What are the differences between GPON and GEPON?

The advent of GEPON technology, which allows direct transmission of Ethernet traffic through optics, was a logical development of the concept of a comprehensive, end-to-end use of Ethernet equipment on the networks of telecom operators. The procedures for this technology are described in the IEEE 802.3ah standard, released in 2004. This technology uses Ethernet packets at speeds up to 1 Gbit / s in both directions to transmit traffic. The topology of the GEPON network can be any: a bus, a star, a combination of them and even a ring for redundancy, which is implemented using automatic optical switches. Among the advantages of this technology can be noted the low cost of solutions based on it. To date, about 20 million GEPON ports have been installed, mostly in Southeast Asia.

Another gigabit PON standard that describes GPON technology was adopted by ITU-T in 2005 and received the G.984 number. It is based on the use of a specialized protocol created on the basis of SDH standa