a multiple wavelength tdma optical network according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in fig2 a and indicated generally by reference character 100 . similar to the prior art optical network shown in fig1 a , the exemplary optical network 100 shown in fig2 a includes an optical line terminal ( olt ) 102 connected to a passive splitter 104 through an optical transmission line 106 ( e . g ., optical fiber ). the optical network 100 also includes several exemplary optical network units ( onus ) 108 , 110 , 112 , 114 each connected to the passive splitter 104 through an associated optical transmission line 118 , 120 , 122 , 124 . each onu is configured to send data packets pk 1 , pk 2 , . . . , or pkn in the upstream direction ( i . e ., toward the olt 102 ) at an appropriate time using a tdma protocol . these data packets pass through the passive optical splitter 104 and ultimately arrive at the olt 102 through the optical transmission line 106 . in contrast to the prior art , the exemplary onus 108 - 114 do not all communicate with the olt 102 using the same wavelength . instead , each onu is assigned to one of two distinct tdma groups , with each tdma group using a wavelength different than that of the other tdma group . as shown in fig2 a , some onus 108 , 112 communicate with the olt 102 at a wavelength λ −, while other onus 110 , 114 communicate with the olt 102 at a wavelength λ + that is longer than the wavelength λ −. as a result , two tdma data streams travel over the same optical transmission line 106 to the olt 102 ; one at the wavelength λ − as illustrated in fig2 b , and one at the wavelength λ + as illustrated in fig2 c . while , in the exemplary network 100 shown in fig2 a , only two onus are assigned to each tdma group , those skilled in the art will recognize that this is for illustrative purposes only and that , in many specific implementations of the invention , greater than two onus will be assigned to one or more of the tdma groups . as further explained below , the olt 102 receives both tdma data streams and separates them by wavelength to two different detectors . by using this inventive approach which involves two ( or more ) tdma groups operating at different wavelengths , the bandwidth of the exemplary network 100 , and thus the bandwidth allocated to each onu , can be increased without increasing data transmit speeds between the onus and the olt . this is because multiple onus can now send data packets to the olt 102 at the same time , provided that they transmit data at different wavelengths . synchronization guard bands may also be made long enough in time to permit detector signal recovery using low cost , low speed electronic circuitry in the olt 102 , as well as low cost , low speed optical transmitters in the onus 108 - 114 . in this manner , the present invention provides for a passive optical network having an increased bandwidth while using low cost components . as should be apparent , the invention can also be used to increase the bandwidth of higher cost , higher speed networks . the internal functions of the preferred olt 102 will now be described with reference to fig3 . as shown therein , the olt 102 preferably includes a wavelength demultiplexer ( wdm ) 130 , which is preferably a passive optical component , a pair of optical receivers ( also called optical detectors ) 132 , 134 , a pair of clock / data recovery circuits 136 , 138 , and a multiplexer 140 . the wdm 130 preferably receives the tdma data streams shown in fig2 b and 2c through the optical transmission line 106 , and separates these data streams into two separate channels . the tdma data stream of wavelength λ − is routed to the optical receiver 132 , while the tdma data steam of wavelength λ + is routed to the optical receiver 134 , as shown in fig3 . preferably , the wavelengths λ − and λ + are sufficiently separated from one another ( e . g ., by greater than 30 db ) so that the wdm 130 can provide each of the tdma data streams to one of the optical receivers 132 , 134 without harmful noise . each independent tdma data stream is processed by one of the optical receivers 132 , 134 and one of the clock / data recovery circuits 136 , 138 in a conventional manner . the data steams are then multiplexed together to a common data receiving point 142 using the multiplexer 140 . as will be apparent to those skilled in the art , the multiplexer 140 may include buffers for delaying any data packets received out of order by the multiplexer 140 . although only two tdma groups are utilized in the exemplary optical network 100 described above , it should be apparent that more than two groups can likewise be used . additional tdma groups at additional wavelengths are preferably supported by replacing the wdm 130 and the multiplexer 140 shown in fig3 with similar components capable of demultiplexing and multiplexing , respectively , more than two data channels , and by adding an additional optical receiver and an additional clock / data recovery circuit for each additional tdma wavelength group beyond the two groups described above . it should also be noted that although every other onu in fig2 a is assigned to the same tdma group , this was done