SeaChange Ad
The Bauminator
Jeff Baumgartner

Comcast Lighting Up 100 Mbit/s?

May 28, 2009 | Jeff Baumgartner | Comment (1)
no ratings

5:30 PM -- Today's scuttlebutt says Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is getting ready to double up and launch a 100-Mbit/s (downstream) Docsis 3.0 tier "any day now."

That gives the timing of the rumor plenty of wiggle room. As comedian Stephen Wright famously pointed out: "Anywhere is walking distance, if you've got the time."

These days, Comcast offers a 50-Mbit/s down / 5-Mbit/s up "Extreme" tier for $139.95 per month (for residential customers) in markets such as Minneapolis/St. Paul, Boston, Philly, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Atlanta.

When asked about the rumor that a 100-Mbit/s offering was imminent, the company didn't confirm or deny it. "We have nothing to announce at this time," a spokesman responded via email, pointing out that Docsis 3.0 has the capability to hit speeds in excess of 160 Mbit/s in the future.

The platform can hit such lofty bursts if the MSO bonds four 6 MHz channels -- the minimum capability required for Docsis 3.0 cable modem certification at CableLabs . With Comcast's analog reclamation project already hitting its stride in a few markets, maybe the MSO actually has a couple of channels to spare toward a faster wideband tier? (See Comcast's $1B Bandwidth Plan .)

Although 100 Mbit/s is considered the next "magic number," it still wouldn't give Comcast bragging rights as the fastest cable modem service in the U.S. Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) currently has that with its 101-Mbit/s service.

Perhaps Comcast will get cute and promise bursts of 102 Mbit/s, or maybe push the needle a bit higher by teaming a new wideband tier with PowerBoost, as Cox Communications Inc. is doing. [Ed note: Comcast invented PowerBoost, but licenses the technology to Cox.] (See Cox Gives Wideband a 'PowerBoost'.)

That might tweak Cablevision a bit, but it could certainly give Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) another reason to rant about the capabilities and limitations of cable's wideband platform. A blog battle in the making? Isn't that reason enough?

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News
Newest Comments First       Display in Chronological Order
cablemaster222
User Ranking
Saturday May 30, 2009 12:18:23 PM
no ratings

I don't care how fast Cablevision claims it can get - if your service goes down you are out of luck.  I'd go with a slightly lower speed from another company before I'd risk the well being of my business with them.

The blogs and comments are the opinions only of the writers and do not reflect the views of Light Reading. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
More The Bauminator
Cable Catchup
4:40 PM Costly CableCARDs, Charter inching closer to an exit, cable FTTP without all the mess, and more
SCTE Trims as It Realigns
4:55 PM Society releases two VPs as it looks to strengthen its engineering core
Kudelski's Clincher
1:05 PM Shareholders go for Kudelski's sweetened bid for OpenTV, and the notion that OpenTV faces a brighter future with Kudelski in control
Dish & 'TV Everywhere'
9:30 AM More than a technology play?
Mediacom Preps 100-Meg D3
5:45 PM MSO will roll 100-meg Docsis 3.0 services in 2 markets next month, while another 9 start off with 50-meg tiers
Most Popular
Read
White Papers SPONSORED CONTENT
Featured
Future of Cable Business Service Ad
Podcasts SPONSORED CONTENT
Services Transformation - by Alcatel-Lucent Communications service providers want to be able to bring new services to...
Rural Ops Bridge the Digital Divide - by Tellabs Tellabs helps IOCs build triple play networks
Driving Network Transformation - by Alcatel-Lucent In order to deal with competitive pressures, the change in service models...
Back(haul) to the Future - by Tellabs Tellabs works with Vodafone to meet growing mobile broadband demands.
MRS Logistica - by Tellabs Tellabs helps MRS Logistica transform its existing, largely outdated TDM networks to IP.
Carrier Ethernet Offers an Enterprising Solution - by Tellabs What is VPLS and how does it work? Tellabs takes a closer look.
Swisscom’s Network Makeover - by Tellabs Fresh off the launch of 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, Swisscom sees 3G as an opportunity to launch a unifying ...
Telecom in Namibia - by Tellabs Tellabs helps Telecom Namibia with next-gen challenges
Companies
Alcatel-Lucent (5872), AT&T (1948), BellSouth (848), BT (1287), Cablevision (615), Cisco (5297), Comcast (1910), Cox Communications (858), Deutsche Telekom (807), eBay (Skype) (345), Ericsson (1617), France Telecom (964), Google (489), Huawei (1045), Intel (1127), Juniper (2022), Microsoft (1115), Motorola (1486), Nokia Siemens Networks (2645), Nortel (3956), NTT (173), Siemens (1359), Sprint (1059), Telefonica (439), Time Warner Cable (969), Verizon (2587), Vodafone (510), Yahoo (339)

Broadband
Access equipment (2169), Access technologies (2378), Broadband loop carriers / multiservice access nodes (388), Cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) (1104), Cable TV chips (286), DSL (2425), DSL chips (227), DSLAMs (703), Free-space optics (35), FTTx (3265), Gaming consoles (58), Gaming servers (22), Media adapters (23), Municipal networks (106), PON (1364), PON chips (217), Satellite (497), WiMax (880), Wireless LAN (354)

