So what's the status with DOCSIS 3.1?

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › So what's the status with DOCSIS 3.1?

Dudeguy

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#204426 1-Oct-2016 00:46

I thought last year when it was announced it was planned to start rolling out around mid 2016.. haven't really heard any actual news about it since last year though.

Anyone know how's it looking now? And also if a VF rep could chime in I'd like to know if existing/new cable customers who are interested in upgrading to DOCSIS 3.1/Gigabit speeds will need to have a technician to come over and change the cabling/wiring etc or will it be like the current fibre rollout for Gigabit, i.e pretty much no "at-home" hardware/wiring changes required.

Thanks!

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#1643622 1-Oct-2016 01:55

New hardware for DOCSIS is getting installed now D-CMTS

New DOCSIS 3.1 modem will be required as it supports the 32 channels required

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#1643659 1-Oct-2016 09:03

I've been a cable user at the same address for several years, on the notorious node WKH in Island Bay.
Vodafone have had major problems maintaining performance of the cable network since the adoption of "unlimited" data plans, with peak hour congestion for more than a year.

See the 232-page Krapi Kable Congestion blog.

This has finally been fixed, with the installation of D-CMTS hardware (node WKH and others) over the last month.
We have experienced a dramatic improvement in performance since then, with full line speeds 24/7 and improved international performance.

Presumably DOCSIS 3.1 will be rolled out when all cable "nodes" have been upgraded to D-CMTS ???

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gbwelly

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#1643675 1-Oct-2016 09:49

Sideface:

We have experienced a dramatic improvement in performance since then, with full line speeds 24/7 and improved international performance.

Presumably DOCSIS 3.1 will be rolled out when all cable "nodes" have been upgraded to D-CMTS ???

I'm totally confident that Vodafone will be able to provide unlimited gigabit plans without congestion based on a frequency-division multiplexed architecture.

Geektastic

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#1643698 1-Oct-2016 10:29

Cable?

I wish. My upload speed has now fallen below 1.5 Mbps.

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#1643700 1-Oct-2016 10:32

Geektastic:

Cable?

I wish. My upload speed has now fallen below 1.5 Mbps.

Is your node on the upgraded list?

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Jase2985

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#1643704 1-Oct-2016 10:37

@sideface, hes neither on cable or in wellington. Hes just complaining about his poor internet in his small town on his vodafone 3g connection

michaeln

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#1643723 1-Oct-2016 11:15

Every new DOCSIS standard has been backwards compatible with all the previous versions. That is, a DOCSIS 3.0 CMTS supports cable modems on 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0. Likewise a DOCSIS 3.0 modem works with CMTS on 3.0, 2.0, 1.1 and even 1.0. However, the lowest common denominator holds. The service you get is the lowest of the standard supposed by the cable modem and the CMTS.

With the upgrade to DOCSIS 3.1, the new D-CMTS supports all the existing DOCSIS 3.0 modems, but only in DOCSIS 3.0 mode. The benefits of DOCSIS 3.1 (like 1Gbps) require a new modem.

Which is a long way of answering your question: you WILL need a new modem to get the higher speeds, and it will need to be installed by Vodafone. Basically, it's just like the ONT on UFB. Only the LFC gets to change out the ONT/only Vodafone gets to change out the CM.

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mdf

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#1643745 1-Oct-2016 12:53

FWIW (and I appreciate that's probably not much), can I register a preference for a "dumb" DOCSIS 3.1 modem, like an ONT? I would vastly prefer to be able to select my own router than be forced into an all-in-one device that won't do what I need/prefer it to do (a la the current Technicolor). For me, smarts is much much more important than raw speed. If the choice was between an all-in-one Technicolor gigabit, or my current Cisco modem + Nighthawk router (limited to 100 Mbit), I will stick with the status quo until fibre arrives. Oh so many years away.

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#1643790 1-Oct-2016 13:30

mdf:

... I would vastly prefer to be able to select my own router than be forced into an all-in-one device that won't do what I need/prefer it to do (a la the current Technicolor). For me, smarts is much much more important than raw speed. ...

Let's hope it's not one these monsters:

(an Askey TCG310 with wood-grain finish)

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DjShadow

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#1643797 1-Oct-2016 13:43

I'm picking it will be a Huawei branded one since they are supplying the new network gear they are installing

I was having a nosy around AVM's website and the best they do is 3.0

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#1643989 1-Oct-2016 22:33

Jase2985:

@sideface, hes neither on cable or in wellington. Hes just complaining about his poor internet in his small town on his vodafone 3g connection

I'd be on cable, or fibre, if it were available. Apparently, businesses in the countryside do not have need of the internet in the same way businesses in cities do...!

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#1644013 1-Oct-2016 22:42

Geektastic:
Jase2985:

@sideface, hes neither on cable or in wellington. Hes just complaining about his poor internet in his small town on his vodafone 3g connection

I'd be on cable, or fibre, if it were available. Apparently, businesses in the countryside do not have need of the internet in the same way businesses in cities do...!

My friend lives quite rural and has a connection on Fibre

I live very close to Auckland CBD and don't have access to Fibre

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#1644017 1-Oct-2016 22:47

Linux:
Geektastic:

<snip> I'd be on cable, or fibre, if it were available. Apparently, businesses in the countryside do not have need of the internet in the same way businesses in cities do...!

My friend lives quite rural and has a connection on Fibre
I live very close to Auckland CBD and don't have access to Fibre.

I live in a "cable" suburb of Wellington and we won't get a fibre option until late 2019.

Therefore DOCSIS 3.1 is important to me.

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Jase2985

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#1644095 2-Oct-2016 11:36

Geektastic:

Jase2985:

@sideface, hes neither on cable or in wellington. Hes just complaining about his poor internet in his small town on his vodafone 3g connection

I'd be on cable, or fibre, if it were available. Apparently, businesses in the countryside do not have need of the internet in the same way businesses in cities do...!

you choose to live where you do. it doesn't make economical sense for an ISP/LFC to provide service in your area, they are a business, and they are out to make money.

Thats one of the choices you made when you moved where you did. YOu could have moved somewhere rural but with a better internet connection.

michaeln

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#1644603 3-Oct-2016 11:10

Geektastic:

I'd be on cable, or fibre, if it were available. Apparently, businesses in the countryside do not have need of the internet in the same way businesses in cities do...!

The main cost of providing fixed access services is trenching. The fibre or copper that you put in the ground is less than 10% of the cost of simply digging up the road/field etc..

As a very rough budgetary figure, that's about $100/m. If you are 10 metres from the exchange, that's $1,000 just for the trench. If you are 5km down the road, that's half a million dollars. Alas, economies of scale don't really help here. It's not a whole lot cheaper to trench in the country—sometimes it's more expensive. In any case, the greater distances outweigh any savings.

If there are 10,000 people at the end of that 5km then it's not too hard to make a case to spend the money. If there is one family, it's somewhat harder.

Of course, one you've built this fundamental infrastructure it lasts a very long time, but that still leaves you with the problem of coming up with the funds in the first place.

That's why UFB is only building to 80% of the country. It's not that the need isn't there, far from it.

Wireless offers a partial solution, but wireless has its own problems—the inverse-square law is not your friend. Neither are mountains, trees, mist, rain and bodies of open water (which particularly affect the high frequency bands you need to get high bandwidth).

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