Sunflower Uncaps D3 Video Tier

1:05 PM -- Kansas-based, Tier 2 MSO Sunflower Broadband has joined the Docsis 3.0 club with two new high-speed tiers, including one that's "optimized for video" and not subject to the MSO's monthly bandwidth usage caps.

Its "Gold" wideband package offers 50 Mbit/s downstream and 1 Mbit/s upstream for $59.95 per month when bundled with other services (plus $5 per month for the modem rental), and is tied to a monthly data allotment of 120 gigabytes. Sunflower charges $2 for each additional gigabyte above that limit, though customers can also purchase additional bandwidth in advance (15 Gbits for $10 per month, or 50 Gbits for $25 per month.). Sunflower hasn't returned a call for comment, but its Website notes that more than 80 percent of its customers never receive an overage bill.

Its Docsis 3.0-based "Palladium" tier, which runs $49.95 per month and targets heavy users of Web video, removes the consumption cap. However, the speeds offered in that tier aren't specified, as Sunflower labels both the upstream and downstream as "variable."

Sunflower launched the wideband services in Lawrence, Eudora, and other rural communities in its Kansas footprint, using modems from Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS). The operator expects to deploy Docsis 3.0 in the remainder of its systems in the first quarter of 2010. (See Sunflower Unleashes Docsis 3.0.)

Elsewhere in Docsis 3.0 land, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) said it has completed its deployment in Massachusetts following launches of its 50 Mbit/s (downstream) package in Bernardston, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Hardwick, Monson, Montague, Northfield, Palmer, Ware, and Warren.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News