Comcast first started rolling out its long-awaited DOCSIS 4.0 upgrades to select neighborhoods in Colorado Springs, CO, in October, announcing at the time that it planned to launch the technology to parts of the Atlanta and Philadelphia metro areas by the end of the year.
Impact: Barely a month later, Comcast made good on its promise to extend DOCSIS 4.0 to more markets in 2023, lighting up the technology and accompanying multi-gigabit broadband tiers in parts of Atlanta. With the Colorado launch, Comcast claimed the world’s first commercial DOCSIS 4.0 rollout, building on its position as “the largest provider of gigabit-plus Internet speeds in the country.” The successful deployment means Comcast can now deliver multi-gigabit symmetrical Internet speeds on its Xfinity HFC network, using customers’ existing connections to provide better reliability, lower latency, and improved Wi-Fi coverage. Comcast timed the launch of its new X-Class Internet product line for residential customers to the DOCSIS 4.0 deployment. The X-Class lineup includes symmetrical speed tiers of 300 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1 Gbps, and 2 Gbps, all of are available in both markets and which come with unlimited data and a new modem that can be self-installed.
At the time of the Colorado Springs launch, Chief Network Officer Elad Nafshi refrained from offering an exact timeline as to when additional deployments would take place, instead noting that Comcast plans to deploy DOCSIS 4.0 to the rest of its footprint as quickly as possible over the course of the next several years. He also indicated the company would intensify its efforts in the coming months, backing that up with the most recent launch in Atlanta. As of mid-November, new and existing Xfinity residential customers in select neighborhoods around that city can access the four speed options featured in the X-Class Internet lineup already available in Colorado Springs.
When discussing the first DOCSIS 4.0 launch, Nafshi also said the last major hurdle remaining for Comcast before the start of a more widespread launch has to do with the transition from mid-split implementations to the DOCSIS 4.0 electronic upgrade that uses full duplex DOCSIS 4.0. Provided that happens in the expected timeframe, Comcast will accelerate its DOCSIS 4.0 rollouts next year, eventually covering millions of customers with the new technology. Comcast also plans to extend the technology to more of its Colorado and Georgia footprints starting next year. As for this year’s Philadelphia launch, given the timing between the first two rollouts, we’d expect to see DOCSIS 4.0 made available to initial addresses in the company’s home city sometime in mid-December.
