A portable telecommunication test set, such as a telephone line butt set,
with a web browser incorporated therein. A standard HTML (Hyper Text
Mark-up Language) or WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) browser may be
incorporated within the portable test set, allowing a network technician
to access the Internet as well as other remotely-located sources of
information to retrieve data and other useful technical information while
in the field for communication network or telephone line maintenance,
troubleshooting or repair. The test set may contain memory to locally
store certain technical information, e.g., telephone line-specific data
or circuit information, that may be retrieved and "read" by the built-in
browser module when prompted by the network technician. The web browser
may display the content of the requested information on a display
provided on the test set. Line-specific (as well as
manufacturer-specific) test information need not be in a
manufacturer-dictated proprietary format, but, instead, may be in a
generally available text format, e.g., the HTML format or the WML
(Wireless Mark-up Language) format. Testing-related data may thus be
supplied (as hardware or software plug-in modules) by a vendor other than
the manufacturer of the test set.