.
Provide technical and operational guidance and direction to the DoD customer in establishing and operating video teleconferencing systems.
Work with OSP to troubleshoot and repair faulty cable plant.
Terminate and install telecommunications cabling such as cat5E, fiber, and coaxial
Train call center personnel on use of CMS supervisor reports and agent monitoring.

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.

Telecommunications technician vs central office technician skills

Common telecommunications technician skills

Broadband, 14%
Customer Service, 7%
Fiber Optic Cables, 6%
Telephone Systems, 5%
Hand Tools, 5%
Telecommunication, 5%

Common central office technician skills

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

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Telecommunications Technician vs Central Office Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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