Jeff Baumgartner

Perhaps there’s too much of a focus on raw speeds and the focus on megabits and gigabits. An initiative underway at CableLabs is lavishing some attention on milliseconds.

CableLabs is exploring the implementation of Active Queue Management (AQM), a technology that’s designed to reduce latency, buffering and packet loss – elements that can improve the overall performance of DOCSIS-delivered broadband services.

Posting big speeds will always provide grist for the marketing people, but CableLabs believes that an additional focus on latency can juice up the performance of broadband-fueled multiplayer gaming, video conferencing, video streaming and even the simple task of loading Web pages.

Following Comcast into the world of prepaid broadband, Frontier Communications has introduced Pay-As-You-Go Internet, a service that allows customers to buy access in increments of one day, seven days or 30 days.

Like Comcast’s prepaid offering, Frontier’s does not require a credit check, a Social Security number or a bank account, opening up a way to obtain customers who don’t want or otherwise don’t qualify for a post-paid broadband service.

Comcast has begun to roll out speed upgrades in Houston and parts of California, according to customers. Comcast is jacking up speeds without a price increase.

However, some customers might need a new DOCSIS 3.0 modem to get the new speeds, which Comcast will swap for no additional cost.

AT&T will extend its fiber-based “GigaPower” network to parts of Nashville, where it will eventually offer speeds up to 1 Gbps. Nashville, served by incumbent cable operator Comcast, is also one of 34 potential expansion cities being sized up by Google Fiber and its 1-Gig-capable platform.

AT&T shed some light on its coming launch of fiber-fed “U-verse with GigaPower” services in pockets of Dallas and Ft. Worth, announcing that it’s on track to boot up service this summer.

AT&T, which tangles with Time Warner Cable and, to a lesser extent, with Charter Communications, in that area, didn’t pinpoint a launch date, but said the deployment will initially focus on the Dallas-area communities of Highland Park and University Park, offering “speed capability up to 1 Gbps.”

In Ft. Worth, the initial deployment will also be limited to 100 Mbps, with plans to offer up to 1-Gig by the end of 2014.

Google is on track with its exploration to expand Google Fiber to as many as 34 cities as they complete “checklists” that could pave the way for future deployments, and the expectation is to announce the going-forward plan before the end of 2014, company SVP and CFO Patrick Pichette said.

Officials for Carrboro have ratified an agreement that will clear the way for AT&T to rollout its fiber-based, 1-Gig capable U-verse With GigaPower to parts of the city.

The agreement stems from a North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN) initiative comprised of six cities, four universities, and local businesses. AT&T has already received approval for GigaPower from Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Cary, Winston-Salem and Durham.

Comcast confirmed that the company has completed the integration of its Xfinity On Demand service with certain retail-bought TiVo DVRs in all Comcast markets.

Completion of that integration has been expected. The integration enables TiVo devices purchased at retail by Comcast customers to access and stream the company's massive cideo-on-demand library, including its Streampix catalog.

Integration of Comcast’s VOD service is currently limited to TiVo Premiere hardware as well as its newer Roamio models. Those devices can also access Comcast’s live TV lineup, so long as they are paired with a CableCARD security module.

The demand on the broadband downstream will outstrip upload requirements by an 8:1 ratio by 2020, according to a new study commissioned by Cable Europe and NL Kabel.

The study, undertaken by the Technical University of Eindhoven and Dialogic, predicts that the average broadband user will demand downstream speeds of 165 Mbps, versus 20 Mbps in the upstream, by the end of the decade.

In 2013, the average sufficient provisioned speeds were about 15.3 Mbps down and about 1.6 Mbps upstream, the study noted. While back-up services will tax the upstream, video will need to carry the load in the downstream, the study noted.

Cable Europe said the industry’s current broadband technology roadmap puts MSOs in great position to support those demands. While state-of-the-art DOCSIS 3.0 technology can bond enough channels to support downstream bursts of more than 1 Gbps, the coming DOCSIS 3.1 platform is targeting capacities of up to 10 Gbps down by 2 Gbps upstream.

In the wake of recent deals with Winston-Salem and Durham, Raleigh is the latest North Carolina city to ratify an agreement that clears AT&T to deploy “U-verse with GigaPower,” the telecommunications company’s fiber-based, 1-Gbps-capable platform.

Like the earlier deals, the one with Raleigh comes way of AT&T’s discussions with the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN), an initiative comprised of six cities, four universities, and local business leaders, that’s aimed at stimulating deployment of next-gen broadband networks in the state.

AT&T said the plan, like those others in NC, “outlines potential fiber deployments…to parts of Raleigh,” though the telco has not yet defines which parts will get access to GigaPower.