A normal workday begins at 8am and is supposed to end at 5pm but can last much longer sometimes. I am a Broadband technician so my main job is to keep the internet and cable services working for my customers. I know most people really don’t think about the “cable guy” really being in the STEM area but it is really fully involved with each field. Most days my general job includes finding fault locations identified by other techs and troubleshoot the issue.
As a level 2 technician my job is to maintain all of the outside plant/cable to reduce interruptions in service. I use several methods to verify things are working correctly. The first and most basic thing I do is check my math to verify my signals at certain points are correct. Then I get into a more technical approach to pinpoint the issue by checking several different types of signal readings such as MER (modulation error ratio) and BER (Bit error ratio) for certain channels of the RF frequencies that we use. I also have to verify that the RF levels are being received and transmitted from each of the amplifiers at the proper levels as well as verify the NODE levels (where it changes from fiber optic to coaxial) are transmitting correctly.
I am responsible for escalating issues that need to move up to management or other departments when a larger issue is detected. I perform annual maintenance on all of the standby power supply units where ohm’s law has become my best friend. On top of performing all of these tech/science/math based measurements and corrections I also assist co-workers with issues such as Wifi issues and in home issues. There are a lot of different types of technologies in the cable field that most people never realize we have.