Too Much Being Made of Comcast Trialing Docsis 3.0 in Qwest Footprint

Implications: 1.      There hardly seems a lack of confidence by the MSOs in Docsis 3.0 working fine. 2.      However, initial trials of new solutions of any kind are notorious for being disasters. 3.      There is no reason to give Verizon any marketing ammunition within its incumbent territory.  

Analysis:  The suggestion that Comcast went to Minnesota because Qwest only has DSL is silly.  Cable modems already can beat DSL in capacity and the RBOC only offers a very small amount of video over copper.  So, is the idea that Comcast is trying to show how much better it can be than Qwest, an RBOC that tends to look more like an independent telco?  

Nobody denies the superiority of fiber over coaxial, particularly for upstream transport.  But if the MSOs had to do it all over again, there would be no contest.  Especially in past years, HFC made the most sense in terms of cost-effectiveness, capability, and upgradeability.   Fiber has been too expensive.  Even Verizon has had to subsidize FTTH with fiber to the business.  And it should be noted that while fiber is the best medium, there is also sharing of the capacity with the PON architecture.   

The idea is that HFC can be sufficient to keep up with the speeds on fiber for perhaps the next 10 years.  The MSOs want to take advantage of its previous costly investment as long as possible. 

It is hard to remember anyone making a big deal about Verizon’s first deployment in Keller, Texas – not exactly a prominent area of the country.