Second DOCSIS 3.1 Modem being released mid-2017?

[RyzenFX]

I was reading up on Rogers' Q4 2016 results, which were released on Janurary 26, and I happened to catch my eye on to something that points to a release of a SECOND DOCSIS 3.1 modem:

"Our adoption of the X1 platform not only includes access to the most advanced IPTV solution, but also to Comcast’s state-of-the-art customer premise equipment, including advanced DOCSIS 3.1 Wi-Fi gateways, Wi-Fi extenders, and wireless set-top boxes as well as the ability to send video to other third party companion devices (such as tablets and smartphones).

By mid-2017, Rogers plans to bring its customers the new advanced DOCSIS 3.1 Wi-Fi gateway, which is capable of delivering up to nine gigabits per second over Wi-Fi within the home, supports voice, home monitoring, and automation applications, and can act as the core in-home gateway for video and data applications."

Sounds promising! 

***Edited Labels***

[BS]

This presentation makes sense along with the notification for Q4 that they are going to put TV, Internet, Phone, Home Security and Business (small I believe) under one reporting line, as that would then put their operating costs under one umbrella, breaking out where the income is coming from pooled all together under that one expense category for the transmission system.

So, more customers, lower cost per customer, will that allow them to be more competitive on price?  Definitely will really justify them to push as much bundled services as possible and competitively hopefully lower cost than the competitors.  One can hope.

And yes, let's do hope that with the push that they don't try to just paper over old product creating a very complex product mix, with the risks of compatibility.  By the way, Comcast/XFinity is trying to do the same in the U.S. on their own networks, but there are so many different set top boxes and modems in their system that it is not moving fast.  Rogers may actually be in a better position from the sound of things, as long as they don't try to cut corners to expedite getting it out there.

All sounds promising, and as I mentioned in  another post, they seem to be on target with the TV side of things, other than some unexpected glitches they are working around, it sounds like the network side is well on its way to bring everything under a pure IP Fiber based backbone and to the neighborhood and taking best advantage of the last mile of Coax.

Will be interesting to see - my only hope is that it rolls in at a price I can handle, because it is not the only technology and service mix out there, but that is a completely different discussion, which will probably proceed for me before this even comes available.

New technology is neat, but my budget takes priority.

Bruce

[RyzenFX]

With regards to the invest Rogers is putting into their network for cable, they have mentioned in their analyst call that they are continuing node segmentation to pull fibre deeper, AND this year, they will begin to migrate to a PON (passive optical network) architecture in order to prepare th themselves for FDX DOCSIS. The speaker did note that it is a NODE by NODE investment, so this will be a slow gradual process. They will focus on upgrading neighbourhoods first with greater data demands. This is inline with what Dave previously  has said about the potential for a midsplit on the upstream.

[lethalsniper]

Once the upload is up and running on 3.1 would that benefit us gamers ? will it lower latency?

[JohnBeaudin]

@lethalsniper It will help for sure.

[lethalsniper]

Any idea when it’s being released?

[DeanLubaki]

I hope they have some type of beta program because I want to be part of it!

[lethalsniper]

When is the D3.1 Upload Rollout date ? Will the coda modem support it @RogersDave @Datalink

[Datalink]

Docsis 3.1 upstream should be rolling out later this year, date TBD.  The CODA-4582 should support that.  Don't know if it will require a firmware update or not, or if its just a matter of 3.1 upstream being enabled at the CMTS and in the modems.   Fwiw, NBN Australia is supposed to be field trialing 3.1 upstream right now, for larger deployment later this year.  I haven't seen any news on the results to date. 

[JohnBeaudin]

@Datalink

I know that they announced D3.1 in 2017 and then pushed it to Q 2018, and now it's sometimes in 2018.

However, I think it won't be until Mid to Late 2019, it involves a lot of work and I would be very surprised to see it happening this year.

[MF1408]

Someone from rogers told me not too long ago that a new modem should be released in March 2018...

