Passive (PON) vs. Active (Ethernet) Full-Fibre: What’s Best?

Gigabit speed full-fibre internet connectivity is sure to soon become the norm in our personal and professional lives, but there are a number of ways it can be deployed and delivered to us. 

At Optinet, we have years of experience implementing intelligent, high-speed full-fibre broadband solutions for businesses, commercial building owners and landlords. 

So, who better than our team to break everything down? There are two key types of technologies (or ‘topologies’) for full-fibre networking: ‘passive’ and ‘active’. Which solution is best for you? 

Passive optical networks (PONs): for residential and smaller businesses 

Essentially, a passive optical network is a technology that takes one single fibre cable, cuts it up and shares it amongst multiple users. It is a ‘point-to-multipoint’ architecture. 

The fibre cable is divided using an optical splitter. These splitters are pieces of glass that take the light signals coming in from the transmission point and spread them to a number of other cables, which make their way to the end user. 

Splitters do not require electronics and do not consume power, hence being ‘passive’. Bandwidth is allocated to each end user, called optical network units (ONUs).  

PON is fibre cable infrastructure, and you decide what technology you are going to light the cable with — G-PON or XGS-PON. 

• G-PON — ‘Gigabit PON’. This technology delivers download speeds of 2.5Gb and upload speeds of 1.2Gb. This is the standard that has been deployed en masse by Openreach, the largest company maintaining the UK’s broadband network. 
• XGS-PON — ‘10-Gigabit Symmetric Passive Optical Network’. As the name suggests, this offers 10Gb up and down. 

PONs are more relaxed — it is a shared medium, so there is nothe contract outlining the standard of service the supplier is expected to provide (also known as Service Level Agreements — SLAs) is less stringent than Active Ethernet. The lack of active components in PONs makes them a more simple architecture.

Whilst they have limited scalability due to being shared, PONs are a more cost-effective solution with easier deployment and lower startup costs. Advancements in XGS-PON have unlocked incredible data transfer speeds, too. 

Alt-nets — alternative network providers (companies who build their own independent full-fibre networks) — have mostly chosen XGS-PON to be their primary technology. This is chiefly due to it being more futureproof, and end-users benefit from the greater consistency and reliability of 10Gb up and down. 

Active ethernet: for larger businesses and enterprise organisations 

Active ethernet is a fibre access technology that connects devices within a local area network (LAN). It is built on ‘point-to-point’ architecture, meaning two locations are linked together through a dedicated private line. You do not share your fibre with anyone else. 

As data always travels the same way, performance levels are high and users enjoy 1:1, high-performance connectivity. This is particularly important for mission critical services, and ethernet can be scaled up to meet the needs of more users, more bandwidth and more data transfer. Ethernet is ‘active’ because the hops to the end destination are actively split.  

Ethernet networks also support virtual local area networks (VLAN). This groups your computers devices into a separate network, segregating your traffic flow and making administration easier. Layer 2 and Layer 3 bridges allow for remote locations to be linked together over huge geographical distances. 

Ethernet full-fibre also has static addressing, which means your internet protocol (IP) stays the same over time. Your IP is essentially your computer’s address on the internet. 

This type of full-fibre connectivity comes with a Service Level Agreement which, as mentioned, stipulates the service standards that the provider is obligated to meet. They’re useful for ensuring transparency and accountability from your provider. 

So, PON or Ethernet? 

The choice between a ‘passive’ PON and ‘active’ ethernet will depend entirely on your circumstances. In certain situations, a PON and ethernet may even co-exist. 

PON is a simplified architecture, best suited to providing full-fibre to multiple users over a wider area. Whilst you share your fibre, PON is a more cost-effective solution that also uses less energy — advancements with XGS-PON also deliver incredible data transfer rates for residential and commercial properties. 

Ethernet is a full-fibre solution with excellent scalability — more switches and routers can always be added, which isn’t possible with PON. If devices need to communicate with each other in a local area network — perhaps in a data centre or enterprise network where 1:1 high performance data transmission is essential — ‘active’ ethernet might be preferable. 

Of course, an active ethernet solution does come with additional installation and maintenance costs, and energy consumption is typically higher. 

Full-fibre: a modern business must-have? 

Whether PON or ethernet, the gigabit speeds of full-fibre are sure to become indispensable for modern, cloud-based businesses. 

• Productivity: Full-fibre networks enable businesses to run more bandwidth-intensive applications and services seamlessly with lower latency, unlocking greater levels of productivity. Every web page, every download, every video call and every cloud-based document becomes faster, optimised and more efficient. 
• Increased security: Full-fibre networks have an improved resistance to interference, making them inherently more secure. The data moves close to the speed of light, making it almost impossible for cybercriminals to intercept compared to traditional technologies. 
• Emerging technologies: With a full-fibre internet connection, you’re guaranteed to enjoy the latest emerging technologies at their best — this includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and 5G. They’re designed for high speeds and low latency. 
• Rural connectivity: Based outside of a town or city centre? You’ll be all too aware of the current urban–rural internet connectivity divide in the UK. Fortunately, the government recently committed £1 billion in contracts to expanding full-fibre networks to businesses and homes in hard-to-reach rural areas. 
• Sustainability: Of supreme importance for all modern business strategies. Compared to old copper networks, full-fibre has fewer electrical components — there’s less digging and hardware is smaller and easier to recycle. Fibre has lower resistance, generates less heat and loses less power, requiring less energy to transfer the same amount of data.

Optinet: future-proofing your business with full-fibre 

Are you an IT manager, building manager, landlord, property owner or developer keen to make the most of these latest innovations? Considering the investment in a full-fibre future? We’d be delighted to be part of your journey. 

We design and deliver innovative, sustainable, full-fibre networks for organisations, serviced offices, retail parks, department stores, co-working spaces and all other types of commercial properties. 

We’ve worked on some of the UK’s most distinguished locations — have a browse through our connectivity case studies for an idea of how we might be able to help you. 

The best organisations are embracing these new technologies to enhance their operations and remain competitive in an increasingly digital world. Slowly but surely, it’s becoming the standard.