---
title: "Telecommunications Equipment Installer and Repairer, Except Line Installers"
description: "Install, set up, rearrange, or remove switching, distribution, routing, and dialing equipment used in central offices or headends. Service or repair…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/telecommunications-equipment-installer-and-repairer"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Telecommunications Equipment Installer and Repairer, Except Line Installers

**Category:** Installation, Maintenance, and Repair · **SOC code:** 49-2022 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 49-2022.00

Install, set up, rearrange, or remove switching, distribution, routing, and dialing equipment used in central offices or headends. Service or repair telephone, cable television, Internet, and other communications equipment on customers' property. May install communications equipment or communications wiring in buildings.

Also advertised as: Broadband Technician; Central Office Technician; Combination Technician; Customer Service Technician (CST); Field Technician; Install and Repair Technician; Installer; Outside Plant Technician.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $63,890 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $30.72/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $44,240 to $96,730, with the middle half between $51,830 and $81,690
- **Total US employment:** 140,920
- **Typical entry education:** Certificate
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -4.2% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 13,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 57/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 140,920 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $44,240 |
| 25th | $51,830 |
| 50th (median) | $63,890 |
| 75th | $81,690 |
| 90th | $96,730 |
| Mean (average) | $68,500 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $95,850 | $93,641 | 520 |
| ND | $90,890 | $102,171 | 470 |
| NH | $85,240 | $81,832 | 550 |
| VT | $81,800 | $83,505 | 310 |
| LA | $80,210 | $90,934 | 3,060 |
| HI | $79,250 | $72,078 | 760 |
| NJ | $78,000 | $71,688 | 2,690 |
| WA | $77,610 | $72,524 | 3,210 |
| CA | $76,630 | $69,211 | 14,040 |
| MA | $76,500 | $72,336 | 2,890 |
| CO | $76,410 | $74,147 | 3,180 |
| OR | $75,270 | $72,822 | 1,710 |
| CT | $75,200 | $72,580 | 1,910 |
| MN | $75,150 | $76,201 | 1,900 |
| MT | $73,970 | $78,155 | 630 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/telecommunications-equipment-installer-and-repairer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/telecommunications-equipment-installer-and-repairer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 156,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 150,400 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 6,600 jobs, or -4.2%. Declining: -4.2% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 13,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Postsecondary nondegree award (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 43.1% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 21.4% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 17.4% |
| Some College Courses | 10.4% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 7.8% |

## What the work involves

- Collaborate with other workers to locate and correct malfunctions.
- Test repaired, newly installed, or updated equipment to ensure that it functions properly and conforms to specifications, using test equipment and observation.
- Repair or replace faulty equipment, such as defective and damaged telephones, wires, switching system components, and associated equipment.
- Clean and maintain tools, test equipment, and motor vehicles.
- Test circuits and components of malfunctioning telecommunications equipment to isolate sources of malfunctions, using test meters, circuit diagrams, polarity probes, and other hand tools.
- Assemble and install communication equipment such as data and telephone communication lines, wiring, switching equipment, wiring frames, power apparatus, computer systems, and networks.
- Test connections to ensure that power supplies are adequate and that communications links function.
- Demonstrate equipment to customers and explain its use, responding to any inquiries or complaints.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Troubleshooting — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Installation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Telecommunications — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visual Color Discrimination — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.43 |
| C — Conventional | 4.83 |
| I — Investigative | 2.42 |
| S — Social | 1.81 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.60 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 91.1 |
| ISFJ | 78.6 |
| ESTJ | 76.6 |
| ISTP | 74.1 |
| INTJ | 63.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Telecommunications Line Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/telecommunications-line-installer-and-repairer) — median $74,330
- [Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/radio-cellular-and-tower-equipment-installer-and-repairer) — median $63,520
- [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Commercial and Industrial Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-commercial-and-industrial-equipment) — median $74,090
- [Telecommunications Engineering Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/telecommunications-engineering-specialist) — median $134,050
- [Audiovisual Equipment Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/audiovisual-equipment-installer-and-repairer) — median $52,600
- [Power Distributor and Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-distributor-and-dispatcher) — median $106,730
- [Electrical and Electronics Installer and Repairer, Transportation Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-installer-and-repairer-transportation-equipment) — median $84,890
- [Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/computer-automated-teller-and-office-machine-repairer) — median $47,810
- [Electronic Equipment Installer and Repairer, Motor Vehicles](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electronic-equipment-installer-and-repairer-motor-vehicles) — median $48,420
- [Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-and-fire-alarm-systems-installer) — median $60,070

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/telecommunications-equipment-installer-and-repairer