We are in March now...So does anyone have any idea about this?

[RogersTony]

Hello @MF1408,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the Rogers Community Forums! 😃

I know how important it is to have the most up-to-date hardware for your service especially when it's regarding your Internet.

At this time, we do not have any updates regarding a second DOCSIS 3.1 modem but we will keep the Community updated once we have more information on this.

Cheers,

RogersTony

[RyzenFX]

I'm hoping OFDMA comes soon enough. Bell is putting much more pressure by upgrading residential customers in different areas to symmetrical speeds. For instance, gigabit users have been upgraded from 100 upload to 1Gbps for free. 

Meanwhile, we are still stuck with 30Mbps upload and lots of node congestion. 

Starting this year Bell will also be starting to deploy FTTH to users in municipalities surrounding the GTA. Work has definitely started in Vaughan as I spotted crews deploying conduits to the neighborhoods in close proximity to the vivanext program.

[BS]

Also if you go to new subdivisions from last few years in GTA and you find the neighbourhoods provisioned already right to the house and other area they have the conduits installed providing 150 down on ADSL2 and just waiting for them to core the cable runs. In East GTA they completed the runs to every corner and next step is to pus down the streets to the homes. The race is on for sure.

[lethalsniper]

Bell is also been digging and installing new cables since last fall in our north york Donmills and leith hill area can’t wait till it’s done. We are tired of congestion issues Rogers.

[JohnBeaudin]

The race is definitely ON, and FTTH will always beat FTTN. Hopefully Rogers will consider this in a near future before Bell is getting too far ahead.

[BS]

My brother's area in Agincourt near Brimley, they laid the Fibre connections down about a year ago.  Also almost all the multi unit complexes in that same area have all been provisioned with Fibre - goes up the outside walls in conduits, and then they drill in through the outside wall into each unit.

And now the latest advertising by Rogers is making the claim that you are connected by WIFI throughout your home. Guess that is the response to the the blue company with the Mesh Home WIFI.  Notice they have also started profiling Ignite Internet as the name again, probably to make it consistent with the new moniker Ignite TV.

As the changes come, it will be up to the customer to be very careful to understand just what they are being sold and costs.

With the race comes somewhat difficult to understand advertising claims (we still hear how the copper Telephone is better than the Home Phone from Rogers to protect us from power failures - learned that one the hard way recently that claim is still valid - my phone modem got unplugged by accident, 5 hours later, we had no phone).

For me, it will still come down to cost and my needs, but for those who want the fastest, most stable, the race and claims are on full steam ahead.

Bruce

[maria772]

When will Docsis 3.1 upstream be available? Also is there a new modem in the pipeline?

[RogersTony]

Hello @maria772,

Docsis 3.1 upstream will definitely be a game changer for our upload speeds. At the moment, we do not have any updates regarding when that will be rolled out but I really hope it's soon!

I always keep my ears open for rumours of new equipment but at the moment I have not heard anything in the pipeline regarding a new modem. Stay tuned to the Community Forums and the Rogers.com website for the most up-to-date info. 

Thanks for your post! 😃

RogersTony

[JohnBeaudin]

Bell is aggressively deploying pure Fibre with symmetrical download and upload, I fear that Rogers will fall behind soon if they don't deploy D3.1 Upstream at least so they can give higher upload.

[mcsandy]

@JohnBeaudin

With Bell also announcing their speeds will be increasing at least to 5Gbps as well next year it really is going to make people jump ship. Rogers being so quiet with their network upgrade plans is really not looking good. It's really unfortunate we lost Rogers Dave.

[JohnBeaudin]

@mcsandy

It's really unfortunate that we lost Rogers Dave because he was the heart of this forum and keeping us informed about what's going on, since he left we are kept in the dark. 

As for Bell they are really going up with their game, and it will be very hard for Rogers to catch them once they start rolling pure symmetrical fibre.