GPON VS Active Ethernet

• You may have heard that there are two types of Fibre networks, but what does it mean for users out there?

  We won’t go into the technical details of network design, but for the average user what you need to know is that they are two different network designs used by Fibre Network Operators in South Africa.

• GPON (Gigabit Passive Optic Network)

  GPON is the most common of the two and is used by almost every Fibre Network Operator you can sign up with.

  • How do you know if you’re on a GPON Connection?

  • Your FTTH Router will need to be setup with a username and password so that you can login to Mweb’s network. On your router this will be called a PPPoE Connection.

• Active Ethernet

  Active Ethernet was actually the first type of FTTH network used by Vumatel and as at the time of writing the only way to be an Active Ethernet customer on Mweb’s network is to be a Vumatel customer in one of the regions where they have deployed this type of network design.

  • How do you know if you’re on an Active Ethernet Connection?

  • When you plug your router into the Fibre ONT it will automatically detect an Internet connection and be assigned a public IP address which put you directly on the Internet. On your Router this is called an IPOE, or DHCP connection.

  • Are Active Ethernet IP Addresses Fixed?

  • No. We understand that static IP addresses are desirable for some power users and while Active Ethernet IP addresses can stay the same for long periods of time, due to the way the network is designed, they are not permanently reserved and may change at any time due to network activity.