Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers

What the job really is

Install and repair telecommunications cable, including fiber optics.

At a glance

• Sector: Installation, Maintenance & Repair
• O*NET-SOC code: 49-9052
• O*NET job zone: 2 — some preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Set up service for customers, installing, connecting, testing, or adjusting equipment.
• Travel to customers' premises to install, maintain, or repair audio and visual electronic reception equipment or accessories.
• Measure signal strength at utility poles, using electronic test equipment.
• Inspect or test lines or cables, recording and analyzing test results, to assess transmission characteristics and locate faults or malfunctions.
• Splice cables, using hand tools, epoxy, or mechanical equipment.
• 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.
• Clean or maintain tools or test equipment.
• String cables between structures and lines from poles, towers, or trenches, and pull lines to proper tension.
• Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks.
• Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduits running through trenches.
• Pull cable through ducts by hand or with winches.
• Dig trenches for underground wires or cables.

Tools and technology

Autodesk AutoCAD, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Slack, Adjustable hand wrenches, Articulating boom lift, Borers, Bubble levels, Bucket trucks, Buffer strippers

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers
• Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
• Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers
• Audiovisual Equipment Installers and Repairers
• Electrical and Electronics Installers and Repairers, Transportation Equipment
• Electricians
• Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment
• Signal and Track Switch Repairers

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 2 (some preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

Browse the verified job sources directory, or explore more occupations.

Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.