Particular embodiments provide a method for delivering data in the upstream direction without the need for upstream radio frequency (RF) modulation. For example, in some embodiments, an optical network may reach to a gateway associated with a user device. The gateway may receive digital baseband data from the user device in the upstream direction. The gateway can then send the digital baseband data through the optical network without modulating the digital baseband signal via radio frequency. At the headend, because no modulation is performed in the upstream direction, there is no need for de-modulation in the headend. In one embodiment, a scheduler-based approach is used to avoid instances of optical beat interference in the upstream direction as only one upstream device that may interfere with other devices may be able to send data at one time.