Medicom Wraps Up DOCSIS 3.1 Deployment

After two years, cable TV, Internet, and phone provider Mediacom has completed its mission of company wide deployment of DOCSIS 3.1 network services. Now it is available across Mediacom's entire footprint according to JR Walden, Mediacom's Chief Technology Officer.

“We did the last one Friday,” Walden was speaking at an SCTE Cable-Tec Expo breakfast panel event that included technology executives from Midco, CableLabs and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers. The event was produced by Broadband Technology Report. “We wanted to put a stake in the ground as fast as we could," he continued.

"We began launching markets in 2017," he added. "We staggered the launches to get our names in the paper a little more. It worked. But for all intent and purposes, we’re done."

To improve Mediacom's Internet, voice and digital television bundles are available in 22 states. Mediacom began switching from CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.0 to the new 3.1 standard two years ago. Back then the vendors didn’t really even have any DOCSIS 3.1 products completed.

They could get the cable modem termination system or CMTS products for the hubs early on. They replaced about 200 cable modem termination system devices at around 40 different locations but the DOCSIS 3.1 modems were a lot harder to source.

“CableLabs kept telling us that the CMTSs would come first and the modems second,” Walden said. “I don’t know why I didn’t believe them. We really anticipated the modems coming a little faster.”

Mediacom conducted DOCSIS 3.1 field tests in 2016.

About 10% of new Mediacom Internet, cable and voice subscribers are signing up for 1-gig service, powered be DOCSIS 3.1, Walden said. They have deployed some 12,000 DOCSIS 3.1 gateways out of a million plus customers. Mediacom announced last year a billion dollar upgade plan.

Top Cable Internet Providers in the United States.

Never ones to leave money sitting on the table Cable TV companies started providing cable high speed Internet when they saw that they could do so using the cables they already had going into people’s houses. Cable Internet was much faster then dial up and customers could use their phone while surfing the Internet. Not sure who was the first company to find high speed cable Internet was a viable way to get online but these are the major players now. Even though they started out with Cable television most cable customers have more Internet customers than cable television customers.

Comcast – The United State’s largest cable company and also the largest home Internet provider, Comcast provides high speed cable Internet to more than 25 million houses. Comcast also owns NBC/Universal and Dreamworks. It was founded in 1963 as American Cable Systems but re-incorporated in 1969 as Comcast (from communication and broadcast).

Charter Communication – After buying Time Warner Cable and the Bright House Network Charter is the second largest cable TV company and the second largest Internet provider in the United States. Charter provides High Speed Internet to almost 23 million Internet customers.

Cox Cable – Cox has about 3 and a half million Internet subscribers, a little less than 3 million cable TV customers and a little more then 3 million telephone customers. Cox has bundles of Internet, Cable TV and voice. They also owns newspapers, TV and radio stations and Kelley Blue book and the Auto Trader. They were actually the first cable company to offer phone services. It is still owned and run by the Cox family.

Cable One is the seventh largest cable Company in the United States, Cable One has a litte less than a million customers spread over 21 states. They offer Internet speeds of up to 200 Mbps in some areas. Customers can get a Cable One bundle with Internet, voice and cable televsion.

Mediacom - With a customer base primarily in the midwest Mediacom is the 9th largest cable TV and Internet company in the U.S. with over 800,000 video customers. They are the biggest cable company in Iowa and the second largest in Illinois. They have promised to have Gigabit (1000 Mbps) Internet speeds in all of the areas they service by the end of 2017.