Patent ID: 8346095

Claim:
A network for delivering telecommunications services, comprising: a point of presence maintained by a network provider for receiving service provider signals from at least two service providers; a plurality of authorization receivers associated with a plurality of user premises, each one of said authorization receivers comprising at least one optical switch; and a passive optical network connecting said point of presence and said optical switches within said authorization receivers; wherein said point of presence is operable to transmit a first service provider signal and a first plurality of authorization codes over the passive optical network to said plurality of authorization receivers; wherein said point of presence is operable to transmit a second service provider signal and a second plurality of authorization codes over the passive optical network to said plurality of authorization receivers; wherein each one of said plurality of authorization receivers is operable to allow the first service provider signal to be connected to the corresponding user premises if at least one of the first plurality of authorization codes matches an authorization code associated with the corresponding authorization receiver; wherein each one of said plurality of authorization receivers is operable to allow the second service provider signal to be connected to the user premises if at least one of the second plurality of authorization codes matches the authorization code associated with the corresponding authorization receiver; and wherein the network provider maintains a record of all connections and disconnections of said first and second service provider signals to and from the user premises and provides said record to the service providers.