Xfinity 10G has been in the news a lot lately. It’s the new brand name for Xfinity’s cable network that reflects its plans for the future of the Internet.Xfinity customer service has also been lately promoting internet pans on the 10G network.
Just to clarify some of the confusion out there, 10G has nothing to do with 5G except the similar acronyms. 5G refers to the 5th generation of wireless technology whereas 10G is a brand name that points to Xfinity’s aim of providing multigigabit speeds to homes over a hybrid fiber-coaxial network.
Here we explain the 10G Network, some of the technologies it’s based on, and how you can get a connection on it to benefit from its current and future perks.
The Xfinity 10G Network
Xfinity is the industry leader in cable TV and internet. It has the largest cable network in the country with competitively low rates for high-speed cable internet.
Xfinity is also leading the research and development of cable internet, making it a cheaper alternative to fiber. These improvements will allow multigigabit speeds in areas where fiber isn’t available.
Xfinity calls the group of technology it’s working on the “10G Network”. Let’s take a closer look at some of these technologies and how they’re improving cable internet.
Xfinity 10G Technologies
DOCSIS 4.0
DOCSIS is a set of specifications that modems and headends use to manage data for a large number of homes in an area. The latest iterations of these specifications being used today are DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1.
In theory, these technologies are capable of allowing download speeds of up to 10 Gbps and upload speeds of 1 Gbps—an enormous improvement over DOCSIS 2.0 which can only have a 43 Mbps maximum speed for each modem. Although these top speeds aren’t available in the market, the higher bandwidth has allowed speeds up to 2000 Mbps in some areas.
Xfinity has played a key role in making DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 widely available. Xfinity is building the 10G network to work with DOCSIS 4.0. This next-generation broadband technology will make multigigabit download and upload speeds available over Xfinity’s existing cable infrastructure.
In October 2021, Xfinity’s parent company Comcast demonstrated a successful 10G connection made with vCMTS using DOCSIS 4.0. For the first time, symmetrical upload and download speeds faster than 4 Gbps were achieved. This was a bit win for cable internet, as asymmetrical speeds (upload speeds much lower than download speeds) have been one of the few drawbacks of cable over fiber internet.
A semiconductor manufacturing company called Broadcom made the prototype modem for this test. Consumer DOCSIS 4.0 are under development which will bring affordable multigigabit internet to a large population in the US.
vCMTS
Cable modem termination systems (CMTS) are headend devices that use DOCSIS to manage all the modems in an area. Each CMTS has a limited frequency range which is divided into channels and allocated to subscribers using the internet.
When more people are online, CMTS can only allocate 4 channels to each subscriber. This fundamentally limits the bandwidth and hence, the internet speed. More CMTSs are needed to allow greater speeds to a larger number of subscribers. However, CMTSs are costly to build and maintain, and they consume a lot of energy which adds to the cost of the internet.
The Xfinity 10G network is powered by vCMTS or virtualized CMTS. These are virtual machines that operate exactly like legacy CMTSs, except they share resources on the same physical machine. This allows vCMTS to be deployed easily and quickly while saving energy and cooling costs.
Comcast received an Emmy Award for its work on vCMTS from NATAS. vCMTS technology will play a pivotal role in making multigigabit speeds widely available at low rates.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Comcast is making Xfinity Internet smarter and more reliable by employing ML and AI to detect problems even before users. The company is partnering with a startup called NNext to develop ML apps for its database. These technologies will revolutionize visualizing and data labeling for the 10G network, improving real network availability for users.
How to Get an Internet Connection on the 10G Network
Comcast has already started employing these technologies to some extent for Xfinity Internet. Existing customers are benefiting from greater speeds and more reliable connections at no extra cost. All Xfinity internet plans are already on the 10G Network. CallXfinity customer service at844-207-8721 to learn about available internet plans in your area.
Conclusion
Xfinity has all its hands on deck in developing the 10G Network as the future of internet connectivity. It’s using DOCSIS 4.0, virtualization, AI, and other technologies to meet and meet and exceed future demands. Comcast’s recent demonstration of symmetrical speeds of more than 4 Gbps over cable has set up the 10G Network as a cheaper, more widely available alternative to fiber internet.
