Comcast and other major cable MSOs play a major role in the development of the DOCSIS spec. Over the next 18-24 months as DOCSIS 3.1 deployments kick up we're g

Comcast and other major cable MSOs play a major role in the development of the DOCSIS spec. Over the next 18-24 months as DOCSIS 3.1 deployments kick up we're going to start seeing the most dramatic increase for residential broadband speeds since the late 1990s. Within about 5 years it's likely that the majority of people in this country will have access to 500Mbit-1Gbit/sec speeds via cable. It may not be as sexy or headline grabbing as FTTH build outs but it will have a much greater real world impact. It's more evolutionary in most ways than innovative but at this scale that's still quite an achievement. The same basic infrastructure that could deliver only 1.5Mbit/sec in 1997 will be able to deliver you 1Gbit/sec+ by 2017 and by 2025 10Gbit/sec will be quite common. Considering that this infrastructure is not very far removed from struggling to get a clear picture on your MTV in 1985 I think it's worthwhile to give the folks who work incredibly hard on this stuff some credit for their achievements.