Comcast Details Its First DOCSIS 3.0 Deployment

Comcast Corp. has announced its first deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 technology, in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., which it claims enables it to offer residential and business customers downstream Internet access speeds of up to 50mbps and upstream speeds of up to 5mbps — its fastest access offering.

DOCSIS 3.0 is a CableLabs-driven standard designed to help cablecos dramatically boost speeds using channel-bonding technology to support downstream speeds of up to 160mbps and upstream speeds of up to 120mbps. Comcast claimed at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that it plans to pass up to 20 percent of its customers with DOCSIS 3.0 by yearend.

DOCSIS 3.0 deployments are seen by industry experts as the best way for cablecos with hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks to keep pace with large, deep-pocketed, FTTH and FTTN network operators such as Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., respectively. (For more, read “Cast Aside?: Why Comcast and Other Cablecos Are Struggling”)

In a separate but related development, Time Warner Cable is expected to begin deploying DOCSIS 3.0 later this month, according to a report released today by New Paradigm Resources Group.

Comcast said it expects to deliver even faster speeds of up to 100mbps to its customers over the next two years with the capability of delivering higher speeds of 160mbps or more at an as yet unspecified date in the future. It refers to DOCSIS 3.0 as a “wideband” technology. Telcos have been increasing the competitive pressure on incumbent cablecos with symmetric offerings for delay-sensitive applications for over a year now.

“This announcement marks the beginning of the evolution from broadband to wideband,” said Mitch Bowling, senior vice president and general manager of Comcast High-Speed Internet, Comcast Cable, in prepared comments. “Wideband is the future and it’s coming fast. We believe wideband will usher in a new era of speed and Internet innovation for today’s digital consumers.”

The new speeds are available in the Twin Cities region beginning today. Comcast says customers using the 50mbps service could download a 4GB high-definition movie in about 10 minutes. The new 50mbps/5mbps speed tier will be offered at $149.95 per month.

Customers wishing to use the new speed will need to install a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem made by Cisco Systems Inc., according to a spokesperson for the company, who added the cablecos hope to eventually have them available in retail chains for self-installation by customers.

It’s unclear whether the modems Comcast is using have been fully certified as DOCSIS 3.0-compliant or if they were earlier models pressed into rapid service to launch the higher-speed Internet access service.

For current high-speed Internet access resident customers, as a result of the deployment, Comcast will nearly triple the upload speed of its 6mbps/384kbps Performance tier to 6mbps/1mbps and more than double the upload speed of its 8mbps/768kbps Performance Plus tier to 8mbps/2mbps, at no additional charge.

Comcast noted that it has been adding much fiber to its network in the Twin Cities area. It also has been working outside Minnesota to boost the speed of its Internet access offerings.

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