We are now starting to see the results of cable companies upgrading to DOCSIS 3.1. Charter, the second biggest ISP in the country recently announced that it will be able to offer gigabit speeds to virtually it’s whole footprint of over 40 million passings.

DOCSIS 3.1 is the newest protocol from Cable Labs that allows bonding an unlimited number of spare channel slots for broadband. A gigabit data path requires roughly 24 channels on a cable network using the new DOCSIS protocol. In bigger markets this replaces DOCSIS 3.0 that was limited to maximum download speeds in the range of 250 Mbps. I know there are Charter markets with even slower speeds that either operate under older DOCSIS standards or that are slow for some other reason.

Charter has already begun the upgrades and is now offering gigabit speeds to 9 million passings in major markets like Oahu, Hawaii; Austin, Texas; San Antonio, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; New York City; and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. It’s worth noting that those are all markets where there is fiber competition, so it’s natural they would upgrade these first.

The new increased speed won’t actually be a gigabit and will be 940 Mbps download and 35 Mbps upload. (It’s hard to think there is anybody who is really going to care about that distinction). Cable Labs recently came out with a DOCSIS upgrade that can increase upload speeds, but there’s been no talk from Charter about making that upgrade. Like the other big cable companies, Charter serves businesses that want faster upload speeds with fiber.

Along with the introduction of gigabit broadband the company also says it’s going to increase the speed of it’s minimum broadband product. In the competitive markets listed above Charter has already increased the speed of its base product to 200 Mbps download, up from 100 Mbps.

It’s going to be interesting to find out what Charter means by the promise to cover “virtually’ their whole footprint. Charter grew by purchasing systems in a wide range of conditions. I know of smaller Charter markets where customers don’t get more than 20 Mbps. There is also a well-known lawsuit against Charter in New York State that claims that a lot of households in upstate New York are getting speeds far slower than advertised due to having outdated cable modems.

The upgrade to DOCSIS 3.1 can be expensive in markets that have not yet been upgraded to DOCSIS 3.0. An upgrade might mean replacing power taps and other portions of the network, and in some cases might even require a replacement of the coaxial cable. My guess is that the company won’t rush to upgrade these markets the upgrade to DOCSIS 3.1 this year. I’m sure the company will look at them on a case-by-case basis.

The company has set a target price for a gigabit at $124.95. But already in the competitive markets like Oahu the company was selling introductory packages for $104.99. There is also a bundling discount for cable subscribers.

The pricing list highlights that they still have markets with advertised speeds as low as 30 Mbps – and the company’s price for the minim speeds is the same everywhere, regardless if that product is 30 Mbps or 200 Mbps. And as always with cable networks, these are ‘up to’ speeds and as I mentioned, there are markets that don’t meet these advertised speeds today.

Overall this ought to result in a lot of home and businesses getting faster broadband than today. We saw something similar back when the cable companies implemented DOCSIS 3.0 and the bigger companies unilaterally increased speeds to customers without increasing the prices. Like other Charter customers, I will be interested in what they do in my market. I have the 60 Mbps product and I’ll be interested to see if my minimum speeds is increased to 100 Mbps or 200 Mbps and if I’m offered a gigabit here. With the upgrade time frame they are promising I shouldn’t have to wait long to find out.