STAMFORD, Conn. — Charter Communications, the second-largest cable and broadband provider in the US, recently stated that it will roll out DOCSIS D3.1 across its 50-million-home footprint by year’s end. After doing so, it will offer its new Spectrum Internet Gig service (actually 940 Mbit/s downstream) nationwide by the end of the year, according to lightreading.com. Other large cable players such as Comcast, Cox Communications, Mediacom, and Cable One have similar plans and timelines.
DOCSISis an acronym for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification that describesan international telecommunications standard used for the addition of high-bandwidth data communications to an existing cable TV system. It’s the means by which cable television operators to provide internet access over their existing hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure.
Charter has already deployed the technology and its corresponding Spectrum Internet Gig service in eight markets, including, New York City, Austin, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Oahu, Raleigh/Durham and San Antonio and now offers “1-Gig” service to 9 million homes and businesses in those markets, or nearly 20% of its total footprint, according to the same article.
