Reside in a central office, or part of a leased space agreement, and provided by local carrier loops which provide a connecting point for data transport or data-packet networks.

Part of the Access Network which performs some or all of the following: modulating forward data onto the Access Network; demodulating return-path data; enforcing the MAC protocol for access onto the Access Network; separating or classifying traffic prior to multiplexing onto the Transport Network—such as differentiating traffic that is subject to QoS guarantees from traffic that receives best-effort support; enforcing signaling; handling passive operations such as splitting and filtering.

Bay Networks single Ethernet or token ring cost-effective router for connecting small remote offices.