Comcast Expands DOCSIS 3.1 & Ethernet in Huntsville & Northeast

Comcast is investing heavily in expanding gigabit Internet services to homes and businesses in Huntsville, Ala.; Boston; Cambridge, Mass.; and Philadelphia in a push to deploy super-fast speeds quickly and reach a broader range of customers.

In Huntsville, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) plans to deliver 1-Gig service by utilizing DOCSIS 3.1 technology on existing wiring already available in residential and business customer locations. Comcast customers will be able to access the new service by installing a new DOCSIS 3.1 compatible cable modem capable of delivering gigabit speeds, according to a company announcement on Tuesday.

"We know that high-speed internet is the infrastructure of the future, and it is absolutely necessary for communities to remain competitive for economic development and attractive to people looking to move to Huntsville," said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, in the announcement.

Business customers will be able to use the new Gig service in addition to gigabit and multi-gigabit options Comcast already provides in the area, such as Comcast Business Ethernet, which the MSO has been extending nationwide since 2011. According to the release, "Those services can support speeds of 100 gigabits per second over fiber."

For residential customers, the addition of Gig services will enable them to download movies, TV shows and music in seconds and large video game files in a few minutes. For example, customers will be able to download a 5 Gigabyte HD movie in 40 seconds, a 600 Megabyte TV episode in four seconds, a 150 Megabyte music album in two seconds and download a 15 Gigabyte video game in two minutes.

"This launch reflects Comcast's ongoing commitment to offering the fastest speeds to the most homes and businesses in Huntsville," said Comcast Regional SVP Doug Guthrie.

Comcast DOCSIS 3.1 services are already available to residential and business customers in Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago and Detroit. In January, Comcast Business announced expansion of DOCSIS 3.1 services to business customers in these areas as well. Businesses gained access to Comcast's "Business Internet 1 Gig" and "Business Internet 500" speed tiers, which were made available on Comcast's existing network. (See Comcast Launches DOCSIS 3.1 for Business Customers .)

Separately, today Comcast Business announced an investment of $25 million to expand its fiber optic Ethernet network in the Boston and Cambridge areas, which will make 100 Gbps network speeds available to over 3,000 businesses. Over 40 miles of new fiber optic cable will be deployed to Back Bay, the Financial District and parts of Cambridge. On a national scale, Comcast Business' Ethernet services are currently available over a network stretching over 153,000 miles. (See Comcast Business Invests $25M for High-Performance Ethernet in Boston, Cambridge.)

Earlier this week, Comcast Business also announced deployment of a full-service Comcast Business Ethernet line to the Microsoft Reactor, located at the University City Science Center's corporate offices at uCity Square in Philadelphia. The deployment will provide scalable enterprise-grade services to support educational programs and networking events available to students, technologists and entrepreneurs at the Microsoft Reactor, a community hub that provides resources "to foster innovation, collaboration and economic development."

— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading