GPON technology from Rostelecom: connection, configuration, equipment, routers and tips for beginners

Information and communication are products that have become familiar and irreplaceable to us. In the 21st century, new technologies have emerged to improve and expand the quality of traditional telecommunications. At the moment, the most promising and actively developing is xPON and its modifications.

For non-specialists, this term remains just an acronym. Let's try to figure out what it is and what are the advantages and disadvantages of this information channel.

About optics and PON

If there was something unclear to you from the definition, now I will try to explain this concept in more detail. At the moment, optical cables are laid everywhere in cities - that is, the optics go all the way to the house, connect to a special modem-switch, and then apartments are connected using twisted pair cables.

Optical cable

Optics are special glass cables through which information is transmitted using light. Due to this, information can be transmitted over many kilometers. Via twisted pair cable you can transmit data over a maximum distance of 50-100 meters. That is why this technology is called a passive optical network - because we can throw wires without the use of repeaters and other devices.

twisted pair

Well, the technology itself involves laying an optical cable directly to the subscriber’s apartment. That is, we have two types of connection from Rostelecom:

• The usual thing is that the optics go to the house, then connect to the switch, and apartments are connected from it using a twisted pair cable.
• xPON – optics are directly connected to the subscriber’s apartment.

Why do we need PON technology at all ? Firstly, it is cheaper for Rostelecom itself, because there is no need to install equipment on each floor. Secondly, there is almost no packet loss with such a connection, since light (in optics), unlike electricity (in twisted pair), has almost no influence from electromagnetic waves. As a result: there is less ping in games, the speed does not jump or drop, and the Internet is much more stable. Thirdly, the speed increases significantly and you can connect to the Internet at speeds of 300, 500 or even 1 Gbit per second.

Let me remind you that Rostelecom uses GPON technology - the letter “G” stands for “Gigabit” - this means that the speed can be higher than 1 Gbit per second.

I advise you to read more about twisted pair and optical cable.

Who is stronger: the elephant or the whale xPON or Ethernet?

To compare Ethernet and GPON solutions, let’s take a real village with ~134 houses and consider 2 solution options:

GPON solution

This scheme uses 3 ports in the OLT. These ports are connected to 42, 50 and 53 ONUs respectively (highlighted in different colors: blue, red and green). The most budget ONUs with a 1xGE port were used.

On Ethernet. This is a real, already implemented solution.

In this scheme, 104 houses are connected (~30% less than in GPON). Dlink DES-3200-28F are used as access switches. The subscriber has a 100 Mbps media converter SNR-CVT-100

Let's compare the specifications:

GPON

Total: 869,547.92

Ethernet

Total: 646,147.40

Connection diagrams

Rostelecom has several home connection schemes:

• FTTN – optics extend from the network node of a district or an entire city.
• FTTC - optics extends only from a small microdistrict.
• FTTB – optics are connected to the building.
• FTTH - optics are extended to the entrance or apartment, as in our case.

Read more about connection types here.

How to connect?

In general, I’ll tell you my story that happened to me. I live in the private sector and then there was a rumor that Rostelecom was installing fiber optics. I called, clarified and left a request for an Internet connection and IP-TV. If you live in an apartment, you can also call and find out if you can connect using GPON technology. If possible, then connect. If not, then there may be two options:

• You can stay on twisted pair - in fact, you are already connected to optics, it’s just the “vikha” that goes to the apartment. There is nothing wrong with this, as experts say, there are no serious packet losses, but there will be no speed above 1 Gbit.
• Get together the residents of the building and write a collective application for the provision of optics to each apartment. Of course you will have to pay for this.

In any case, just call the Rostelecom hotline, and they will tell you everything: 8 (800) 10-00-800 - also don’t forget to ask about the “GiPON” tariffs that they have.

TurboGEPON

Negative properties include the lack of a standard and a linear code classified as redundant, whose “clean” band is twenty percent less (8B/10B).

What is more profitable and accessible?

The main advantage of GPON is compatibility, and with a possible equal price, it is, of course, preferable. However, it also depends on the manufacturer. Some of them (Huawei, ZTE) produce equipment for both solutions. But Huawei GEPON products simply do not arrive in Russia. Ericsson only makes GPON, and then recently sold the solution to the Calix group. There is also Alcatel-Lucent and others. GEPON is objectively simpler, and is now produced by many Chinese companies, including little-known small firms that are traditionally not responsible for the quality of their products. In Russia, the concept of TurboGEPON is associated with the name Eltex, but deliveries are made only to large operators such as Rostelecom.

Now, having completed the introductory part, you can move on to practice.

What to do after application?

Once you have the optics installed, you will also have two connection options, but first things first. Let's start with the fact that the computer does not understand the information that is transmitted via an optical cable. This is understandable: it doesn’t even have such a port. Therefore, to connect you need:

• A regular GPON terminal - it will essentially act as a kind of translator and bridge. The input will be optical and the output will be Ethernet. Then the terminal itself can be connected to the computer directly or using a router so that all family members can enjoy the benefits of the Internet.

• A fiber optic GPON router is two in one: both a terminal and a router.

And now the most important thing - they will sell you SFP routers or terminals from Rostelecom, they will say that they only work with their equipment. Know that they just want to make money from you, since such terminals and routers cost many times more than their competitors. I advise you to simply buy a router with an SFP port or a similar terminal. In general, there is only one piece of advice - don’t buy or rent anything from them. See a selection of routers with optical cables here.

Customer Reviews

Despite the technology and attractiveness of GPON, not all users are delighted with it. This is because very few people require what this standard offers. We can say that the standard is ahead of its time. Of course, the time will come when it will be used everywhere, and users will remember with horror the times when their Internet speed was only 100 Mbps. But so far, not all clients are ready to accept such a service, so they give unflattering comments about it.

In addition, some customers claim that they did not receive the speed that was advertised. However, many of them do not even suspect what it is measured in and how it should be done. For example, there are often cases when a user connects to the Internet via a phone via Wi-Fi and moves away to the farthest corner of the apartment. Of course, in this case the speed will drop with each step.

Those customers who want the benefits of GPON are completely satisfied with the connection. For example, such users include video bloggers who regularly upload gigabytes of videos to the Internet. Or ardent movie buffs who want to download movies in 4K quality in just 30 seconds. Well, we must not forget about e-sportsmen who are ready to fight for minimal latency in online games.

Setting up GPON equipment Rostelecom

Everything is done very simply - so there is no need to be afraid. If you bought a router yourself, then you can see detailed instructions on setting up the equipment on our website. You can ask a question in the comments or find the instructions yourself - to do this, enter the full name of the model into the search bar on the portal.

If you purchased a device from Rostelecom, then most likely you have an ONT NTP-RG-1402G-W router . You can watch the video below for setup. If you have a different device, write in the comments, and I will add instructions for it - just please write the full name of the model, which can be seen on the label under the case.