Optical Network Terminal (ONT)
An optical network terminal is the device at the customer's premises that ends the fibre connection and converts the optical signal into electrical connections such as Ethernet for the customer's equipment.
What is Optical Network Terminal (ONT)?
In a PON, the ONT (also called an optical network unit, ONU) is the customer-end counterpart of the OLT. It receives the downstream broadcast, picks out its own traffic and transmits upstream in the time slots the OLT gives it. Strictly, "ONU" is often used for units that serve several users or sit outside the home, and "ONT" for single-premises devices, but the terms are widely used interchangeably. Some ONTs include router, Wi-Fi and phone functions, in which case they act as a home gateway.