Home / server / Questions / 832364
Accepted
Chazy Chaz
Asked: 2017-02-14 13:26:43 +0800 CST

What fiber optic network interface card do I need for a WAN connection

  • 772

I'm thinking on building my own (micro-atx) router for business and personal projects at home.

My question is what kind of network card do I need to receive the fiber optic connection? I'm currently using the router my ISP provides me but I want to replace it.

I've been looking and I can only find super expensive cards (more than 150-250€) and I think those are not the ones I need, so can anyone point me in the right direction?

I will be using a Linux distro with iptables, dhcp, bind, etc...

hardware nic fiber pci

5 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You don't want to buy a "fiber card". What you want is a card (or preferably a switch) that has either SFP or SFP+ ports.

    This will allow you to purchase cheap optics depending on what you need, and will ensure that you're future-proof if you need to upgrade or change optics in the future.

    As for what type of optics you'll need, that's a conversation you will need to have with your ISP. Whatever you have will need to match whatever is on the other end of your fiber pair.

    • 12

  2. You need to find out what standard your ISP is using before you can start shopping for hardware to connect to it.

    IF it's a fiber ethernet variant then you can use a network card with a SFP/SFP+ slot (SFP is for 1 gigabit, SFP+ for 10 gigabit) and a suitable transciever module.

    If it's GPON then internal interface cards for PCs don't seem to exist, it seems you have to buy a seperate "GPON modem".

    If it is some legacy telco standard you will need different hardware again.

    • 4

  3. The easiest way is to configure the ZTE F680 in bridge mode. That way the TV and telephone ports on the F680 will still work (if you use those services). The F680 will bridge the Internet VLAN to its LAN ports and you can just connect a typical Ethernet router's WAN port to it.

    If you want to bypass the F680 altogether, you need a GPON Class B+ ONT/ONU SFP module (not Class C++, not OLT) such as the Finisar FTGN2117P2CxN or the ZyXEL PMG3000-D20B. You can plug this into an SFP port on a router or switch and use the same Internet VLAN ID that your ISP has configured on the ZTE F680.

    You cannot easily change the SN / Password / LOID on GPON ONT SFP modules, and ISPs use these values to prevent the use of unauthorized ONTs. Unless you can get your ISP to whitelist your SFP module, you may be forced to use bridge mode with their CPE.

    • 0

  4. But you can’t just plug in a gpon sfp module into a switch first you then are straight connected to the wan and that is unsafe and second most of the time your isp needs to put your sfp module or ont’s s/n into the config of the olt at your isp’s fiber hut

    • 0

  5. Cause i used a super micro router with a chelsio t420CR with a Nokia class 1 3FE53441AA 01 NIB and worked fine i just needed to call my isp and say the s/n of the sfp module and it worked

    • 0