Gigabit Passive Optical Network¶

GPON is a gigabit-capable passive optical network standard (ITU-T G.984) that delivers asymmetrical speeds of up to 2.5 Gbit/s downstream and 1.25 Gbit/s upstream.

It emerged as a successor to the BPON (ITU-T G.983) standard and competitor to the EPON (IEEE 802.3ah) standard, offering higher bandwidth and greater efficiency. The three standards share the same distinct wavelengths for downstream (1490 nm) and upstream (1310 nm). A differentiator for GPON is its optional use of a third wavelength (1550 nm) for downstream video overlay.

Despite this similarity, the standards are not compatible due to their fundamentally different framing and management protocols. GPON and its successors (XGS-PON, NG-PON2, 50G-PON) use GEM framing and OMCI for management, while BPON relies on ATM framing with OMCI, and EPON uses native Ethernet framing with MPCP.

ITU-T Standards¶