Does FTTP require a separate GEA cable link from FTTC? Don't they join up at an aggregation point on the way to the exchange? Or at least on whatever the OR termination kit at the exchange is called.
I think @ignition has a different idea (to me) of where the GPON OLT sits within Openreach (ie where the GPON fibres are terminated/lit), where the FTTC uplink fibres terminate (in their OLT) and where the handover node (ie the layer 2 switch) sits.
To me, they are all in the same place - the OLT in the head-end exchange - but I could be wrong; they could be in separate locations - with some form of "uplink" fibre running from the OLTs into the handover node.
The one clear example I have seen comes from @MrSaffron's photos in Cornwall, of a single OLT/handover node. This happens to be an ECI node:
http://coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/
See picture 22, but 20 and 23 are also relevant.
These pictures are of an ECI F-152 OLT.
In 22, it looks like
- All the GPON fibres terminate on the 6 rightmost cards, where fibres slant upwards.
- The centremost 2 cards (that have no fibres, and bulge outwards) are the switching fabric, that act as the layer 2 switch.
- Either side of these 2 cards are the 2 cards that terminate the fibres from FTTC cabs. I think these are 1000base-BX, with one fibre used to each cab, carrying both TX and RX lasers.
- The leftmost card terminates the handover cablelinks. These are more standard GbE 1000base-LX links, with a pair of fibres each - one TX, one RX.
If my interpretation is right, then one cablelink (pair) there handles both FTTC and FTTP. In this case, 48 FTTP splitters (up to 1536 properties) and 24 FTTC cabinets (up to 6912 properties).
It is plausible that this isn't a handover node, and the leftmost card holds Openreach-only upstream cables to a remote handover node. If so, then a single cablelink there would still handle both FTTC and FTTP traffic.
@ignition would be right if FTTP GPON fibres terminated in a separate OLT from the FTTC fibres. This could happen in some places.
I don't know what happens in the Huawei estate, but their equivalent to the F-152 is their MA-5600T OLT.
http://e.huawei.com/uk/products/fixed-network/access...