Point of appearance is a generic term for any point in a telephone/data circuit

Telecommunication circuit

A telecommunication circuit is any line, conductor, or other conduit by which information is transmitted.A dedicated circuit, private circuit, or leased line is a line that is dedicated to only one use...

 from which a technician can test or pull stats. Some appearances are virtual, such as a Digital cross connect system

Digital cross connect system

A digital cross-connect system is a piece of circuit-switched network equipment, used in telecommunications networks, that allows lower-level TDM bit streams, such as DS0 bit streams, to be rearranged and interconnected among higher-level TDM signals, such as DS1 bit streams...

 computer terminal. Others are physical, like a punch down COSMIC

COSMOS (Telecommunications)

COSMOS was a record-keeping system for Main Distribution Frames in the Bell System. COSMOS was introduced in the 1970s after MDFs were found to be congested in large urban telephone exchanges. It assigns terminals so jumpers need not be so long, thus leaving more space on the shelves...

 frame

Distribution frame

In telecommunications, a distribution frame is a passive device which terminates cables, allowing arbitrary interconnections to be made.For example, the Main Distribution Frame located at a telephone central office terminates the cables leading to subscribers on the one hand, and cables leading to...

 where a technician can place a test set

Lineman's handset

A lineman's handset is a special type of telephone used by technicians for installing and testing local loop telephone lines. It is also called a test set, butt set, or buttinski.-Components:...

, or a heat coil

Heat coil

Heat coils, also known as protectors, bugs or carbons serve as a surge protector between the telephone exchange and outside plant. They are commonly the last point of appearance for a telephone circuit before it leaves the office, for example on the outside plant side of the main distribution frame...

 socket. In the outside plant

Outside plant

In telecommunication, the term outside plant has the following meanings:*In civilian telecommunications, outside plant refers to all of the physical cabling and supporting infrastructure , and any associated hardware located between a demarcation point in a switching facility and a demarcation...

 there is an appearance at the cross box, pedestal, and network interface

Network interface

Network interface may refer to:* Network interface controller, the device a computer uses to connect to a computer network* Network interface device, a demarcation point for a telephone network...

. The ultimate appearance is the telephone or other customer premises equipment (CPE).