Recommendation: For most ISPs in 2026, GPON is the safe choice for residential deployments. XGS-PON is recommended for new builds with high bandwidth demand. Port Count: How Many PON Ports Do You Need?Optical line terminals (OLTs) are used by service providers as the endpoint hardware of a passive optical network (PON) (Flegere/Shutterstock. Fiber-to-the-home. Optical transport networks have entered a phase of high-speed innovation, supporting growth from 10 Gbps up to 100 Gbps per interface — and paving the way for even higher rates. It's not merely a box in a data closet—it's the intelligent gateway where broadband services originate, traffic converges, and network performance is.