Arrival of DOCSIS 4

[Punch Cards]

My cable tech told me to wait on buying a home cable modem as DOCSIS 4 is around the corner. But so is Christmas. Any info, rumors or town criers know the status?

 

[RMerlin]

We can't answer for you because that is provider-specific. Only your provider would be able to tell you what their upgrade plans are.

 

[Tech9]

Don’t see it happening any time soon with any ISP around me. The best we get is DOCSIS 3.1 with up to 200Mbps upload, if lucky. And this is something new, the upload was limited to 50Mbps not long ago.

 

[RMerlin]

Don’t see it happening any time soon with any ISP around me. The best we get is DOCSIS 3.1 with up to 200Mbps upload, if lucky. And this is something new, the upload was limited to 50Mbps not long ago.

VIdéotron has been on an hybrid 3.0/3.1 architecture for like 8 years now, with no end in sight for the 3.0 portion. One of the problem is the legacy junk using up lots of frequency bands that would be needed for a 3.1 migration. Hence, their best service is still 940/50...

I remember one US ISP (might have been Comcast) who did announce plans for 4.0 deployment in the near future. Dunno what's the latest news on that front. I stopped caring about DOCSIS since I moved to FTTH.

 

[KevTech]

Comcast already has some areas on DOCSIS 4.
No retail modems yet.

 

[Tech9]

might have been Comcast

Rogers in Ontario is marketing Comcast Xfinity services now. What used to be Rogers Ignite is now Rogers Xfinity. The new plans are with up to 200Mbps upload where the technology and infrastructure allows. One more Canadian business gone South (literally), I guess.

https://www.xfinity.com/overview

I was thinking to get one "promotion" 2000/200 plan for $50, but decided to stay Rogers/Bell free for as long as possible.

 

[sfx2000]

Interesting as most Cable Providers have deployed DOCSIS 3.1, and to a fair amount of success...

DOCSIS 4 - soon enough I suppose...

One of the interim items is Comcast's L4S - Low Latency for Speed... This is more app centric around QoS, and yes, it does require their CPE/RG's in managed mode (e.g. no bridging)

 

[sfx2000]

VIdéotron has been on an hybrid 3.0/3.1 architecture for like 8 years now, with no end in sight for the 3.0 portion. One of the problem is the legacy junk using up lots of frequency bands that would be needed for a 3.1 migration. Hence, their best service is still 940/50...

CoxHSI went thru that mess with QAM/ClearQAM for TV, and then the migration over to Switched Digital Video (SDV) - that cleared out a lot of spectrum for DOCSIS 3.1...

That, along with moving POTS/PSTN support moving over to VOIP which cleared up even more spectrum...

 

[Tech9]

no end in sight for the 3.0 portion

We had to exchange the modems for Rogers network about 2 years ago. They are all DOCSIS 3.1 now on all plans.

 

[sfx2000]

For CosHSI - it was a hard swap for the set top box, along with dial tone (POTS)...

They offered up mini-boxes for CableTV for SDV - it wasn't MOCA...

 

[bluzfanmr1]

Rogers in Ontario is marketing Comcast Xfinity services now. What used to be Rogers Ignite is now Rogers Xfinity. The new plans are with up to 200Mbps upload where the technology and infrastructure allows. One more Canadian business gone South (literally), I guess.

https://www.xfinity.com/overview

View attachment 66215

I was thinking to get one "promotion" 2000/200 plan for $50, but decided to stay Rogers/Bell free for as long as possible.

You are going to love Xfinity if it's not just a branding type of deal. I say that with a heavy dose of sarcasm. They are THE worst company to deal with. You will constantly be hit with price increase pressures and broken promises plus terrible customer service. God forbid you need a real person to speak to in billing or tech support. The pricing won't be as bad if you have some competition but if you don't, look out. They use their monopoly areas to the max.

 

[Tech9]

They are THE worst company to deal with. You will constantly be hit with price increase pressures and broken promises plus terrible customer service.

Sounds exactly like Rogers in Canada. No wonder they teamed up with Comcast.

 

[sfx2000]

Sounds exactly like Rogers in Canada. No wonder they teamed up with Comcast.

Comcast as a business is one thing as a service provider for the last mile... their customer service levels are well known

As a tech company, they're driving a lot of innovation in both the last mile as well as the backend services - it's one of those complicated relationships between vendors, customers, and the standards bodies that define things...

 

[Tech9]

they're driving a lot of innovation

Their local equivalent is driving anger. The longer you stay the more you pay. And because they own the infrastructure local resellers have no access to latest and greatest and when service call is placed they are at the bottom of the priority list.

 

[nzwayne]

Cogeco in Burlington (Ontario) in last few months just made available 2Gb/s (download) & 150Mb/s (upload) on the F@ST3896UM V2 - DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem. Modem spec show it's capable of 5Gb/s & 2Gb/s. DOCSIS 4 around here, not holding my breath!

 

[shabbs]

Rogers said they were trialing DOCSIS 4.0 in Calgary late last year... and I've heard "end of 2025" for wider rollout but who knows.

Rogers Bringing Comcast Industry-Leading Network Technology to Canadians - About Rogers

Company advancing roadmap to bring customers 10G internet on Canada’s fastest, most reliable internet network Toronto, ON (September 24, 2024) – Rogers Communications today announced it is partnering with Comcast to bring Canadians industry-leading internet technology. Rogers will use Comcast...

about.rogers.com

Would be nice to see it in my lifetime... for now... 2000/200 it is.

 

[sfx2000]

Their local equivalent is driving anger. The longer you stay the more you pay. And because they own the infrastructure local resellers have no access to latest and greatest and when service call is placed they are at the bottom of the priority list.

Was interesting how CoxHSI managed the 3.1 migration - basically they said, upgrade, or we will limit you to 100Mbit down/10Mbit up no matter what plan you were on before the migration.

For the carrier provided CPE - they provided free truck rolls to replace the modem, and perhaps upgrade to a full blown gateway/wifi solution...

If you had a personally owned modem, one would have to move to a newer device - for example, for Arris/Moto going from SB6120 over to a SB8200 or similar...

Cox hasn't announced a DOCSIS 4.0 upgrade yet, so at the moment, I'll stay with my SB8200 - it's a good modem for now, and my comm/rateplan at the moment is 1000/100, and upstream is more important for me when I'm outside of the home...

 

[sfx2000]

Their local equivalent is driving anger

FWIW - I'm two blocks away from ATT fiber where they are offering up 1GB symmetric - outside of my development, everything is on telephone poles, two blocks away, it goes underground. Connections for ATT are across the street, but there it is still DSL100, no fiber to the node even...

 

[Tech9]

basically they said, upgrade, or we will limit you to 100Mbit down/10Mbit up

Here on Ontario providers using Rogers Cable infrastructure told customers after specific date the old modem won't work anymore and the new one has to be installed. The new ones got mailed to the customers with simple step-by-step instructions how to swap and activate. I have 2x Hitron CODA56 modems now, they work okay. Rogers is now sending to their customers what is known as Xfinity XB8 gateway for the new Xfinity plans. As far as I know - the only device available.

I'm two blocks away

Exactly the same here. Cable only available at the moment, but up to 2000/200 so not so bad except for the regular price and provider's reputation. Field technicians are offering the service on promotional price, but I prefer to keep my current provider.

 

[sfx2000]

Rogers is now sending to their customers what is known as Xfinity XB8 gateway for the new Xfinity plans.

Interesting - Rogers used to be strongly aligned with ATT in the mobile space, much like Bell Canada and Sprint...

Times change...