Comcast today unveiled new details about the company's launch of DOCSIS 3.1 -- aka the technology that will deliver gigabit speeds to traditional cable broadband customers. According to the full Comcast announcement, Atlanta and Nashville (both not-coincidentally Google Fiber build markets) will get the ultra-fast DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades in early 2016. Comcast says that Chicago, Detroit, and Miami will follow sometime in the second half of the year. Comcast is not revealing how much the service will cost, or whether Comcast's unpopular usage caps will make an appearance.
Comcast is also offering a
two gigabit product named Gigabit Pro to select locations. Gigabit Pro runs over a fiber to the home connection, and costs $300 a month (plus $1000 in installation and activation fees).
In contrast, Comcast's DOCSIS 3.1 gigabit cable service should reach significantly more of the 55 million homes Comcast's network passes. The company last month announced it had conducted the first field trial of DOCSIS 3.1-capable modems at a residence in Philadelphia. Comcast is also conducting trials in other parts of Pennsylvania, Northern California and Atlanta.
"DOCSIS 3.1 represents a tremendous step forward in our commitment to keeping customers at the technology forefront," the company said of the launch announcement. "Combined with all the upgrades we have already put into our advanced fiber optic-coax network, this technology will not only provide more gigabit speed choices for customers, it will also eventually make these ultra-fast speeds available to the most homes in our service areas."
While the DOCSIS 3.1 standard will ultimately be capable of 10 Gbps down, 1 Gbps up, the first wave of backward-compatible devices (you'll need a new modem, of course) will initially "only" support 5 Gbps down, 1 Gbps up. While speed is an important metric, most Comcast customers will be notably more interested in just how much Comcast's gigabit cable broadband service will cost, as the cutting edge is decidedly less sexy if it requires a second mortgage.