Glossary
Telecommunications Lineworker Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential telecommunications lineworker terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key telecommunications lineworker vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in telecommunications lineworker training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Attenuation
- Signal loss.
- Communications space
- The section of a pole for telecom.
- Directional boring
- Drilling underground paths.
- Drop
- A line to a customer.
- Fiber optic
- Glass fibers that carry light signals.
- Fusion splice
- Joining fibers with heat.
- Guy wire
- Supports a pole.
- Lashing
- Wrapping cable to strand.
- Locate
- Marking buried utilities.
- Make-ready
- Preparing poles for new lines.
- OTDR
- A tester that finds faults in fiber.
- Pedestal
- A ground-level enclosure.
- Restoration
- Repairing service after damage.
- Splice closure
- A case protecting splices.
- Strand
- Steel cable that supports aerial lines.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Telecommunications Lineworker practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Telecommunications Lineworker training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.