Low-cost GPON network provider using Ubiquiti equipment

Not long ago, the developers of Ubiquiti released a new series of UFiber, which included equipment designed to build optical Gpon networks. Unlike twisted pair, such a network does not require multiple active switches to branch and connect subscribers. Gpon are switched using optical splitters, which have no additional power and are completely passive hardware that has no computing power of its own. Another plus of Ubiquiti UFiber is the colossal line length without additional signal amplification stages, which can reach up to 20 kilometers. Twisted pair, as is known, does not exceed 300-500 meters. The advantages of Gpon are obvious here.
Of course, both hardware and client modules are needed to build Provider pilots of Gpon networks. The first Structure debuted in the series was the Terminal Provider UFiber OLT and the client module UFiber Nano G. UFiber OLT initially positioned as a Low-cost model, to evaluate fairly large network segments. The maximum number of supported subscriptions is still 1024, which is very large. However, such features are not always required. Precisely in situations where such capabilities are unnecessary, a new product complementing the series was developed - UFiber OLT 4
(uF-OLT-4).

Unlike its older brother, UFiber 4 OLT has received half as many GPON OLT SFP ports, the number of which has decreased to 4. The throughput of each port is 2.44 Gbps download and 1.22 Gbps upload, the maximum number of connected clients reaches 128. To connect to other segments and connect to the resources of the provider, UF-OLT-4 has an SFP port , with a capacity of 10 Gbps, which is sufficient to provide traffic to all subscribers connected to the terminal.

In addition, the UFiber 4 OLT received two service ports of in-band and out-of-band control. Furthermore, it is also possible to use the RG45 service control port to access the terminal settings. On the front of the uF-OLT-4, you can see an LED panel indicating the status of the ports to determine the presence/absence of a connection, as well as its type and the current activity. When organizing a backup power line, use a DC adapter connector with a supported supply voltage of 16 to 25 v. A good solution in this case is to connect the uFiber 4 OLT to a DC source with UPS or emergency batteries.

Due to the fact that this equipment is not aimed at individual customers, I focused on checking whether you can actually buy a fully functional OLT for such little money.
Let's start with some bad news...
Ubiquiti is known to like to do things their own way, a little different from others, and simplifies the entire deployment and installation process. This is a very big plus for some but for others it comes with some downsides.
To use the UFiber OLT it is necessary to have UNMS software installed - in small installations it is undoubtedly an advantage, but in large telecommunications installations it hinders the integration of UFiber with traffic management systems, authorization, etc. Translated into Polish market it means that you can forget about simple integration with systems such as LMS, NET47, IPOT24 and similar. The only light is the possibility of communication via API left in UNMS, which allows for future preparation of plug-ins supporting UFiber OLT.

While the ONU UFiber terminals can work with OLT from other manufacturers (ZTE, Hyuawei, FiberHome), it does not work the other way round, i.e. with UFiber OLT only terminals manufactured by Ubiquiti will work. This is the policy of the company and we have no influence on it. Is this a big problem? In a way, yes, the UFiber terminals are more expensive than similar devices from the competition, but this state is compensated for by the low price of the OLT itself.
Performance tests carried out on the UFiber ONU terminals confirm that they can reach real speeds of 1Gbps in router mode with NAT enabled, and a single UFiber OLT port can be easily sent up to values around 2.2-2.4Gbps download to 800-900Mbps upload.

The special attention should be paid to UFiber-Instant insert, which is ONU client in bridge mode. Insert is supposed to work in any switch and router. During the tests I've tested this insert with routers and switches from mikrotik. The solution seems to be ideal for connecting to infrastructure built in MikroTik GPEN concept. The insert has a real performance of up to 1Gbps.

In summary, if the price of UFiber terminals was lower and fluctuated in the wholesale range of 60-80 zł net for the simplest tip of the bridge type, the current tip WiFi with only 2.4 GHz cost around 150 zł net it certainly would have a lot of customers. Currently, due to its price, the company in which I work has not decided to purchase this solution, for installations with around 30-50 ends UFiber comes out better, then above 50 ends the OLT does, the difference in price OLT eats the difference in the price of the tip. I consider this to be a big problem.

Pros:

Simplicity of implementation

No need to be a specialist to manage the operation of UFiber devices

Price of UFiber OLT / OLT 4

Existence of the UF Instant module

Disadvantages:

Price of ONU/ONT

Blocking the possibility of installing terminals from other manufacturers

ONU with WiFi only 2.4GHz (no 5GHz)

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NOTE: It is not possible to assign the 192.168.1.20 address to the device on "static" during the first configuration of the device, then another address must be set and 192.168.1.20 again.

Ubiquiti has not provided OLT integration and ONT/ONU configuration from other systems than UNMS/UISP/UCRM. The only option to integrate solutions such as LMS, Net47, IPOT24 and others is to use UNMS API.

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