Faster Speeds for Comcast

Comcast recently announced it is introducing a 2-gigabit download broadband product. Along with faster download speeds, Comcast is claiming new upload speeds of as much as 200 Mbps – at least for the 2 Gbps plan. The company made it sound like all upload speeds would be increased by five to ten times the existing speeds. Interestingly, the same announcement said that Comcast would be introducing DOCSIS 4.0 in 2023, at least for some business customers. That’s an announcement that has me scratching my head. Comcast just announced a successful test for DOCSIS 4.0 in January of 2022. To be able to go from a lab prototype to production units in less than two years would be extraordinary. Comcast could hold a field trial of the new technology in 2023. Cable companies are sensitive about the marketing advantage that faster upload speeds give to fiber and even to slower technologies like fixed wireless access (FWA) cellular. It’s hard to know if the Comcast announcement foreshadows big improvements next year or was just a way to signal to Wall Street that cable companies are working towards improved bandwidth.