While DOCSIS 3.0 offers more than four times the downstream and upstream data throughput, it is far more complex to deploy. Therefore, the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” has never been truer. Planning for DOCSIS 3.0 now is imperative to mitigate potential issues when it’s finally deployed. We must understand and address potential issues for timely deployments as well as economical reasons.
We need to add more downstream capacity in the form of DOCSIS 3.0, and it’s time now to consider upgrading. DOCSIS 3.0 uses a technique called channel bonding to unite multiple downstream channels to enable a single DOCSIS 3.0 modem to get four or more times the downstream throughput that is available in a DOCSIS 2.0 system. Bonding in DOCSIS 3.0 is logical; data being transmitted is spread among several individual channels. The “haystacks” aren’t bonded into one gigantic channel.
With Verizon’s FiOS menacing the market share of cable operators, DOCSIS 3.0 has come to the rescue. DOCSIS 3.0 offers greater than four times the downstream and upstream data throughput than prior DOCSIS versions. This directly feeds into the business case for many cable operators to compete with FiOS and to improve efficiency. Upgrading to DOCSIS 3.0 is the only way to offer higher data rates than what DOCSIS 2.0 can provide. (DOCSIS 3.0 = >150 Mbps, while DOCSIS 2.0 = ~37 Mbps).
DOCSIS 3.0 downstream channel bonding is being deployed today. While North America is just getting started (excluding Canada), Asian countries have deployed more than half a million downstream bonding modems in the last few years.source: cable360.net