UK network and internet service provider, Lightning Fibre has launched a 2.5Gb/s symmetric residential broadband package, promising upload and download speeds of 2Gb/s or more wired at the modem.
Lightning Fibre was founded in 2018 to provide full-fibre internet to the South-east of England by building its own fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, spanning Eastbourne, Hastings, Hailsham, St Leonard's, Heathfield and Broad Oak, to name a few towns. The 2.5Gb/s offer comes following an upgrade in which the ISP switched its ONTs to XGS-PON and rolled out 2.5Gb/s-ready routers.
What is XGS-PON and how does it benefit operators?
XGS-PON is an updated standard for passive optical networks (PON). It can handle faster speeds of 10Gb/s for both uploading and downloading, and falls under the Gigabit-capable PON, or G-PON standards implemented by the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T).
XGS-PON technology is designed to provide operators with higher bandwidth that can be passed on in the form of faster speeds and improved network performance for customers. It can also support multiple services on a single fibre, making it more cost efficient, as there is less need for additional infrastructure.
Paul Thornton, chief technology officer at Lightning Fibre explains: “We have changed our ONTs to The Adtran SDX 631 XGS-PON ONT to provide a smaller footprint device, which is more power efficient. We have also rolled out new Routers, the Zyxel EX5601,which is 2.5G ready to satisfy subscribers’ bandwidth-intensive needs with optimised bandwidth utilisation. Beamforming technologies deliver optimal Wi-Fi experiences and address issues with dead zones.”
