> Some providers have the splitters placed close to the customers In the PON networks I've noticed, they tend to have a splitter per (serviced) pole, usually w

> Some providers have the splitters placed close to the customers In the PON networks I've noticed, they tend to have a splitter per (serviced) pole, usually with about 4 ports. What they do in their cabinets, I don't know. If it's all undergrounded, I can't see that either. I'd guess they can swap in an 8 port splitter on a pole if needed as well. And my observed pole density seems to naturally be increased in areas of denser housing. When I lived on a postage stamp lot, we had poles every two houses or so; my parents live in suburbia with bigger lots, but poles were still about every other house. Now that I'm semi-rural, poles seem to be farther apart, but also not all poles host service connections.