comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

I really think docsis is not good for shared contended networks, comcast are struggling check these leaked documents as they expand their capped service across their areas.

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/...ng_the_coming/

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

If it weren't for the fact that this is nothing to do with capacity and everything to do with trying to prevent cord cutting I'd agree with you.

As it is...

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Following up, from your story, one of the links presented on the internal briefing, http://i.imgur.com/quf68FC.jpg

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2015/11/34.png

Not to mention http://i.imgur.com/kJkK4HJ.jpg

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2015/11/35.png

I would also point to the FCC reports based on their SamKnows test deployment indicating that Comcast customers achieve, on average, >100% of their tier's speeds at peak periods as of last report cycle.

DOCSIS is fine. Virgin Media are being bitten in the arse through not planning ahead with regards to power, space, fibre, node splits. On the upside a bunch of sites have had upgrades completed now, so the capacity will be coming online soon, much to the relief of many.

Comcast are trying to either stem the flow of people leaving their video services but staying with their HSI services to stream OTT, or to monetise that base more. Remember Netflix is close to, if not already at, 40% of downstream bandwidth usage during peak times in the USA. YouTube comes next at ~16-17%.

Given those numbers, alongside that many are using these services in lieu of paying the cable company for video services, and that line rental is essentially non-existent on the cable company's VoIP telephony services, it's not a massive shock that Comcast are trying to monetise the cord cutters more, either via charging them more for the capacity they use or making them pay a premium for unlimited services.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

ok good reply :)

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Seems a fair approach to cap at a data limit most customers would never currently reach especially with Igni's note that "Comcast customers achieve, on average, >100% of their tier's speeds at peak periods". If the cap helps to reinforce the latter quality of service then this can only be a good thing.

VM should take note and follow suit if this means it emulates Comcast' peak speed performance ..

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

They can't. The UK's market is far more competitive than that in the United States. VM would get utterly drilled by BT et al given that 'unlimited' is a major marketing point here.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

You may be right, I am not sure. Most people actually don't want unlimited, they want fast enough when they need it with a realistic amount of data per month. Very different things all together.

The ISP marketing departments are fixated on "biggest is best" but maybe the public are smarter than this? If people were given two products to choose from:

1. fastest with unlimited data but not when you need it
2. slower but fast enough when you want it with, say, 300GB (-ish) of data per month

I am thinking most would choose number 2 ..

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

I think most would go for 1 if they do more than just browse and email, although it doesn't need to be the fastest.

300gb a month is nothing when you bring streaming services and game consoles into the picture, if VM did that it would be a disaster.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

yeah but note not all of BT's packages (and plusnet's, and sky's) are unlimited.

Whats forcing VM to make their cheapest packages unlimited? because their competitors dont.

Also what's forcing VM to keep initiating a speed war?

---------- Post added at 02:07 ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 ----------

I use netflix, iplayer, 5od, 4od, itv player, own 4 consoles and use steam.

I very rarely hit 300 gig month, I rarely even hit 200gig month.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Try doing that in a household with 2 adults and 2 kids ;)

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

I agree with this, we now have 9 devices using the internet at our home, 3 mobiles, 2 Pcs, 2 Laptops, An Xbox 360 and a Smart TV and 300Gb soon goes if your streaming or playing games regularly.

I would like to see an increase in upstream to around 20mb on the 200mb tier though.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Are there any stats on household ISP data usage? I am guessing that 75% of people (or more?) would be below 300GB

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

My Xbox One usage is reporting anywhere between 110GB-300GB per month, now i am not a heavy user on that so that will be game downloads and netflix and OS updates, now imagine you have 2 kids in the house also both with games consoles and Youtube and maybe torrents or newsgroup downloads, as well as netlfix, 300GB is easily eaten up based on me being a 1 person household for stuff like this.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Tell me about it. Kids are non-stop on YouTube.

2 kids and 2 adults, all Internet savvy, and for whom the primary video entertainment source is streaming, use a fair chunk of bandwidth.

---------- Post added at 19:34 ---------- Previous post was at 19:33 ----------

I would imagine so. The average on VM is I believe around 100GB/month.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

The average on FTTC is nearly double that: 165GB/month download, 25GB/month upload (yes, much higher ratio than 10:1)

I'd have expected VM users to rank higher, not lower.



---------- Post added at 12:26 ---------- Previous post was at 12:22 ----------

With the current ~200GB/month average and 40% annual growth, 50% of people will likely use more than 300GB by this time next year.

As VM like to say on their vans:

Keep up!

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2015/11/15.jpg

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

So 300GB would cover a reasonable percentage of UK households .. but this cap should increase in line with usage

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Ah the FTTC figures.

It should be noted they include non-OTT VoD, which the VM DOCSIS 3 broadband figures don't, include some broadcast TV delivered over multicast, which the VM figures don't, and include a bunch of extra data courtesy of Sky's pre-loading of STBs overnight with the most popular VoD products :)

The VM figure I mentioned is nigh on a year old, too. Probably somewhat different now and, of course, their figures should be considered against an FTTC and ADSL base, or middle and above tiers on VM only. All the people on VM's lowest tier because they hardly use their broadband will reduce the average considerably, as would all the people still on ADSL because they don't use the Internets much.

BTWholesale put peak usage per subscriber across their userbase at <500kb/s earlier this year. VM's was twice that at last inspection.

Lies, damned lies, etc.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Yes, I did think that, VM's wouldn't count the majority of their TV content since that'd be delivered directly over CATV. Though just how much BT TV actually takes up (compared to e.g. Netflix or Youtube) is unclear.

It's nigh on impossible to get a completely fair comparison, given VM's much higher average speeds, BT getting the lions share of uneconomical areas, and all VM tiers being unlimited where many FTTC packages are not. Then there's the "fibre" marketing. The fact that FTTC users on Openreach use 75% of the total capacity despite being less than 25% of the userbase is telling.

That said the overall average is around 55GB across all BT (FTTC and ADSL) lines.

Either way, data consumption is growing fast across the board and it won't be long before the average exceeds 300GB

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

I actually just looked again at those FTTC figures.

Those aren't monthly, they're for the entire quarter. ~63GB/month average, considerably lower than VM.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

well yeah, we have to remember there is still millions of people out there who do very little online.

My parents e.g. although they love watching films, refuse to let us plug in a box to their tv to use netflix.

If the average usage was anything near whats been said in this thread then something would have to give.

Re: comcast another docsis isp struggling
 

Oh. Derps. Ars clearly misquoted it:

(http://arstechnica.co.uk/information...fibre-network/)