Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for reducing jitter and latency in a PON. In one aspect, an optical network unit includes a downstream optical receiver configured to receive downstream traffic over a first wavelength; a first upstream optical transmitter having a first data rate; a second upstream optical transmitter having a second data rate that is higher than the first data rate; and a controller configured to direct upstream traffic to one of the first upstream optical transmitter or the second upstream optical transmitter depending on a traffic type of the traffic. Traffic having a control plane traffic type is directed to the first upstream optical transmitter and traffic having a data plane traffic type is directed to the second upstream optical transmitter.