DOCSIS 3.0 is the next generation of DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Services Interface Specification), an international telecommunications standard that lets cable television operators add high-speed and telephony data to their current cable TV systems.
DOCSIS 3.0 for Cable Operators
In addition to its unprecedented speed advantages, DOCSIS 3.0 will enable operators to offer truly differentiated services such as IPTV and switched digital video along with IP content to the subscriber home. Its channel bonding capabilities will allow cable operators to compete against telecom service providers for important enterprise accounts by providing dedicated bandwidth to support services such as video conferencing and online training.
Other benefits include support for:
- User-defined interactive programming
- Time-shifted and place-shifted video, such as video-on-demand services
- Interactive online gaming
- Convergent media services, for example, allowing data to be viewed on a TV and video content to be viewed on a computer monitor
- 128-bit AES encryption
- IPv6
The table below provides a comparison of the speeds, channels, features, benefits and services offered by the various DOCSIS versions:
DOCSIS 1.x
(largely obsolete)43 Mbps Down
10 Mbps Up1 Down
1 Up43 Mbps Down
10 Mbps Up
| Version | Speed per Channel | Number of Channels | Cap Internet Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Features | Benefits | Services | |
| Basic broadband connectivity for one or more devices in the home | Made interoperability of cable technology a reality and the standardization of cable modems possible |
High-speed data on cable modems | |
|
|
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| Modem | Speed per Channel | Number of Channels | Cap Internet Speed |
| DOCSIS 2.0 | 43 Mbps Down 31 Mbps Up |
1 Down 1 Up |
43 Mbps Down 10 Mbps Up |
| Features | Benefits | Services | |
| Increased upstream reliability and throughput for symmetric services | Increased upstream throughput to 30 Mbps |
Increased upstream throughput to 30 Mbps |
|
|
|
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| Modem | Speed per Channel | Number of Channels | Cap Internet Speed |
| DOCSIS 3.0 | 43 Mbps Down 31 Mbps Up |
4 or 8 Down 4 Up |
172 or 344 Mbps Down 124 Mbps Up |
| Features | Benefits | Services | |
| Channel bonding capabilities, support for IPv6 and IPTV. Also, security and network management are greatly enhanced. |
Allow cable operators to provide data rates in the hundreds of megabits per second |
IPTV | |
Modems
Modems are generally very simple devices, because of that most of them are basically the same. The biggest difference between modems is the standard that they support, which determines the Internet speed capacity, both for download and upload, that they are capable of delivering.
Currently, there are DOCSIS 1.x, DOCSIS 2.0, and DOCSIS 3.0 modems on the market. Both DOCSIS 1.x and DOCSIS 2.0 support only a single channel that has a download speed capacity of 43Mbps, and upload speed of 31Mbps – as shown on the chart above.
With DOCSIS 3.0 (which is backward-compatible with older standards), the speed capacity of a single channel remains 43Mbps down and 31Mbps up, but the modems are now capable of handling multiple channels at a time (channel bonding). A typical DOCSIS 3.0 modem generally offers four or eight channels for downloading, resulting in a speed cap of 172Mbps or 344Mbps, respectively. For uploading, they generally support four channels to offer a speed of up to 124Mbps. Relatively soon, there will be DOCSIS 3.0 modems that can handle even more channels.
Channel Bonding
Older version DOCSIS 2.0 modems can only utilize one downstream and one upstream channel at a time and it’s forced to use the channel the cable company’s headend tells it to use. Overloading that single channel can result in poor speeds – and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Top-tier data plans offer eight downstream and four upstream QAM channels. If the channels are overloaded, a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem can bond multiple channels together, using the capacity of each channel, to provide one big pipe and allow for maximum throughput. That way, even if only a little data can get through each channel, bonding them together will allow you to push that data through multiple pipes at one time and thus work around that congestion. Only DOCSIS 3.0 modems can do this.
Important: The maximum Internet speed you can achieve depends upon both the DOCSIS version of your equipment and the High Speed Internet package to which you subscribe.
