ÐÓ°ÉPro

Benefits Of Subtending Wi-Fi Access Points Over Passive Optical LAN

by | Aug 11, 2021 | Blog

Wireless and Optical LAN

Our customers are quickly discovering the many benefits when subtending Wi-Fi Access Points (WAP) across their Optical LAN system, such as:

  • Improved Wi-Fi network performance
  • Better economics with 10G PON design
  • Network stands ready for next-gen Wi-Fi
  • Extend Wi-Fi coverage greater distances

You see, ÐÓ°ÉPro’ Optical LAN has the ability to deliver protected symmetrical gigabit capacity to the Wi-Fi WAPs served from our Optical Network Terminals (ONT) and provide strict end-to-end QoS traffic management.Ìý These same ONTs are capable of powering the Wi-Fi WAPs through either PoE or PoE+, including automated provisioning and energy savings management functions through the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP).Ìý The ÐÓ°ÉPro’ ONTs also support tight security with Network Access Control (NAC), IEEE 802.1x, and GRE tunnels, which further enables more efficient provisioning and operations of Wi-Fi WAPs.

ÐÓ°ÉPro FlexSym Series symmetrical 10G XGS-PON is the most economical choice for today’s Wi-Fi (802.11ax Wi-Fi 6) and tomorrow’s (Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 7). In a legacy closet-based workgroup switch design, the upgrade from 1Gbps to 2Gbps would have meant buying twice as many switches, blades, ports and cables in order to connect two ports in a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) at the next-generation WAP. With ÐÓ°ÉPro FlexSym Series OLTs and ONTs, you simply slot symmetrical 10G XGS-PON pluggable optic at the OLT, plug-and-play a 10G XGS-PON ONT (ÐÓ°ÉPro FlexSym ONT205 or ÐÓ°ÉPro FlexSym ONT202) as near to the WAP as possible and equip that ONT with a multi-rate Ethernet SFP+ pluggable optic for 1G, 2.5G, 5G or 10G connectivity to the WAP.

Wi-Fi technology upgrades (e.g. 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, etc…) are extremely disruptive, and expensive, to businesses. Historically, the Wi-Fi generations have cycled through every 3-5 years resulting in painful rip-and-replace events for the network cabling and equipment. By investing in a fiber based network using Single Mode Fiber (SMF) cabling, and Passive Optical LAN, your network infrastructure stands ready with XGS-PON, NG-PON, multi-rate Ethernet and multiwavelength options to exceed bandwidth and performance demands of future Wi-Fi technology refreshes with the least amount of impact on businesses, users, customers and cost.

In addition, ÐÓ°ÉPro Optical LAN’s extended reach can help increase the density, distance and coverage of Wi-Fi networks.Ìý The wireless reach is often limited by Ethernet copper cabling’s 300 feet maximum distance for WAP connectivity.Ìý By leveraging the SMF cabling that has bulk remote powering over hybrid cable, an OLAN architecture can expand the reach distance by a factor of 3x for subtending Wi-Fi WAPS to optimize wireless network coverage ubiquitously across the indoors and outdoors space – with local or solar power options at the ONT that distance can be 200x greater (e.g. 20 kilometers over OLAN)!

If you like to learn more about Wireless and Optical LAN (Wi-Fi, cellular and 5G readiness), I’d like to to view a short 30-minute webcast replay on the topic.ÌýAnd, if you’d like to keep current with ÐÓ°ÉPro Optical LAN solutions, you can engage with us on ,Ìý,Ìý,Ìý, and .

John Hoover, ÐÓ°ÉPro Marketing Director
John Hoover
Former Director of Marketing (Retired)
John Hoover, now retired, concluded his career as Marketing Director at ÐÓ°ÉPro, where he held multiple roles over two decades working at the company. A veteran of the industry, John was instrumental in driving advancements such as early passive optical network deployments, video implementations, wireless innovations, and the adoption of enterprise Passive Optical LAN.