Comcast tests tech that enables gigabit upload speeds over cable
Just a few years ago Comcast started rolling out 1Gbps cable service and now it’s widely available in many areas across the country, but it still can’t match fiber for upload speed. Many fiber services offer gigabit speeds for customers on uploads and downloads, while the Xfinity package is limited to 35Mbps upload, at a time when people are creating more content and producing more video streams from home than ever before.
This week however, Comcast ran a test that enabled 1.25Gbps speeds up and down on their live network at a home in Jacksonville. There’s no word on when that kind of service will be available to more consumers, but they were able to pull it off with their Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) that combines “digital fiber optics, “Remote PHY” digital nodes, and a cloud-based, virtualized cable modem termination system platform (vCMTS).” This is a milestone on the way to its “10G platform,” that claims it will enable speeds of 10Gbps and higher.
In a statement, Comcast exec Tony Werner said “The great strength of our network technology is that we will have the ability to scale these next-generation speeds to tens of millions of homes in the future without digging up yards, or starting massive construction projects. This technology provides a path to meeting the needs of the future and making multi-gigabit symmetrical speeds a reality for everyone, not just a select few.”
With fiber to the home still not available everywhere, this might be your best shot at getting major upgrades to your upload speed, but even when it rolls out, we’ll need to see some expansion of that 1.2Tb bandwidth cap to get any use out out of it.
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