Comcast and other cable internet providers started talking up the next generation of cable modem technology in 2022, technology that would bring their internet access offerings up to speed – pun intended – with purveyors of fiber optic internet.
That standard so far has been mostly MIA. DOCSIS 4.0, as it’s called, has remained just over the horizon. “By the end of this year” became “by the end of next year.” And as the calendar rolled over, that cycle would repeat.
But Comcast finally has started a quiet rollout of this technology in the Houston area. It’s only available in a few neighborhoods, but expect to hear more in the coming weeks, company executives say.
:
DOCSIS 4.0’s delays mean cable providers have been operating at a disadvantage in their decades-long battle with fiber. With the current DOCSIS 3.1 standard, cable upload speeds are typically a fraction of download speeds. Fiber offers the same speeds up and down. Cable is infamous for data caps, in which customers pay extra if they use more than a certain amount of data, something fiber users don’t have to worry about.
DOCSIS 4.0 brings parity with fiber when it comes to symmetrical download and upload speeds. In most instances, the new offerings don’t include limits on data.
Comcast is ahead of most of other cable providers in its DOCSIS 4.0 plans, according to Jeff Baumgartner, a senior editor for Light Reading, a website that closely tracks the communications industry.
“I would say out of all the cable operators, Comcast is the only operator that is deploying DOCSIS 4.0 at any scale,” Baumgartner said. “And some operators are just foregoing DOCSIS 4.0 right now. They’re just not touching it.”
:
Comcast for the past few years has been beefing up its network capabilities in anticipation of DOCSIS 4.0, including locally. A February 2023 Comcast news release included Houston among 40 markets where such improvements were in process: https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/comcast-multi-gig-rollout-xfinity-10g-network-upgrade
While only a few neighborhoods in the area have access to DOCSIS 4.0-level service, many local customers have already seen improvements as a result of the upgrades.
:
Comcast won’t detail where service is available in the Houston area, saying it’s mostly concentrated in the northwest part of town, such as around Tidwell, and in some East Hubs neighborhoods east of downtown.
Non-promotional pricing and speed tiers – with symmetrical download/upload speeds and no data caps – are competitive with fiber offerings from AT&T. 300 Mbps up/down is $55 a month; 500 Mbps is $65; 1 gigabit-per-second service is $85; and 2 Gbps is $115.
The network improvements, an initiative dubbed Project Genesis, are also designed to make Comcast’s service more reliable, said Elad Nafshi, Comcast’s executive vice president and chief network officer. The Broadcom chips and other equipment use AI to detect problems in service and work to “heal” them without human intervention, Nafshi said.
:
Nationally, 50% of Comcast’s network is DOCSIS 4.0 ready. That’s on track to hit 70% by the end of the year, Nafshi said.
For now, Comcast is using direct marketing such as email and app notifications to let Houston customers know about the service in areas where it’s available. A new modem/router gateway, the XB10, is under development for use with DOCSIS 4.0 (it also uses the latest WiFi 7 standard) but in the interim the company providing its current XB8 gateway with a dedicated DOCSIS 4.0 modem.
Don’t expect the term “DOCSIS 4.0” to be a big part of Comcast’s marketing effort. Xfinity X-Class is what it’s being called in other markets. Expect to see that kind of branding here.