The disclosure relates to test-capable pluggable transceivers and network systems and methods using such transceivers. A central test server generates a test request and communicates to a mediation sub-system, which uses a common management protocol to communicate with a plurality of transceivers in the network. The mediation sub-system translates the test request into sub-tests and generates sequences of test-control commands for executing by specific transceivers to configure test logic deployed within the transceivers for testing designated network services, to generate test frames, and/or to process received frames to collect test results.