Just a note to all you new guys that get promised 1500 to 2000 a week. You, too, can make that much if you can manage to live on the low income for a year or so. I've tried cable in North Carolina, Nashville, and Orlando. I retired from Bellsouth and did 18 years as an installer/repairman. I also have A+ certification and networking certifications. Cable installing is basically telephone installing with a different color and size wire. I was told that I would start getting the money jobs when I proved myself...I had ridden with a lot of the cable guys before and the truth is, about half of them don't know anything about telephone wiring and I've never seen a cable guy check the wiring with an ohmmeter to make sure they are clean.
I've worked cable for about 4 months now and all the jobs I have had were basically box change outs that paid $7.50 to $13.00 for a 2 houir time slot...Sure, the boxes might take 15 minutes to put in, but you are still tied down to a 2 hour time slot. There is not that many 2 hour slots in a work day..I was working 6 days a week from 7am til 8pm and the most I made was $426 gross..That was about $200. net after considering Commercial car insurance, liability, gas and rent expenses.
Personally, I think the guys that have been there a while are being taken care of, while the newbies are given the cheap jobs until they end up quitting and another batch is brought in.
I've been union all my life and understand seniority rights but cable contractors should somehow give the new guys a little bit of a chance to survive.
In my 4 months, I have yet to be given a phone job or a modem job. I've given it up and went back to structured wiring.
Note to all cable guy wanna be's
Member #: 42569
Registered: 11/24/2005
Posted:
4
Name:
Doug Demotte
Name:
Doug Demotte
Company:
Bellsouth (early retiree)
Occupation:
worked 15 yrs as I/R
Location:
Nashville, Tn.
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