Cable operators can get to 8 Gbps without end-to-end DOCSIS 4.0

DOCSIS 4.0 has been billed as the technology that will put cable operators on par with 10G PON service from fiber providers, but a recent CableLabs interoperability event showed cable companies can hit over 8 Gbps with a mix of new and old gear. CableLabs Principal Architect Doug Jones said that operators demonstrated speeds of “eight point something” gigabits per second downstream and 1.5 Gbps upstream. But rather than using an end-to-end DOCSIS 4.0 system, this was done using a DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem termination system (CMTS) in a high split configuration and a DOCSIS 4.0 modem. The trick, he added, was getting these two pieces of equipment to talk to each other. Rather than a replacement for end-to-end DOCSIS 4.0, Jones said this hybrid DOCSIS 3.1 CMTS+DOCSIS 4.0 modem setup can serve as a stepping stone to it, especially for smaller, regional operators who aren’t on the bleeding edge of the developing technology. It’s also more economical and less of a lift than deploying a DOCSIS 4.0 CMTS in terms of the amount of back office work required given operators would only need to install a software upgrade to their existing DOCSIS 3.1 CMTS system to deploy the 4.0 modems rather than validating and deploying an entirely new system.