What is the difference between POP and MDF in networking?

A POP is to networking what an MDF is to voice communications.

A Point of Presence is where network connections are aggregated and connected to the Internet backbone. In the days of dial-up networking it was typically a room full of modems connected to a router or routers that were in turn connected to the Internet via one or more T or E circuits (typically a T-1 in the US and E-1 elsewhere). With modern broadband services it would be the neighborhood head-end unit for cable distribution systems or the telco DSLAM for DSL systems.

A Main Distribution Facility (or Main Distribution Frame) is the interface at the telco switch where phone lines from customers are connected into the switching facility. Older MDFs in large cities were often several stories high and a city block long, typically housed in a windowless building. Interconnections between customer lines and the central switch were made manually. Modern MDFs, while still large, typically make the interconnections via software allowing rapid provisioning of services.

1 POP is a mail protocol. 1MDF is a type of particle board

2POP is owned by the ISP 2 MDF is owned by Telstra

3 POP = Point of Presence 3 Main Distribution facility