William Herrin wrote:
However, with time slotted PON, unbundling must be at L2, which is as expensive as L3, which means there effectively is no unbundling.
I strongly disagree. If this were true, there would be no market for MPLS service: folks would simply buy Internet service and run VPNs.
You agree with me. MPLS at L2 sucks because it is as expensive as, but less capable than, IP at L3.
If you take my packets off at the first hop and deliver them to a 3rd party provider,
If you are saying delivery as IP, your local provider is an ISP with monopoly.
Even if the cost for the unbundled L2 circuit was *identical* to the cost of the bundled Internet circuit it would enable a huge range of niche products that aren't practical now.
See the reality of your example of MPLS. Masataka Ohta