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August 27, 2015

Comcast's Entire Footprint Will be DOCSIS 3.1 by 2018

By Frank Griffin, TMCnet Contributing Writer

Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification or DOCSIS is the international standard used for transferring data over cable TV systems. The specification was created in 1997 by a not-for-profit organization called CableLabs (News - Alert), along with many different industry players. Some of the members include, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Midcontinent Communications, Rogers, Shaw, Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable and others.



With the growth of the Internet and online services, the DOCSIS platform has become an essential tool in today’s digital ecosystem. As of one the largest cable providers in the country, Comcast (News - Alert) has announced it is moving full speed ahead to deploy DOCSIS 3.1, and by 2018 its entire footprint will support the technology.

Robert Howald, Comcast's VP of network architecture, told FierceCable "We're testing it this year. Our intent is to scale it through our footprint through 2016.” He went on to say, “We want to get it across the footprint very quickly, we're shooting for two years.”

What this means for the end user is, Comcast will be able to deliver up to 10 Gbps, within the next few years. The company is pushing the deployment of DOCSIS 3.1 throughout 2016 with the goal of finalizing the project by 2018.

Since its introduction, DOCSIS has dramatically increased the speeds it is able to achieve with each iteration. According to CableLabs, this is the development:

  • DOCSIS 1.x—38Mbps Down; 9Mbps Up
  • DOCSIS 2.0—38Mbps Down; 27Mbps Up
  • DOCSIS 3.0—152Mbps Down; 108Mbps Up
  • DOCSIS 3.1—10,000Mbps Down; 1,000Mbps Up

In addition to delivering high speeds, the technology also moves the cable industry into an interoperable ecosystem in which cable modems/gateways, network-side cable modem termination systems (CMTSs), super-dense converged cable access platforms (CCAPs) and QAM equipment will function without compatibility issues.

The cable industry has been under considerable amount of pressure since Google (News - Alert) announced super broadband services. This has led local and national companies to start providing faster Internet connections, which have become essential in the personal lives of consumers and the infrastructure of businesses.

Let’s hope the development of this technology and increasing competition in the industry will give us faster and cheaper broadband access across the country.




Edited by Dominick Sorrentino
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