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Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers

Install and repair telecommunications cable, including fiber optics.

What you’d do

  • Splice cables, using hand tools, epoxy, or mechanical equipment.
  • Inspect or test lines or cables, recording and analyzing test results, to assess transmission characteristics and locate faults or malfunctions.
  • Clean or maintain tools or test equipment.
  • Set up service for customers, installing, connecting, testing, or adjusting equipment, such as digital subscriber line modems.
  • Access specific areas to string lines, or install terminal boxes, auxiliary equipment, or appliances, using bucket trucks, climbing poles or ladders, or entering tunnels, trenches, or crawl spaces.
  • Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduits running through trenches.
  • Pull cable through ducts by hand or with winches.
  • Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks.

Skills that matter

  • Critical Thinking
  • Monitoring
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Speaking
  • Active Listening
  • Coordination

How to get there

Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

Also called

  • Cable Splicer
  • Combination Technician (Combination Tech)
  • I and R Technician (Installation and Repair Technician)
  • Installer
  • Cable Tech (Cable Technician)
  • Cable TV Tech (Cable Television Technician)

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