| Active Optical Network | Passive Optical Network |
| Typically lower cost up front, costs are roughly linear | Costs increase very slowly after high up front cost |
| Cover longer distances (tens of km) | Cover shorter distance (< 10 km) |
| Each strand connects 1:1 between 2 devices | Each strand can feed up to 128 devices with passive splitters |
| Less sensitive to signal attenuation (light loss) | Far more sensitive to signal attentuation (light loss) since signals are split to feed multiple devices |
Active vs Passive Optical Networks Print
Modified on: Tue, Sep 15, 2026 at 5:23 PM
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