Statewide occupation search

Sort your search results or select and compare details of two occupations. Find out if an occupation is in demand or not in demand in your local area, at Learn about an occupation.

Statewide occupation search

Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

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.

Related: Audiovisual Equipment Installers & Repairers Electrical & Electronics Repairers, Commercial & Industrial Equipment Radio, Cellular, & Tower Equipment Installers & Repairers Telecommunications Engineering Specialists Telecommunications Line Installers & Repairers

Industries: Media & Communication Construction

Summary
Details

Review manufacturer's instructions, manuals, technical specifications, building permits, and ordinances to determine communication equipment requirements and procedures.
Install telephone station equipment, such as intercommunication systems, transmitters, receivers, relays, and ringers, and related apparatus, such as coin collectors, telephone booths, and switching-key equipment.
Remove loose wires and other debris after work is completed.
Request support from technical service centers when on-site procedures fail to solve installation or maintenance problems.
Perform routine maintenance on equipment, including adjusting and lubricating components and painting worn or exposed areas.
Dig holes or trenches as necessary for equipment installation and access.
Inspect equipment on a regular basis to ensure proper functioning.
Analyze test readings, computer printouts, and trouble reports to determine equipment repair needs and required repair methods.
Test circuits and components of malfunctioning telecommunications equipment to isolate sources of malfunctions, using test meters, circuit diagrams, polarity probes, and other hand tools.
Climb poles and ladders, use truck-mounted booms, and enter areas such as manholes and cable vaults to install, maintain, or inspect equipment.
Program computerized switches and switchboards to provide requested features.
Perform routine maintenance on equipment, including adjusting and lubricating components and painting worn or exposed areas.
Run wires between components and to outside cable systems, connecting them to wires from telephone poles or underground cable accesses.
Adjust or modify equipment to enhance equipment performance or to respond to customer requests.
Remove and remake connections to change circuit layouts, following work orders or diagrams.
Test repaired, newly installed, or updated equipment to ensure that it functions properly and conforms to specifications, using test equipment and observation.
Refer to manufacturers' manuals to obtain maintenance instructions pertaining to specific malfunctions.
Note differences in wire and cable colors so that work can be performed correctly.
Enter codes needed to correct electronic switching system programming.
Collaborate with other workers to locate and correct malfunctions.
Perform database verifications, using computers.
Install updated software and programs that maintain existing software or provide requested features, such as time-correlated call routing.
Test connections to ensure that power supplies are adequate and that communications links function.
Clean switches and replace contact points, using vacuum hoses, solvents, and hand tools.
Measure distances from landmarks to identify exact installation sites for equipment.
Diagnose and correct problems from remote locations, using special switchboards to find the sources of problems.
Provide input into the design and manufacturing of new equipment.
Maintain computer and manual records pertaining to facilities and equipment.
Clean and maintain tools, test equipment, and motor vehicles.
Remove and replace plug-in circuit equipment.
Route and connect cables and lines to switches, switchboard equipment, and distributing frames, using wire-wrap guns or soldering irons to connect wires to terminals.
Assemble and install communication equipment such as data and telephone communication lines, wiring, switching equipment, wiring frames, power apparatus, computer systems, and networks.
Examine telephone transmission facilities to determine requirements for new or additional telephone services.
Demonstrate equipment to customers and explain its use, responding to any inquiries or complaints.
Clean and maintain tools, test equipment, and motor vehicles.
Assemble and install communication equipment such as data and telephone communication lines, wiring, switching equipment, wiring frames, power apparatus, computer systems, and networks.
Determine viability of sites through observation, and discuss site locations and construction requirements with customers.
Address special issues or situations, such as illegal or unauthorized use of equipment, or cases of electrical or acoustic shock.
Communicate with bases, using telephones or two-way radios to receive instructions or technical advice, or to report equipment status.
Perform routine maintenance on equipment, including adjusting and lubricating components and painting worn or exposed areas.
Drive crew trucks to and from work areas.
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.
Designate cables available for use.

Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.

Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Education

Postsecondary certificate

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

73140/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

35.17/hr

Currently Employed

4,350

Yearly Projected Openings

440

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Dependability
Integrity
Attention to Detail
Cooperation
Adaptability/Flexibility
Analytical Thinking

Adjustable wrenches
Cable splicing kits
Circuit tester
Circuit tracers
Diagonal cut pliers
Fiber optic fault locators
Flashlight
GFI circuit testers
Hex keys
Insulated scissors
Insulated screwdriver
Ladders
Longnose pliers
Multimeters
Network punchdown tool
Nut drivers
Personal computers
Portable data input terminals
Screwdrivers
Slip joint pliers
Stripping tools
Tablet computers
Tape measures
Telephone test set
Utility knives
Voice data video cable tester
Voltage or current meters
Wire cutters
Wire or cable cutter
Wire-stripping pliers

Analytical or scientific software
Communications server software
Computer aided design CAD software
Electronic mail software
Expert system software
Geographic information system
Industrial control software
Internet protocol IP multimedia subsystem software
Network security and virtual private network VPN equipment software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Spreadsheet software
Web platform development software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Find Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers jobs Education and Training for Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers

Statewide occupation search

Statewide occupation search

Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers

Work Activities

Skills

Abilities

Knowledge

Education

Pay

Washington Employment Trends

Personality

Tools

Technology

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES