Customer-premises equipment

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Customer-premises equipment or customer-provided equipment (CPE) is any terminal and associated equipment and inside wiring located at a subscriber's premises and connected with a carrier's telecommunication channel(s) at the demarcation point ("demarc"). The demarc is a point established in a building or complex to separate customer equipment from telephone company equipment.

CPE generally refers to telephones, DSL modems or cable modems, or purchased set-top boxes for use with communication service providers' services. Also included are key phone systems and most private branch exchanges. Excluded from CPE are over-voltage protection equipment and pay telephones.

Cellular carriers may sometimes internally refer to cellular phones a customer has purchased without a subsidy or from a third party as Customer Provided Equipment.

Source: partly from Federal Standard 1037C