Which components are located at customer premises in a PON?

• A. ONUs/ONTs
• B. OLTs
• C. Passive splitters
• D. Optical amplifiers

Answer: (A)

In a PON, the device that terminates the optical fiber at the customer’s site and provides the interface to customer equipment is the Optical Network Terminal, often referred to as an ONU in some descriptions. This component sits at the customer premises and converts the optical signals from the fiber into electrical signals for the customer devices, and does the reverse for upstream transmission.

The central office houses the Optical Line Terminal, which manages multiple customer connections. The distribution network uses passive splitters located in the outside plant to split the signal among many users, and there are no active electronics in the distribution path. Optical amplifiers, when present, are used in other contexts or longer-haul sections, not as customer-premises equipment in a standard PON.

So the component located at customer premises is the ONT/ONU.