for illustrative purposes only and is not a requirement or limitation of the present invention . as will be apparent to those skilled in the art , while the exemplary optical network 100 described above employs a tree architecture , the teachings of the present invention are applicable to all point - to - multipoint topologies including ring and bus architectures . an exemplary implementation of the present invention in an optical network having a fault tolerant redundant ring architecture is illustrated in fig4 and indicated generally by reference character 200 . as shown in fig4 , the network 200 includes an olt 202 with which several onus 204 - 216 communicate redundantly and bidirectionally through an optical transmission line 220 . similar to the optical network 100 described above with reference to fig2 a , each onu of the optical network 200 is configured to communicate with the olt 202 using a tdma protocol at one of two different wavelengths λ − and λ +. thus , in the optical network 200 of fig4 , two ( or more ) tdma data streams are preferably used to communicate data from the onus 204 - 216 to a common olt data entrance point . for purposes of redundancy , the olt 202 shown in fig4 preferably includes two sets of the components shown in fig3 , with each set connected to one end of the optical transmission line 220 . additional details of the optical network 200 and the preferred manner in which the onus 204 - 216 are passively coupled to the optical transmission line 220 are described in u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 568 , 358 filed may 10 , 2000 , the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . the onus included in the exemplary optical networks 100 , 200 described above are preferably provided with low cost laser diodes for communicating upstream using a tdma protocol at one of the wavelengths λ − and λ +. this can be accomplished by providing laser diodes having a nominal ( i . e ., rated ) wavelength of λ − and laser diodes having a nominal wavelength of λ +, as should be apparent . alternatively , a number of low cost laser diodes having the same nominal wavelength can be tested and separated into two or more distinct wavelength groups according to the present invention . this is because the actual operating wavelength of a laser diode often varies by as much as 20 nm or more from its nominal wavelength . for example , the range of actual operating wavelengths for laser diodes rated at 1310 nm exceeds 1290 nm to 1330 mm . as shown in fig5 a , a laser diode having a nominal wavelength of λn may have an operating wavelength anywhere in the spectral window extending from λlow to λhigh . thus , once the actual operating wavelength of the laser diode is determined , that diode can be separated into one of two different wavelength groups λ − or λ + according to whether its actual operating wavelength is greater or less than some reference wavelength , such as the nominal wavelength λn as shown in fig5 a . in the case where some degree of isolation is needed between the wavelength groups λ − and λ +, the actual operating wavelength of a particular laser diode can be compared with two reference wavelengths λr 1 and λr 2 , as shown in fig5 b . thus , a laser diode having an operating wavelength less than both reference wavelengths λr 1 and λr 2 can be separated into wavelength group λ −, and a laser diode having an operating wavelength greater than both reference wavelengths λr 1 and λr 2 can be separated into wavelength group λ +. laser diodes having operating wavelengths falling between the reference wavelengths λr 1 and λr 2 are preferably separated into a third wavelength group , and such diodes are preferably not used in combination with the diodes separated into wavelength group λ − or λ + for optical networks requiring a degree of isolation ( represented by the difference of the reference wavelengths λr 1 and λr 2 ) between each wavelength group . as used herein , wavelength λ + refers to a wavelength that is longer than wavelength λ −, and wavelength λ − refers to a wavelength that is shorter than wavelength λ +; no specific wavelength values are intended . the particular values that should be assigned to wavelengths λ − and λ + in any given implementation of the invention is a matter of design choice . it should also be understood that wavelengths in a relatively narrow spectral range ( e . g ., wavelengths that would be grouped together by the wdm 130 shown in fig3 ) are considered the same wavelength for purposes of this disclosure . thus , wavelength λ − ( also called a “ first wavelength ”) may represent a group of wavelengths in a relatively narrow spectral range that does not overlap with another relatively narrow spectral range of wavelengths that may comprise the wavelength λ + ( also called a “ second wavelength ”). when introducing elements of the present invention or the preferred embodiments thereof , the articles “ a ”, “ an ”, “ the ” and “ said ” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements . the terms “ comprising ”, “ including ” and “ having ” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements . as various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense .