WHAT IS GPON TECHNOLOGY ? How it works ? What are It's Advantages

 

What is GPON Technology How it works and its Advantages?

GPON Broadband Technology is for High-Speed Internet Experience

GPON is the type of broadband connection you should get if you want a faster and more secure internet experience.

PON here stands for Passive Optical Network. This kind of network was available in the mid-90s. Over the period technology has evolved and advanced since the mid-90s, technology of PON has matured as well. Now the PON has become GPON. Here  GPON stands for Gigabit Passive Optical Network. From the name itself you can make out that the internet you get will be very fast. A fiber-optic broadband connection is used to create a point to the multi-point network so users can access the all-fiber Ethernet end-point. Even at a greater distance, GPON transmits data at a very high speed and offers a great bandwidth. Let’s take a look at all the benefit of a GPON network.

Benefits of a GPON Network

1. Longer Range/Distance – A conventional copper broadband connection (DSL connection) can transmit data over a range of 100 meters. But a GPON broadband connection can transmit data between 10-20 kilometers. But despite the higher distance, the speed doesn’t drop. So ultimately, you can get higher speeds at higher distances making it a win-win for everyone.

2. Space-Saving Connection – One of the many benefits of getting a GPON network is that it lets you save ample space. GPON fiber is a lot smaller and is a fraction of conventional copper cables. This ultimately results in lesser cabling in your building.

3. Stable and Future Ready – Usually, traditional Ethernet networks can get disrupted due to radiofrequency interference. But With the optical fiber network, it is not a problem. At the same time, optical networks are future-proof as well offering up to 1.6 Tb/s per fiber. That's too much of a speed, isn't it? The technology is still evolving and fibers have virtually no limitation of speed, it's just the switching equipment that the speed is limited to 

4. Security – Since GPON uses a closed circuit, it cannot be hijacked or tapped making it a very secure connection. So you can be relaxed about keeping your data encrypted and secure.

5. Longer life of copper is good for 5 to 6 years and fiber have a minimum life of 100 years as it's an inert material. Meaning that like copper it does not have any atmospheric oxidation resulting in poor connection speed

Speed Of GPON Network

In most cases of broadband connections, the download speed is greater than the upload speed. Mostly, internet service providers set their default settings for your broadband connection in a way that your download speed is greater than your upload speed. It is nothing but normal to get 80% of the promised upload speed to you. Sometimes, it is even lesser than that. The reason behind slow broadband speed is that when a lot many users use their broadband connections in the same area, the servers get busy uploading and downloading data for multiple user's streams at the same time.

To get a symmetric internet speed both for downloading and uploading, a fiber-optic broadband connection is the one to go for. Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) is the best fiber broadband connection that one can get in today's era of fast internet. It is advanced technology and has many advantages to it mentioned above.

 How Does GPON technology work? 

As said earlier the GPON or any PON network is passive in nature and it doesn't require any supply to operate. It entirely works on the principle of splitting and coupling the light signals through the network of optical fibers.

Here are some of the building blocks of the GPON technology 

OLT- Here stands for OPTICAL LINE TERMINATION Equipment

ONU/ ONT Optical Network Unit/ Optical Network Terminal (which is typically a Router/Modem) you can say in the lamens language 

Coupler Its typically a network element in the GPON network wherein the fiber optic power form the OLT is coupled to a number of splitters where it is finally connected to the ONU/ONT

Splitter Its also a GPON Network Element where the power is further distributed to the number of ONT/ONUs from the OLT. The splitter is the last element in the network where it connects to the customer premises ONU/ONT in the GPON network.

Also if the GPON network is triple play, meaning the Voice, DATA, and Video or Cable TV then there are some other network elements and I think to keep things simpler we will just consider the network with the above-mentioned network elements with just the voice and data. If any one of you have any questions do let me know in the comments below to cover that topic too.

Below is the basic block diagram of the GPON network 

As seen from the above diagram the OLT is the main optical equipment connected to the uplink of the network and from OLT the optical network web is laid to the end-user premises. All the network elements like splitter and couplers are connected through the optical cables till the last mile and that is up to the user ONT. 

The devices like computers, Mobile devices, and PSTN telephone, or even a SIP phone or IP Phone can be connected to the network to make and receive calls.

There are many updates of fiber to the home like FTTH, FTTX, etc. and as of 2021 fiber is the way to get a high-speed internet connection. Fiber to the home is reliable and steady connectivity as of now and it's here to stay till the big technical breakthrough is invented. I don't see that happening any time before 10 to 15 years of time. 5G though is promising but the cellular data is almost 5 to 10 times more expensive than that of the fiber line and it's yet to prove its metal.

Hope that what is GPON you might have got a pretty good idea about it and if you have any questions feel free to comment and ask.