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Cox to Begin Gigabit Cable Field Trials Next Year

In May of 2014 Cox announced that they'd soon offer 1 Gbps fiber in parts of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Omaha via highly-selective deployment of fiber to the home service (dubbed "Gigablast"). For everybody else, Cox stated that they'd start delivering gigabit speeds once the DOCSIS 3.1 standard was ratified and commercial gear was available.

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This week Cox offered a little more detail on those plans, company executives noting Cox is preparing to launch DOCSIS 3.1 lab and field trials next year, and will ramp up gigabit deployments in 2017. It's far too early to know what you'll pay for the honor of ultra-fast speeds.

Cox says the company will deploy hybrid DOCSIS 3.0 and DOCSIS 3.1 consumer premises equipment (CPE) soon after DOCSIS 3.1 is certified, helping to seed the market for delivery of gigabit speeds "in widespread fashion."

While DOCSIS 3.1 is technically capable of 10 Gbps down, and 1 Gbps up, initial gear deployment will most likely "only" support 5 Gbps down, 1 Gbps up. Arris engineers recently stated that speeds of 50 Gbps or more may someday be viable by extending the capacity of hybrid fiber coaxial lines to 6 GHz or more, and utilizing a fiber-to-the-tap or fiber-to-the-curb approach that greatly reduces coax length.

Cox will likely get more specific about which markets will be first in line for gigabit speeds over coaxial sometime early next year.

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battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

-2 recommendations

battleop

Member

For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

Now that we are starting to see more and more deployments of GB that's not good enough?

booya
@2001:470.x

4 recommendations

booya

Anon

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

said by battleop:

Now that we are starting to see more and more deployments of GB that's not good enough?

Only if its DOCSIS 3.1 based. Offering a Gig tier over DOCSIS 3.0 is a joke and a total marketing game to say we are offering a Gig product too (and too early), but not all networks are created equally.
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

davidhoffman

Premium Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

There are 32 down channel and 8 up channel D3.0 modems being developed. You could get 1000Mbps/100Mbps out of those.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA

3 recommendations

cypherstream

MVM

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

True but that's a huge swath of spectrum. D3.1's OFDM is much more efficient from a spectral density standpoint.
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

1 recommendation

davidhoffman

Premium Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

Agreed, but imagine the possible constant dollar price decreases for D3.0 equipment as D3.1 is deployed. A small or medium sized cable company might be able to economically defend such D3.0 expansion and usage. Let some of the big boys work out the inevitable bugs and absorb the costs associated with the initial D3.1 deployments. Then you can come around later and deploy D3.1 when things do not cost so much.

booya
@2001:470.x

1 recommendation

booya to davidhoffman

Anon

to davidhoffman
said by davidhoffman:

There are 32 down channel and 8 up channel D3.0 modems being developed. You could get 1000Mbps/100Mbps out of those.

32x8 modems already exist and are what are being used.

32x8 modems share 1.1Gbps at the node between 100+ people.

That is only a marketing idiots idea of a 1Gbps connection. They're not able to provide anywhere near 100Mbps up.
existenz
join:2014-02-12

existenz

Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

All Gbit networks aren't the same but as more ISPs deliver Gbit or psuedo-Gbit speeds, it will drive down user cost of lower tiers. Lower priced mid-tiers is probably bigger deal (assuming no caps) than offering Gbit for most people.
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

davidhoffman to booya

Premium Member

to booya
What if the node is upgraded to 10 Gbps? I thought Cox would have to do that in order to properly implement D3.1. If that is not true, then you are correct, marketing hype with massive oversubscription.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco to booya

Premium Member

to booya
Extensive over-subscription is very common for gigabit services.

EPON which is widely used to deploy symmetrical gigabit service globally only delivers ~1.25 Gbps (only 1Gbps usable) downstream/upstream shared among many users. It can provide faster upstream than DOCSIS 3, but the downstream is really no better off.

booya
@2001:470.x

booya

Anon

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

said by silbaco:

Extensive over-subscription is very common for gigabit services.

EPON which is widely used to deploy symmetrical gigabit service globally only delivers ~1.25 Gbps (only 1Gbps usable) downstream/upstream shared among many users. It can provide faster upstream than DOCSIS 3, but the downstream is really no better off.

Whether over-subscription exists or not is not the issue.

