Communications Equipment Mechanics

• Nature of the Work

  Installing, repairing, and maintaining complex and sophisticated telephone communications equipment are the responsibilities of communications equipment mechanics. Most communications equipment mechanics—sometimes referred to as telecommunication technicians—work either in telephone company central offices or on customers' premises installing and repairing telephone switching and transmission systems.

  Central office equipment installers, or equipment installation technicians, set up, rearrange, and remove the switching and dialing equipment used in central offices. They install equipment in new central offices, add equipment in expanding offices, or replace outdated equipment. Central office repairers, often referred to as central office technicians or switching equipment technicians, test, repair, and maintain all types of local and toll switching equipment that automatically connects lines when customers dial numbers. When customers report trouble with their telephones, trouble locators working at special switchboards—sometimes called testboards—find the source of the problem. Trouble locators who work for cable television companies ensure that subscribers' television sets receive the proper signal. They may work with cable installers to track down the cause of the interference and make repairs.

  Telephone companies have replaced trouble locators with maintenance administrators. Their jobs are largely automated; instead of using testboards and associated equipment to perform complex circuit tests, they enter instructions into a computer terminal and analyze the output. Maintenance administrators also update and maintain computerized files of trouble status reports.

  PBX installers, also called systems technicians, install complex telephone equipment, often creating customized switching systems.

  PBX repairers, with the assistance of maintenance administrators, locate the malfunction in customers' PBX or other telephone systems and make the necessary repairs. They also maintain associated equipment such as batteries, relays, and power supplies. Some PBX repairers maintain and repair equipment for mobile radiophones, microwave transmission equipment, switching equipment, and data processing equipment.

  An increasing number of communications equipment repairers in the telephone industry are being trained to perform multiple tasks, ranging from splicing fiber optic cable, to programming switches, to installing telephones. As a result, the specific titles used above are becoming less common.

  Radio repairers and mechanics install and repair stationary and mobile radio transmitting and receiving equipment. Some repair microwave and fiber optics installations. Office electricians handle submarine cable repeater and terminal circuits and related equipment. When trouble arises, they may rearrange cable connections to ensure that service is not interrupted. Submarine cable equipment technicians repair, adjust, and maintain the machines and equipment used in submarine cable offices or stations to control cable traffic.

  Other communications equipment mechanics include instrument repairers, sometimes referred to as shop repairers or shop technicians, who repair, test, and modify a variety of communications equipment. Data communications technicians install and repair data communications lines and equipment for computer systems. They connect microcomputers or terminals to data communication lines.

• Employment

  Communications equipment mechanics held about 118,000 jobs in 1994. Most worked for telephone companies. Others worked for electrical repair shops, cable television firms, railroads, air transportation, and the Federal Government.

• Job Outlook

  Employment of communications equipment mechanics is expected to decline sharply through the year 2005. The telephone industry has almost completed a dramatic transformation from an electromechanical system to a completely electronic one. Digital systems, the most recent version of electronic switching, use computers and software to switch calls. Fewer workers are needed for maintenance and repair because the new systems are more reliable and compact and permit more efficient, centralized maintenance. In addition, the systems have self-diagnosing features which detect the source of problems and direct repairers to the defective part, which usually can simply be replaced. Once the transformation of the system has been completed, some time before 2005, the need for installers will drop sharply.

  Decreased labor requirements due to improved technology have already caused some layoffs of communications equipment mechanics. Efficiencies resulting from consolidations and mergers of cable and telephone companies and pressure to reduce costs in the competitive environment following additional deregulation of the industry could cause further decreases in employment. Competition for available openings should intensify, making it much more difficult for other telephone workers to move into these positions without experience or formal training and virtually impossible for "outsiders" without the necessary skills to compete for jobs.

  (See introductory part of this section for information on working conditions, training requirements, earnings, and sources of additional information.)

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