It’s worth noting that sometimes cable lines are at the bottom of the communications space rather than telephone, at least in my area. They often have inline equipment like amplifiers those are easy to spot by the obvious heatsinks on the enclosures.

Cable lines are generally thinner, usually silver or light-colored, and have distinctive D-shaped expansion loops next to each pole. Telephone lines are generally thick cables and usually have junction boxes on one or both sides of the pole. Telephone is usually the lowest on the pole, with cable TV right above it. The space closest to the ground is reserved for the low-voltage utilities and is called the communications space. If there are streetlights or traffic signals attached to a pole, this is where they’ll live. This is known as the supply space, and it’s where you’ll find both the primary lines, which distribute high voltage, and the secondary circuits, which have been stepped down by distribution transformers. That makes sense – get the scary stuff as far away from the humans as possible. Poles that house multiple services, like power, telephone, and cable, are called joint poles and are covered by strict safety rules that separate the utilities spatially. In general, the most dangerous things on a utility pole are at the top. Very few utility poles are used for just one utility. Source: Florida Public Service Commission Space Management Spaces on a typical joint pole. But here’s a little of what I’ve picked up over my years as a pole geek. Bear in mind these are just my observations from the ground in my area I’m sure utility professionals will have better information, and regional practices will no doubt lead to very different equipment arrangements. But how often do we really look at it? I’ve been intrigued by utility poles for years, and I’ve picked up a thing or two that I’d like to share. We live under the umbrella of an intricate and fascinating web of infrastructure that enables every aspect of modern technology.

Telephone pole