Big diff between 16:1 (or 8:1 for Google Fiber) split 2.488 Gbps and 100+ : 1 split 1.1 Gbps. I consider a traditional GPON network (.e.g. AT&T, CenturyLink, Bell Canada, etc) to be of reasonable split ratios for now. Cable wouldn't be so bad with DOCSIS 3.1 and having split ratios down to 64 : 1 or lower. Google Fiber is the most ideal setup but it is also based on a network that is not truly PON which the carriers have wanted to stay away from. But the carriers also have NG-PON2 just around the corner.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

Isn't Google using WDM-PON? In which case there isn't really a split ratio because everyone has their own dedicated wavelength?
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

davidhoffman to battleop

Premium Member

to battleop
Business accounts, large residential developments, and others who can afford it. You may see Cox make the lowest residential tier in these markets 10/1, the next tiers 50/5, 100/10, 500/50, and 1000/100. It seems to me it is more about efficiency in spectrum usage of coaxial cable than it is about offering 5000/500 or 10000/1000. When completed, going to D3.1 is supposed to be much more efficient, but the transition is going to be difficult.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

"You may see Cox make the lowest residential tier in these markets 10/1"

And you will continue see reports bitching that our internet speeds in America suck because of this.
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

1 recommendation

davidhoffman

Premium Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

You will only have to do 10 Mbps down to be included in the low income programs for some areas of the USA. Cox is not going to do anything more than the regulations require. The starter tier will be as limited as it can be.

The suck for internet speeds is going away. We have bounced around near the top ten for a while. A lot of small and midsized cable companies are just now implementing the highest levels of D3.0 channel bonding. I have seen 50% speed increases with 10% price increases from some cable ISPs. Yes, caps are not increased as much. One day we will see a D3.0 32/8 channel bonding modem for under $100 retail. Maybe by 2021.

The situation is getting better, just not as fast as some would like.

TV White Spaces. More advanced LTE. Reclamation of 1G, 2G, and 3G cellular frequencies for LTE. All of this added to the wired network advances means the USA will do a lot better in the future than we have in the past. Even the satellite ISPs will get better.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco to battleop

Premium Member

to battleop
Of course not. Unless it is Gigabit fiber it's just a marketing gimmick. And unless it is Google Fiber then it is just a fiber to the press release.
existenz
join:2014-02-12

-1 recommendation

existenz

Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

Snarkiness noted but not all Gbit ISPs are designed the same. DOCSIS and 2.5G GPON are shared at the neighborhood level, GF's WDM-PON is effectively dedicated Gbit per user and they have talked a 10Gbit future. GF also has a dedicated longhaul network and very good peering, allowing 900M+ across the country and 700M+ to Europe/Asia. The other Gbit players _might_ be able to do near Gbit locally (metro area) but at long distances, can be half that or much less.

Comcast GPro could be an exception, but it's MetroE, not DOCSIS - will be interesting to see how well it performs at long distances.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: For years we have heard complaints about a lack of 1Gb options...

You are absolutely right that Google's network is superior. I am just pointing out the mentality around here is that no one else matters but Google. Which I would argue is very short sighted.

P Ness
You'Ve Forgotten 9-11 Already
Premium Member
join:2001-08-29
way way out

-1 recommendation

P Ness to battleop

Premium Member

to battleop
i don't get it when are you actually going to use this in a non file sharing, non server hosting manner?

its good they are doing this for the future of broadband but its a complete waste now and just fluff

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

...initial gear deployment will most likely "only" support 5 Gbps down, 1 Gb

"It's burst into flames! Get out of the way! please! Oh my, this is terrible... Oh, the humanity! ...

Considering that just a few short years ago many here thought DOCSIS would ever deliver speeds above 25-50-100mbps and now those will be "starter" tier speeds.

Fios= still no gig
google fiber= "upto" (almost) a gig
a couple FTTH munis= 10 gig announced "soon"
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

fttt vs fttp

FTTP is simpler and about the same price.. why risk ANY attenuation issues? the more network elements you introduce into the system, the more troubleshooting & problems can occur.. why not simplify and not have to retrofit piece by piece every 5 or so years? that's about how long docsis 3 lasted before demand is being outstripped with a push to build faster..
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

1 recommendation

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: fttt vs fttp

Building fiber to each house is nowhere near as cheap as upgrading to 32 channel docsis 3 and eventual docsis 3.1.

Fiber needs upgrades too. EPON/GPON are both past their prime. Docsis 3.1 will have far more downstream capacity than either.

booya
@2001:470.x

booya

Anon

Re: fttt vs fttp

said by silbaco:

Building fiber to each house is nowhere near as cheap as upgrading to 32 channel docsis 3 and eventual docsis 3.1.

Fiber needs upgrades too. EPON/GPON are both past their prime. Docsis 3.1 will have far more downstream capacity than either.

And one provides actual 1Gbps service and the other is a marketing gimmick that is bordering on fraudulent sale of service.

Yes, they are. EPON providers have upgraded to 10Gb EPON and NG-PON2 is just around the corner for providers using GPON.
ajac
join:2000-08-15
Norman, OK

ajac

Member

okc soon!

Starting to see commericals in the OKC market so hope its a good sign we are coming soon!
ajwees41
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Omaha, NE

ajwees41

Premium Member

Re: okc soon!

seen the commercials in Omaha, but still not available at my address