* Cisco, Canadian cable provider test 100Mbps service
Videotron, a Canadian cable multisystem operator, said it can achieve Internet access speeds approaching 100Mbps using equipment from Cisco.
Videotron claims this is the first time an ISP in North America has achieved these speeds, which is five times faster than the MSO’s current high-speed Internet service. The milestone was achieved during a trial of Cisco’s “Wideband Solution” among 150 customers in Montreal.
Cisco’s Wideband system includes the company’s uBR10012 cable modem termination system, Scientific Atlanta Continuum DVP XDQA24 Edge QAM, and Scientific Atlanta and Linksys wideband cable modems. The speeds were achieved by bonding three to eight hybrid fiber coaxial channels together to make one virtual “fat pipe.”
The testing complies with the CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 standard, Cisco and Videotron said. Customers are required to have a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem, they said.
Videotron and Cisco expect to reach the 100Mbps downstream objective in the next few months, with possible service availability later this year. Testing on upstream speeds has not yet begun.
These speeds have both residential and commercial applicability, Videotron says.
“Video is driving the bandwidth,” says Surya Panditi, vice president and general manager of Cisco’s Optical Technology and CMTS business unit.
