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This seems like a puff piece for cable to continue to justify why they continue to offer abysmal uplink speeds instead of improving infrastructure. It’s unsurp

This seems like a puff piece for cable to continue to justify why they continue to offer abysmal uplink speeds instead of improving infrastructure. It’s unsurprising that the uplink caps at 5mpbs, it’s a 50/5 connection; but the article just wants the reader to “take their word” that the video stream look good without also comparing other connections (the apps themselves might self regulate) or latency (the apps might employ more buffering on a slow connection)

pushrax 6y ago
With a gigabit uplink, in my experience video quality is noticeably better on several popular services.
- mfgs 6y ago
  I'd be curious to know how much bandwidth it utilises when that much is available.
- d00bianista 6y ago
  That would most likely be because of low latency and jitter. The app is in essentially the environment it was developed in and does not have to put effort into correcting errors that itself cause pauses in the visible video, since it tries to hide the parts where artefacts appear. Ten years back I was told America likes to zap quickly through tv-channels with all the artefacts involved while Asia preferred a slower and artefact-free experience. Analog and keyframeless digital codecs are faster but not so bandwidth efficient.
vkdelta 6y ago
Yep, it looks like they are trying to justify 5 Mbps upstream can meet FCC “broadband” criteria. FCC has been asking for minimum of 100/100.
walrus01 6y ago
This is literally a lobby group composed of legacy coaxial copper plant last mile operators with a vested interest in squeezing every last ROI dollar out of docsis3, so your statement is quite correct. The South Park nipple rubbing cable tv operators but in real life.
- causality0 6y ago
  Does it stray into the biased bullshit category enough to deserve flagging?
- KozmoNau7 6y ago
  DOCSIS 3 maxes out at 1000/200, so if they would just provide that instead of trying to claim a 5Mbps upload is "broadband". Cable is a perfectly viable technology, with DOCSIS 3.1 and 4, for at least another decade, probably more. Their own lack of infrastructure investment is coming to bite them in the ass, fast. For clarification: I work for an ISP/telco that manages legacy copper POTS/xDSL, cable, fiber and cellular networks. While we are actively expanding fiber from the backbone out and doing a lot of FTTH by now, cable is still a solid workhorse, but it takes an operator who actually cares about maintaining the infrastructure.
  - Arie 6y ago
    1000/200 per segment of course. So in a typical HFC network that can be shared between 40-400 homes.
    - KozmoNau7 6y ago
      If you try to squeeze in as many endpoints as possible, sure. With a competently designed network, you wouldn't have anywhere near that many in a segment. I'm on a 300/60 cable connection via my employer, and I have never had my connection test below 360/70. This is in an an area densely populated with apartment buildings, where cable is still the best option for most people, with some fiber rolling out. I am however moving to a 100/100 fiber connection (plenty fast for my needs, with the faster upload speed), due to a change in employment that is not of my own choice. So I don't consider myself biased in favor of my current employer ;-)
      - jaywalk 6y ago
        60mbps upload on DOCSIS?? That's fancy. I feel like my 20mbps is luxurious, although it's laughable when you consider the fact that it's 800mbps down.

pushrax 6y ago

With a gigabit uplink, in my experience video quality is noticeably better on several popular services.

mfgs 6y ago
I'd be curious to know how much bandwidth it utilises when that much is available.
d00bianista 6y ago
That would most likely be because of low latency and jitter. The app is in essentially the environment it was developed in and does not have to put effort into correcting errors that itself cause pauses in the visible video, since it tries to hide the parts where artefacts appear. Ten years back I was told America likes to zap quickly through tv-channels with all the artefacts involved while Asia preferred a slower and artefact-free experience. Analog and keyframeless digital codecs are faster but not so bandwidth efficient.

vkdelta 6y ago

Yep, it looks like they are trying to justify 5 Mbps upstream can meet FCC “broadband” criteria. FCC has been asking for minimum of 100/100.

walrus01 6y ago

This is literally a lobby group composed of legacy coaxial copper plant last mile operators with a vested interest in squeezing every last ROI dollar out of docsis3, so your statement is quite correct. The South Park nipple rubbing cable tv operators but in real life.

causality0 6y ago
Does it stray into the biased bullshit category enough to deserve flagging?
KozmoNau7 6y ago
DOCSIS 3 maxes out at 1000/200, so if they would just provide that instead of trying to claim a 5Mbps upload is "broadband". Cable is a perfectly viable technology, with DOCSIS 3.1 and 4, for at least another decade, probably more. Their own lack of infrastructure investment is coming to bite them in the ass, fast. For clarification: I work for an ISP/telco that manages legacy copper POTS/xDSL, cable, fiber and cellular networks. While we are actively expanding fiber from the backbone out and doing a lot of FTTH by now, cable is still a solid workhorse, but it takes an operator who actually cares about maintaining the infrastructure.
- Arie 6y ago
  1000/200 per segment of course. So in a typical HFC network that can be shared between 40-400 homes.
  - KozmoNau7 6y ago
    If you try to squeeze in as many endpoints as possible, sure. With a competently designed network, you wouldn't have anywhere near that many in a segment. I'm on a 300/60 cable connection via my employer, and I have never had my connection test below 360/70. This is in an an area densely populated with apartment buildings, where cable is still the best option for most people, with some fiber rolling out. I am however moving to a 100/100 fiber connection (plenty fast for my needs, with the faster upload speed), due to a change in employment that is not of my own choice. So I don't consider myself biased in favor of my current employer ;-)
    - jaywalk 6y ago
      60mbps upload on DOCSIS?? That's fancy. I feel like my 20mbps is luxurious, although it's laughable when you consider the fact that it's 800mbps down.