Fiber pays better – at TreeTech a coax technician runs $1,400–2,100 per week, a fiber technician $1,600–2,100, and a lead $2,500+. But the fastest road into fiber runs through coax: start on copper, cross-train on the job, and the difference shows up in your check within a quarter.
Two branches of one trade
Coax and fiber are not two professions – they are two tracks inside the same trade of connecting homes to the network. A coax technician works the copper side: cable internet and TV installs, drops, fittings, splitters, service calls on the plant that already reaches most American homes. A fiber technician works FTTH – fiber to the home – where the last stretch into the house carries light through glass. The customer-facing half of the day is identical: driving, drilling, routing cable, mounting hardware, explaining the setup. The technical half is where the tracks split, and the pay splits with them.
The money, side by side
TreeTech pays piece-rate: every order type has a published point value, your weekly check is the sum of your points, and you see the full rate card before you sign anything. The realistic ranges by track:
| Track | Weekly check at TreeTech |
|---|---|
| Coax technician (installs and service calls) | $1,400–2,100 |
| Fiber (FTTH) technician | $1,600–2,100 |
| Lead technician (fiber + mentoring pay) | $2,500+ |
For context: the BLS median for telecom equipment installers is $64,310 per year (May 2024), and the top 10% nationally earn above $99,990. A steady fiber week annualizes above that median; a strong lead year comes close to the top bracket. If you are starting from zero, the door is the paid helper stage – $500 a week for the first ~10 days – and that stage runs on coax, because copper is the fastest way to learn the rhythm of the job.
The gap between the rows is not a bonus for loyalty. FTTH orders simply carry higher point values because fewer techs can close them cleanly – which makes the fiber skill set the most direct raise available in this trade.
What fiber techs actually do differently
The premium buys a short list of concrete skills, all of them learnable on the job:
- Light levels. Coax troubleshooting reads electrical signal; fiber work reads optical power. A fiber tech measures light at the customer end with a power meter, knows what an acceptable reading looks like and documents it – on glass, guesswork does not pass QA.
- The ONT. Instead of a modem, a fiber install ends at an optical network terminal – the box that turns light back into Ethernet. Placing and activating it correctly, where power, fiber path and the customer's router all meet, is the heart of the order.
- Bend radius. Coax forgives a tight staple; fiber does not. Bend a drop too sharply and light leaks out of the glass. Routing a clean, protected line through a finished home is half the craft.
- Splicing support. Fusion splicing is a specialist's job, but FTTH techs prep enclosures, keep connectors clean and work alongside splice crews – which is exactly how installers grow into that specialty later.
How to cross-train without quitting
You do not need a school, a certificate or an unpaid apprenticeship to switch tracks. At TreeTech the coax-to-fiber path runs inside your normal work week: you keep your route and your check, start taking mixed orders alongside a lead technician, and pick up meter readings, ONT activations and fiber routing on real installs. The company issues the tools, so the switch does not cost you a light meter. Across our crews the pattern is consistent: a coax tech who cross-trains adds $200–300 per week within a quarter – the higher FTTH point values simply start landing in the same check.
Two honest caveats. The work stays physical on both tracks: a 28-foot ladder, attics, crawl spaces, weather. Fiber does not move you indoors – it moves you up the rate card. And piece-rate rewards clean work on glass even more than on copper: a failed light reading is a return visit, and return visits are unpaid.
Where a lead goes next
Lead technician – $2,500+ a week – is not the top of the ladder. A lead already does supervisor work in miniature: running fiber orders at full rate while mentoring newer techs and taking their escalation calls. The next step is supervisor, running a crew in our markets in Tennessee, Ohio, Georgia and Illinois. Our supervisors work in English, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and Spanish, because that is what the crews speak. The national numbers back the ceiling: the top 10% of telecom installers earn above $99,990 a year, and that bracket is reached by stacking skills, not seniority.
Verdict: start on coax, move to fiber. Copper gets you a route and a full check fastest; glass makes the same hours worth $200–300 more per week; lead and supervisor are what fiber techs become. This is a career ladder inside one trade – and every rung on it has a published price.