Gigabit Technology Coming To Nashville?

More news rolls out of Las Vegas’ CES convention, this time concerning Comcast’s Internet speed.

Broadcom, a leader in semiconductors announced the world’s first DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem system-on-a-chip (SoC). With it, home speeds could increase to faster than a Gigabit per second (Gbps). Video speeds are said to see a 50 percent increase in efficiency. Downstream speeds will probably be about four times that of upstream speeds, notes PCworld.

Comcast currently advertises the “fastest Internet download speed” of up to 505 Mbps, at $400/mo. Google Fiber offers gigabit speeds in specific markets, and AT&T’s GigaPower is also expected in the city soon. Comcast executive vice president Tony Werner estimates that the Internet service provider will service 1 Gbps speeds to customers in 2015 and beyond. Liberty Global, the London-headquartered broadband provider, also spoke within the same timeframe.

“DOCSIS 3.1 is a critical technology for Comcast to provide even faster, more reliable data speeds and features such as IP video to our subscribers’ homes by harnessing more spectrum in the downstream,” said Werner.

In a recent WPLN article, Emily Siner interviewed Todd Oney with Nashville Electric Service who noted the fiber optic cable Nashville began laying in the 90s is theoretically capable of supporting 50 terabits per second (50,000 times faster than a gigabit), but equipment to convert that data is not yet capable of handling those speeds.