Assistance with FTTH and searching for ont/onu
Assistance with FTTH and searching for ont/onu
Hey, welcome! I'm not sure if this has been talked about before, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. You're in a two-story building with two separate apartments, each with its own internet setup. After moving up to the second floor, you want a unified network setup using cat6 cable in both units. Your ISP only offers VoIP when you have fiber-to-the-home, so you're looking for a way to connect your optical lines to a router—maybe an UDM pro or similar. You're thinking of terminating those lines and converting them to Ethernet or SFP+ for the router. You also want redundancy with both optical connections and plan for future speeds up to 1Gbps or more. It sounds like a big investment, but it's worth considering. Can you share more details? Thanks!
In theory it's possible since there are SFP+ ONTs, you could place two in a managed switch and connect them via VLANs to other ports. However, getting the fiber to that spot would be simpler by running CAT6 from each current ONT to a central point. In reality, most services still require using the telco/ISP ONT. Although some users have managed to spoof the serial number on an SFP+ ONT, it's not straightforward and doesn't ensure your provider won't modify it later.
The straightforward approach is to maintain the ISP ONT and use the Ethernet output to link it with the router. Could the ONT become a limitation? There might be benefits in connecting it via SFP+ ports to the router. Setting up VLANs shouldn’t be too challenging. Edit: Would having one fiber line plus an LTE backup work better?
If they are straightforward ONTs and not routers or gateways, they shouldn't create a bottleneck. LTE redundancy would probably be a stronger choice for backup, since both fibers likely originate from the same passive optical network—meaning they’re essentially the same fiber and would typically fail together. You might even request the ISP to swap one ONT for a dual-port ONT if both services are coming from the same PON upstream. Having two ONTs at least ensures you don’t lose both connections if one fails. It could also save power by using two separate devices, especially if they’re single-port units, which are simpler. I’ll note that having 5G as a backup can sometimes cause issues, depending on the router, even if the fiber is fine—because the router frequently adds or removes gateways. Ironically, I’ve experienced more downtime with backups than without, though this varies by router.
Thank you for your assistance. I plan to use two separate ONTs and possibly request my ISP to modify one of them. I might try 5G later, but given the basement location with heavy concrete, it seems unlikely. An external antenna could be a better option. Appreciate the support!
It's improbable they'll alter the PON since the concept relies on using just one fiber to cover a broad region by dividing it optically for each property. The solution is designed to last, depending on how many areas need service. Improved speeds can be introduced gradually by layering various frequency PONs along the same fiber, without any physical modifications to the street infrastructure.