GFiber, Brightspeed explain their fiber network topology choices

The telecommunications industry is anticipating a fiber shortage beginning in 2026 and lingering for a couple of years. Those companies planning major fiber-to-the-home deployments should consider their options when it comes to network topologies because the choice can make a difference in the amount of fiber needed. Traditional fiber networks have been deployed in a centralized topology that mimics the same pattern as legacy copper networks. With this architecture, feeder fibers originate at the optical line terminal in a central office and are sent out to a fiber distribution hub. At the FDH, each feeder fiber is split either 32 or 64 times to serve 32 or 64 homes. But there are three other types of fiber network topologies that have been created in the decades since copper networks were designed. These topologies include distributed, cascaded, and optical tap. Fierce spoke to executives from GFIber and Brightspeed about why they chose a particular fiber broadband topology.