Install and repair the cable and fiber that carry phone calls and internet. Paid from your first week, no degree needed.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $74,330 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $45,310 at the lower end to about $103,680 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 4 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$300 to $12,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$74,330
Bottom tenth
$45,310
Top tenth
$103,680
The national median is $74,330 a year. The bottom tenth earn $45,310 or less and the top tenth $103,680 or more (2025 federal wage survey). That median is high for a job that asks for a high school diploma.
$45,310 to $54,310
What the bottom tenth to bottom quarter of telecommunications line installers and repairers earn, 2025
You are paid from your first week, and the training is on the clock.
$103,810 a year
The median in Rhode Island, the highest of any state
Massachusetts is close behind at $103,410 and New Jersey at $102,090. The lowest is Louisiana, at $48,770. State medians from the 2025 federal wage survey, before overtime from call-outs and storm work.
Roughly, all in
$300 to $12,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the normal route: a carrier hires you, trains you on its own equipment and pays you from the first day, so your only real spend is boots, gloves and personal gear at $300 to $800. The high end is somebody who pays for a one year community college telecommunications certificate at $2,000 to $6,000, buys a commercial driver's license at a private school for $3,000 to $7,000, and adds fiber optic certifications at a few hundred dollars each. Employers very often reimburse the certifications and the driver's license, so the high end is money you can usually avoid spending yourself.
This career comes with almost no education debt. If you do take a community college program, fill in the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) first, because Pell Grants can cover the whole thing.
Union contracts
The Communications Workers of America represents telecommunications workers across the country, and union shops usually mean better pay steps, health cover and a retirement plan.
Overtime rules
This is an hourly job, so extra hours are paid rather than expected at no charge.
Company vehicle and tools
The truck, the lift and the test gear belong to the employer, not to you.
Paid training and certification
Employers cover fiber and safety courses because they need the qualified people.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
No degree. A high school diploma, a clean driving record and a willingness to climb.
High school diploma
Grades 9 to 12
Take any electronics, shop or technology class your school offers. Physical fitness matters more here than grades.
Get hired as an installer
Weeks to months of applying
Cable and phone companies and their contractors hire at entry level and train. This is the most common way in.
Learn the trade on the job
6 to 18 months
Ladder and pole safety, aerial lifts, copper, coaxial cable and then fiber. Classroom blocks mixed with ride-alongs.
Certify in fiber
Short courses, ongoing
Splicing and testing fiber optic cable is the skill that separates pay levels in this trade now.
Senior technician or lead
3 to 6 years
Fault finding, network maintenance, training new hires, or moving into central office and network operations work.
Electronics or technology
Signals, circuits and test equipment are the daily vocabulary of the job.
Math
Measurements, signal loss calculations and reading a design print.
Physical education
You will climb, lift and work from a bucket in bad weather. Fitness is part of the hiring test.
English
Work orders, network records and customer explanations all have to be clear.
Auto shop
Comfort with tools and vehicles transfers straight into this work.
No state licenses telecommunications technicians the way it licenses electricians. What employers require instead is a stack of certifications: fiber optic splicing and testing, aerial lift and pole climbing safety, confined space entry for underground vaults, and usually a CDL (commercial driver's license) once the truck gets big enough. Most of these are paid for by the employer and renewed on a schedule. A registered apprenticeship is another route in, and Apprenticeship.gov (the federal registered apprenticeship site) has a job finder that lists them.
Directly with a carrier
Cable and phone companies run their own training schools and pay you to attend.
Registered apprenticeships
Paid, structured, and they end in a recognized credential. Search Apprenticeship.gov (the federal registered apprenticeship site).
Community college
One year telecommunications and fiber optic certificates exist in most states at in-state prices.
Industry courses
SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) runs more than 100 broadband training courses and a set of technician credentials.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Fiber optic splicing and testing
The highest value skill in the trade right now. Fusion splicing and light loss testing are separate credentials.
SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) credentials
A recognized ladder of broadband technician certifications, including newer network maintenance and fiber courses.
Network certifications
Routing and switching knowledge moves you from the outside plant into network operations, which is indoor work.
CDL (commercial driver's license)
Needed for larger trucks and splice trailers, and usually worth a pay bump on its own.
Tower climbing
Wireless site work is a separate specialty with its own safety training and higher risk.
A clean driving record
Not optional in practice. You will be driving a company vehicle every day.
No fear of heights
Poles, ladders and buckets are most of the job. Find out how you feel about that before you apply.
Customer manner
Half of installation work happens in somebody's living room while they watch you.
Troubleshooting patience
A fault is often one bad connector in a mile of cable. The people who enjoy that hunt do well here.
The official projection for this occupation is a decline, because copper phone networks are being retired and fewer households need a technician to visit. At the same time there is a large national push to run fiber into places that never had it, and that work needs splicers and line technicians who do not currently exist in enough numbers. Read those two facts together: the old install-and-repair role is shrinking, and the fiber construction and maintenance side is where the hiring is. Certify in fiber early.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Load the truck, check the day's work orders and drive to the first job. Morning might be a new install: running a drop from the pole to a house, terminating it, testing the signal and showing the customer it works. Afternoon might be a fault: three houses out on the same street, so you work backwards along the line until you find the damaged section, then splice it. In between there is paperwork on every job. Weather does not cancel the day, it just makes it slower and colder.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
When O*NET (Occupational Information Network) surveyed people in this job, 78% said a new hire needs only a high school diploma. The 2025 median is $74,330 a year.
Joining two fiber optic strands is done with a fusion splicer, which aligns hairs of glass and welds them with an electric arc. A bad splice shows up as light loss on a test set, which is why testing is a certified skill of its own.
About 103,400 people install and repair telecom lines (2025). The federal projection is a decline to 2035, yet about 8,000 openings a year still come up as people retire or leave.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Electrical and energy first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
Tell us about this page. A person reads every message.
No email app on this device? Use Gmail instead: report a mistake in Gmail or say what you like in Gmail.