High-speed bandwidth connectivity has become a must-have for the data-hungry generation of today. Optical fibre is steadily replacing copper-based distribution networks, significantly increasing the capacity to provide broadband services to consumers.

Ethernet and Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (EPONs and GPONs) have become increasingly popular due to delivering cost-effective broadband access to fulfil consumer demands both for their homes (FTTH) and business (FTTB). BDCOM’s OLTs seamlessly integrate with existing Ethernet LAN infrastructure.

Each of the PON ports on the BDCOM EPON and GPON OLTs can cater to multiple subscribers.  On EPON the maximum subscribers are 64 as compared to GPON’s offering of 128. MPCP (multipoint control protocol) is used to dynamically assign bandwidth between the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the subscriber by facilitating the implementation of Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) algorithms. Allocating static bandwidth to each individual subscriber would be inefficient due to the variable nature of the bandwidth requirements within the network. User traffic within PONs tends to be very up and down and therefor subscribers very rarely require the full capacity of their subscription. Dynamic bandwidth allocation allows installers to oversell their bandwidth budget.

For example, the installer can impose a 1:10 contention ratio essentially multiplying the bandwidth budget 10 fold. As all users are not online simultaneously Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation will ensure that bandwidth gets allocated to the users as required.