A dispersion compensation system and method for use in an optical transmission system to compensate for signal distortion of an optical signal is provided. The dispersion compensation system includes a first and second transceivers for generating and receiving the optical signal respectively. An optical line couples the first transceiver to the second transceiver. A plurality of amplifiers are coupled to the optical line, spaced periodically throughout the optical line forming span distances, where the amplifiers amplify the optical signal and where the span differences are variable. A plurality of dispersion compensation modules are coupled to the plurality of amplifiers where the dispersion compensation models include a coarse granularity module having a resolution of at least 5 kilometers connected to a connector, the connector also connected to a fine granularity module having a resolution of one kilometer. The coarse and fine granularity modules connected through a single connector and the coarse granularity modules and the fine granularity modules correct the dispersion of the optical signal accumulated in the variable span distance. A memory is coupled to the dispersion compensators to provide information related to the value of the dispersion compensation.