Cable Digital
Cable Modems (681), Cable/MSO equipment (2802), CableLabs (470), Compression (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4) (279), Docsis (1046), Embedded multimedia terminal adapters (E-MTAs) (213), Head-ends (233), PacketCable (129), QAM (307)

Chips, Components & Subsystems
ASICs & FPGAs (101), ATCA (480), ATM chips (13), Comm chips (2360), Dispersion compensators (149), Lasers (920), Modulators (163), Mux/demuxes (299), Network processors (933), Optical amplifiers (349), Optical channel monitors (92), Optical components (2824), Speciality fiber (94), Switches & OADMs (397), Transceivers (1247), Transmission fiber (419), Variable optical attenuators (139)

Ethernet
10-Gbit/s Ethernet switches (1454), Access devices (272), ATM switches (333), Circuit emulation (16), Converged access (103), Ethernet chips (573), Ethernet equipment (2212), Ethernet over copper (231), Ethernet PONs (160), Ethernet services (1909), Ethernet technologies (568), Multipoint (131), Multiservice edge equipment (143), Multiservice provisioning platforms (622), Multiservice switches (389), PBT (Provider Backbone Transport) (256), Point-to-point (139), Pseudowire (Layer 2 tunnels) (132)

IP & Convergence
B-RASs (229), Cell/WLAN (77), Compression equipment (13), Core routers (1294), DNS (56), Edge routers (1686), ENUM (53), Fixed/Mobile Convergence (485), GMPLS (76), IMS (1088), IMS Control Layer (27), IMS Service Layer (27), IP equipment (1224), IP software (381), IP technologies (1482), IPv6 (99), Layer 3 VPNs (194), MPLS (1774), MPLS (687), Multicast (36), P2P (258), Pseudowire (Layer 2 tunnels) (132), QOS (350), SIP (396), Traffic managers (808), Wireline/Wireless (59)

Mobile/Wireless
3G Evolution (175), Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (189), Carrier WiFi (226), CDMA (3G) (367), Core Network (173), EV-DO (126), Femtocells (30), Fixed Wireless (Microwave, etc.) (71), Fourth Generation (4G) Wireless (70), GSM/EDGE (430), HSDPA/HSUPA (321), IMS Core (47), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (188), Mobile Advertising (24), Mobile Music (31), Mobile TV (130), Mobile Video (65), Mobile WiMax/WiBro (92), Mobile/Wireless (5877), Packet Core (61), Radio Access Network (236), TD-SCDMA (Chinese 3G) (67), Transmission (38), Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB) (8), UMTS(3G) (340), Voice Core (21), WiMax (880), Wireless Backhaul (272), Wireless Chips (191), Wireless LAN (354)

Optical Networking
40-Gbit/s transmission (452), Core optical switches (760), CWDM (289), DWDM (1842), Long-haul WDM equipment (654), Metro optical switches, ROADMs (1173), Metro WDM equipment (773), Multiservice provisioning platforms & add/drop muxes (375), Optical equipment (2191), Optical switches & crossconnects (398), Optical technologies (417), Sonet/SDH (1036), Sonet/SDH chips (351), Wavelength services (305)

Security
Anti-virus (29), Denial-of-service attacks (44), Encryption (97), Endpoint security (22), Firewalls (61), Intrusion detection & prevention (45), IPSec VPN (801), Security (1835), SSL VPN (862), URL filtering (12), User authentication (24)

Services Software
Activation (415), Billing systems (761), Content/software downloads (231), Customer relationship management (231), Data Integrity (61), Element management systems (36), Fault management (69), Inventory management (153), Mediation systems (204), Messaging (231), Middleware (72), Mobile location (41), OSS (2584), Performance monitoring (335), Policy control (269), Provisioning (553), Revenue assurance & fraud management (334), Service delivery platforms (SDPs) (328), Service management (220), Service-oriented architectures (310), Services (2480), Web gateways (56), Web services (124), XML (51)

Test & Measurement (Sponsored by Etaliq Inc)
Access equipment Access test & measurement equipment (126), Comm chips Comm chips test & measurement equipment (29), Ethernet equipment Ethernet test & measurement equipment (170), IP equipment IP test & measurement equipment (122), MPLS MPLS test & measurement equipment (14), Optical components Optical components test & measurement equipment (113), Optical equipment Optical test & measurement equipment (886), OSS OSS test & measurement (1059), Sonet/SDH Sonet/SDH test & measurement equipment (1599), Test & measurement (1755), VOIP equipment VOIP test & measurement equipment (145)

Video (Sponsored by Ericsson Televisionary)
Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (189), Broadcast video equipment (including encoding) (730), Content delivery network (CDN) (394), Content protection (270), DVRs (665), Internet Video (840), IPTV (3461), Middleware & business support systems (845), Set-top boxes (1624), Stored video servers (379), TV (3581), Video equipment (2448), Video services (4130), Video software (1349), Videophone (185), VOD (2635)

VOIP
Application servers (186), Centrex (198), Conferencing (78), Contact centers (38), Enhanced voice (34), Enterprise (637), Media gateways (357), Messaging (73), Presence management (43), Residential (835), Session border controllers (398), Signaling gateways (104), Softswitches (1090), VOIP chips (167), VOIP equipment (3423), VOIP services (3768), VOIP software (620), VOIP VPNs (28), Wholesale (220)