Utility pole

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Pole carrying telephone, electricity and Cable TV equipment. Two pairs of shoes can be seen hanging from wires.

A utility pole, telegraph pole, telephone pole, power pole, or telegraph post is a post or pole upon which telephone network equipment is situated. Similar poles are often used for electricity cables (with pylons being used for only the higher voltage applications) and frequently a pole will share both power and communications lines. Telegraph poles first became commonplace in the middle 19th century, arrying at first one wire, then in urban areas many. In Canada, the poles are commonly refered to as hydro poles, as hydroelectricity is a common method of power generation in the country.

Utility poles are usually wooden, but vary greatly from nation to nation. Other common utility pole materials are steel and concrete, with composites (fibreglass) also becoming more prevalent. In some countries, for example the UK, poles have sets of brackets arranged in a standard pattern up the pole to act as hand and foot holds for those working on the equipment or connections atop the pole.

The appearance of poles has changed with technology through the 20th Century, with for example the loss of the stereotypical but now redundant crossbeam used to mount rows of insulators for open wire telephone circuits. These more traditional poles can sometimes be seen unaltered beside non-electrified railways, or where no effort has been made to remove crossbeams not in use.

However in the countries of Eastern Europe, in Russia and in countries of the third world, there are still many utility poles carrying bare wires mounted on insulators not only along railway lines, but also along roads and sometimes even in urban areas. Errant traffic being uncommon on railways, these poles are usually less tall.

Today utility poles may hold much more than the uninsulated thin copper wire that they originally supported. Thicker cables holding many twisted pair lines, or even fibre-optic cable may run between poles. Simple analogue repeaters or other outside plant equipment have long been mounted against poles, and often new digital equipment for multiplexing/demultiplexing or digital repeaters may now be seen.

Wooden utility poles and railroad ties are almost always treated with creosote to slow decomposition. This is also the most common way of preserving wood in the United States.

Throwing poles similar to utility poles is a traditional Scottish sport known as the caber toss.