DOCSIS

You know, I didn't think before writing this script about what your ISP connection is.

I'm kind of assuming almost everybody's on wired connection, either coax from cable over a DOCSIS kind of a modem or fiber or something similar.

But wireless now where you're connected to a 5G tower is a thing too.

I wouldn't count on that to be a great gaming experience.

We did some properties that had around 500 rooms.

They were served with DOCSIS 3.1 and people were unhappy with the bandwidth.

And they were told initially that their coax, the reason that DOCSIS didn't work properly was how bad and old their coax was.

So hold on, let's do a quick test.

I did not expect this to happen.

They, they're doing, like, a DOCSIS, I think it's 6.0. That's the, that's the fiber-to-cable modem standard, or really just the cable modem internet standard over coax.

And that was my expectation when, when I got pushed an advertisement.

I was actually out looking for competitors and then I just thought, "Well, you know, like, let's go check out Spectrum." Uh, actually it was the FCC map told me that I had a gigabit symmetrical and I was like, "No, I, I do not, sir." And so I logged in, and it was upselling me to two, and I was like, "Yep, okay." So they came out the next day and then realized, like, "Oh yeah, well, we're actually...

When you're talking about, um, for cable operators, right, they have a lot of existing infrastructure that's, uh, deployed throughout their network.

And by and large, you know, it was for coax and for DOCSIS, but there's a lot of hybrid strategies that allows them to very quickly leverage what they've already invested in in their current network to both have their cake and eat it, too.

Meaning, you know, serve the customers that they already have on, on, on DOCSIS while, uh, you know, with a low barrier of entry, offer them fiber almost on demand at these individual edge devices so that they can, uh, uh, they can serve the customers that are the most demanding and, and, and want that fiber, uh, solution.

They can do that with what they have and, and do it in a much more cost-effective and fast way.

So I think those are, are, are really, really important because i-if you start looking at the data, um, a lot of it is, uh, in the past was how many homes passed do you have, right? If, if you're trying to get valuation, homes passed was king.

Uh, they're just not getting the, the speeds that they need anymore.

Um, older technologies are in there.

It might be DSL, it might be, you know, legacy DOCSIS solutions, and they're starting to turn towards like, you know, LEO-based solutions or fixed wireless.

And Starlink Satellite Service, with a 4% share, is pricey but is cutting it to cable in rural markets.

For cable, the best defense might be an upgrade path called DOCSIS 4.0, spelled D-O-C-S-I-S, which allows for fiber-like speeds on existing copper wires.

Since cable was built for television, a downloaded service, its upload speeds are slow.

DOCSIS 4.0 can achieve the upload-slash-download symmetry of fiber with speeds that are good enough for most users.

To retain customers in the meantime, cable operators are offering cut-rate mobile phone service using connections bought from Verizon and others and bundling streaming services with broadband.

Verizon ticker VZ.