Gizmodo: docsis

Comcast Rolls Out Japan-Fast Cable Internet, But Can You Afford It?

matt buchanan — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:04:45 EDT

DOCSIS 3.0 is the next-gen cable internet standard that allows crazy fast bandwidth of up to 160Mbps downstream and 120 up. The lucky first city to get a piece of that action from Comcast—which plans to cover 20 percent of its market with the awesome by the end of this year—is St. Paul, Minnesota. Denizens can sign up for the Godzilla pipes starting this week, though the 50Mbps line will cost a whopping $150 a month. And no, it won't blow you. But, that is some sick bandwidth, equaling Verizon's FiOS offering (which is only $90 a month). So, is it worth it? How much would you pay? [Bits]

Comcast Getting 100Mbps Cable Modems Next Year, Fiber Scared?

Matt Buchanan — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:00:05 EST

Comcast confirms we'll see the rollout of DOCSIS 3.0—the next-gen data over cable standard allowing bandwidth of 160Mbps down and 120Mbps up—starting next year, with 20 percent of its footprint expected to be blanketed in bandwidth goodness by the end of 2008. Even though Comcast isn't saying where it'll fall, markets where there's FiOS are probably going to continue having all of the fat pipe fortune—competition is good for people in those areas, bad for the rest of us. Now for the real bad news:

The upstream magic—where cable is so sorely gimped right now—is going to remain hobbly, at least at first. And it's not 'cause Comcast is incompetent (for a change). As "a reflection of the status of upstream channel bonding technology" we won't see upstream on steroids until deep into 2008 or even 2009. Consequently, while downstream's getting a Rosie O' Donnell plumping with initial offerings in the 20-50Mbps range—what Verizon's offering now—upstream speeds still aren't going to stack up, dulling the competitive edge DOCSIS 3.0 was supposed to bring against fiber.

That means The Flash is going to stay ahead of Quicksilver for the foreseeable future, since by 2009 Verizon's GPON-based FiOS will probably cover the majority of its footprint, allowing them to flip a switch to out-juice whatever cable's got by then. [Broadband Reports]

100Mbps Cable Modem Certification Testing Starts; Showdown With Fiber Next Year

Matt Buchanan — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:00:22 EST

CableLabs has started testing and certifying the next generation of cable modems that use the DOCSIS 3.0 standard. In sorta English, we're talking boxes that'll handle 160Mbps download speeds and 120Mbps up, putting them on par with fiber optic services. The AZNs still have the jump on us, with customers in Korea and Singapore getting first crack at the fiber-like speeds in trials earlier this year. But, we should see cable companies rolling out the new hotness sometime next year.

The cruel irony is that places already saturated with uber-broadband will probably take priority as cable ISPs look to compete with Verizon and AT&T fiber. But since they can forgo the lengthy and expensive process of laying down fiber optic cable, most of us will see fatter pipes this way long before fiber could make it to our doors. We're used to longing for real broadband with no relief in sight anyway, so feel free to take your time, cable companies. Kidding. Get it here now. [Ars Technica]

Comcast Shows Ass-Kicking Cable Modem Tech, 25x Faster But Not For You

Charlie White — Wed, 09 May 2007 11:30:00 EDT

Comcast blew the doors off the NCTA (National Cable Television Association) Cable Show in Las Vegas this week, showing off a quick-like-a-bunny cable modem using DOCSIS 3.0 technology developed by CableLabs, that group that gives the thumbs up or down to all hardware related to cable.

The tricky thing about this modem (which could someday look like the old Comcast box pictured here) is the way it lashes together four cables to give you a lickety-split download rate of 150Mb per second, a heckuva sight faster than the 2Mbps to 5 Mbps you get with a cable modem these days if you're lucky.

Rejoice. Now cable weasels like Comcast and Time Warner Cable will be able to tell their customers they're getting 25 times the speed they got before, but then throttle them by 100x, perhaps making stockholders happy. If we ever see the benefit of this technology, they'll charge us 25x for it. – Charlie White

Comcast CEO shows superfast modem capable of 150 Mbps downloads [Newlaunches]