Coming Comcast Modem Allows 1 Gbps Speeds for Most Customers

Among the Comcast service enhancements revealed this week was a coming modem that allows 1 Gbps speeds for an "overwhelming majority of our customers," it said in a news release. The modem goes into production this year and will be available to subscribers in early 2016, said the cable operator. "Because it works with our Hybrid Fiber Coaxial network already in place, the Gigabit Home Gateway will be able to deliver gigabit speeds to virtually all Xfinity customers once the DOCSIS 3.1 networking standard is deployed nationally," said a post by Comcast Chief Technology Officer Tony Werner. "The Gigabit router is also fully backward compatible with the DOCSIS 3.0 networking standard that is in place today." Comcast CEO Brian Roberts used the INTX show that's wrapping up in Chicago to demo various enhancements. CableLabs, the cable industry's research and development arm that developed the DOCSIS 3.1 specification, has said products meeting that spec can deliver up to 10 Gbps on hybrid fiber-coax networks (see 1412160036).