Multicom distributes a wide variety of DOCSIS 3.0 Modems including:
CallCM820AArrisYes / 3.0-15 / +15 108-1002MHz5-42MHzDownload the FlyerDownload the Specs
|
Order |
Part # & Spec. |
Man |
DOCSIS |
dBmV In |
dBmV Out |
Downstream |
Upstream |
*Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SB-5101 |
Motorola |
Yes / 2.0 |
-15 / +15 |
+8 / +58 |
88-860MHz |
5-42MHz |
1 | |
Other DOCSIS 3.0 Modems
| Vendor | Model | Product Name |
|---|---|---|
| Arris | CM820A | Touchstone Cable Modem CM820A |
| Arris | TG852G | Touchstone Telephony Wireless Gateway Modem TG852G |
| Arris | TG862G | Touchstone Telephony Wireless Gateway Modem TG862G |
| Arris | TM702G | Touchstone Telephony Modem TM702G |
| Arris | TM722G | Touchstone Telephony Modem TM722G |
| Arris | TM722G (Retail) | Retail Touchstone Telephony Modem TM722G |
| Arris | TM822G | Touchstone Telephony Modem TM822G |
| Arris | WBM760A | Touchstone Cable Modem WBM760A |
| Cisco | DPC3000 | Cisco DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem DPC3000 |
| Cisco | DPC3008 | Cisco DPC3008 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Cisco | DPC3939 | Cisco DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Residential Voice Gateway |
| Cisco | DPC3939B | Cisco DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Commercial Gateway |
| D-Link | DCM-301 (HW Rev E1) | D-Link DCM-301 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Linksys | DPC3008 (Retail) | LinksysDPC3008 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Motorola | SB6120 | Motorola SURFboard SB6120 Cable Modem |
| Motorola | SB6120 (Retail) | Motorola SURFboard SB6120 Cable Modem |
| Motorola | SB6121 | Motorola SURFboard SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Motorola | SB6121 (Retail) | Motorola SURFboard SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Motorola | SB6141 (Retail) | Motorola Surfboard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Motorola | SB6183 | Motorola Surfboard SB6183 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Motorola | SBG6580 (Retail) | SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway |
| Motorola | SBG6782AC (Retail) | SBG6782AC DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway |
| Netgear | C3000 (Retail) | Netgear N300 WiFi DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem Router |
| Netgear | C3700 (Retail) | Netgear N600 WiFi DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem Router |
| Netgear | C6300 (Retail) | Netgear AC1750 WiFi DOCSIS 3.0 Retail Cable Modem |
| Netgear | CG3000DCR | Netgear CG3000DCR DOCSIS 3.0 Commercial Cable Modem |
| Netgear | CG3000Dv2 N450 | Netgear N450 WiFi DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem Router |
| Netgear | CM400 (Retail) | Netgear CM400 DOCSIS 3.0 Retail Cable Modem |
| Netgear | CMD31T (Retail) | Netgear DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem CMD31T |
| SMCNetworks | SMCD3G-CCR | SMC DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem and Router SMCD3G-CCR |
| SMCNetworks | SMCD3GNV | SMC DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Gateway Cable Modem and Router |
| Technicolor | TC8305C | Technicolor Wireless Cable Gateway TC8305C |
| Ubee | DDM3513 (Retail) | Ubee (formerly Ambit) DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| Ubee | DVM3203B | Ubee (formerly Ambit) DOCSIS 3.0 Telephony Modem |
| Ubee | U10C035 | Ubee (formerly Ambit) DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem |
| ZoomTelephonics | 5341 (Retail) | DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem 5341 |
| ZoomTelephonics | 5341J (Retail) | Retail DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem 5341J |
| ZoomTelephonics | 5350 (Retail) | Model 5350 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless-N Cable Modem Ro… |
| ZoomTelephonics | 5352 (Retail) | Model 5352 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless-N Cable Modem Ro… |
| ZoomTelephonics | 5363 (Retail) | Model 5363 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem/Router |
| ZyXEL | BRG-35503 (Retail) | ZyXEL BRG-35503 Cable Modem |
4.3 billion Internet Protocol (IP) addresses seems like a lot, doesn’t it?
But it’s not nearly enough for the 7 billion people in the world.