Donut417 Where do they have Docsis 4? Like a handful of places?
They have announced a number of locations, but the ability for a customer to actually order X-Class is still somewhat limited. Locations that are (or can be easily moved to) N+0 and vCMTS/DAA were the first low hanging fruit (and that does not include all of the customers in the named locations, just a subset (so which neighborhood you live in can matter)). That have also announced trialing FDX amps.
Who knows how long it’s going to take them to do upgrades.
Your location will vary. A lot of the hard prep work behind the scenes is being done thanks to the mid-split work (headend changes with vCMTS and DAA nodes), but availability of FDX node upgrades and FDX amps is going to be a gating factor, along with line tech availability (while the node modules may be able to “simply” be swapped from their mid-split DAA module (it is not always quite that simple, and Comcast was, sometimes, going to be able to install FDX capable modules initially, so no swap will be needed), only some existing amp housings will be reusable with new FDX amp modules, others will need to be completely swapped out; amp upgrades and swaps are going to be a lot of work (some amp swaps may end up being new nodes in targeted cases)).
Furthermore who knows if they will keep it uncapped permanently. Not to mention who knows if the Modem/Gateway will be included permanently
“It is hard to make predictions, especially about the future”. In any case, at least initially, Comcast wants total control of the end-to-end experience (they did that with their early D3.1 rollouts, too). I am sure the appropriate CFO staff have been looking at how to maximize ARPU in order to make final recommendations.
and if retail modems will become available.
While (under current regulations) the option for a modem vendor to do so should be available, it seems unlikely to happen any time soon (although one modem vendor indicated interest in doing so). One issue is that pretty much all the chips needed for FDX have been allocated for quite some time into the future to the companies who helped pay for the development of the chips for their own products. And if Comcast’s D4.0 modem is included in the pricing, a D4.0 COAM modem might not even be financially viable for a manufacturer (yes, a few people might pay an estimated $500 (the early adopter premium) to own their own modem, but a few is not a viable market).