What Cable's Broadband Network Performance During COVID Means for America
A new study that examines U.S. broadband network performance during the COVID-19 pandemic finds that America's broadband networks passed their biggest stress test ever with flying colors when the internet experienced unprecedented surges in traffic during the worst phases of the global health crisis. In fact, the study—released by Recon Analytics—asserts that the U.S. network performance change was imperceptible to the average daily user. A few of the key findings include: Internet traffic increased by more than 20% in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wireless download speeds doubled
New FCC Data Highlights America’s Broadband Progress
New data from the FCC shows that broadband networks in America continue to reach more households in every corner of the country, continue to offer faster speeds to more consumers and continue to provide more choice of providers across multiple speed tiers. Released in late October, the FCC’s December 2020 “Form 477” data demonstrates broadband progress in both urban and rural areas, even at speeds of a gigabit per second or more, as the cable industry has deployed its DOCSIS 3.1 network technology and as fiber has been deployed more widely, both of which dramatically increase the speed and
Broadband Stats: 10G Is On The Horizon
In 2019, the cable industry announced 10G, an industry-wide commitment to delivering superfast, low latency networks that will reach 10 Gbps speeds in the coming years. Fast forward a few years later, and some major milestones have already been reached on the path to 10G. From Mediacom’s unleashing of the 10G Smart Home to Comcast's groundbreaking test of the Full Duplex DOCSIS technology that supports multigigabit upload and download speeds, cable internet service providers are working to deliver the kinds of next-generation services that will enable life-changing technologies and
Announcing: The 10G Challenge
At this year’s SCTE Cable Tech Expo, during the “The Path to 10G” panel, the CEOs of NCTA, CableLabs, and SCTE (Michael Powell, Phil McKinney, and Mark Dzuban, respectively) announced the launch of the 10G Challenge—an invitation to technology leaders, start ups, entrepreneurs, engineers, and more—to develop new technologies, services, and applications that make the most of a next generation 10G network. Submissions are due by July 1, 2022, and winners will be notified later in the year. The 10G Challenge will be broken into different categories in the same way that the 10G initiative has
How Broadband Networks Fared During the Internet's Biggest Stress Test Ever
As America (hopefully) begins its climb out of the COVID-19 pandemic and many offices and schools are reopening, it's worth reflecting over the past 17 months how broadband networks performed and enabled our country to stay engaged and productive during this unprecedented public health crisis. After all, considering how quickly stay-at-home orders forced tens of millions of workers and students home, COVID-19 was undoubtedly the biggest stress test that the internet has ever faced. When the outbreak of COVID-19 caused states to issue stay-at-home orders across the country in March 2020, NCTA
New Study Examines Internet Traffic Patterns and Bandwidth Requirements
As America climbs out of the COVID-19 pandemic, cable's broadband networks continue to prove their ability to handle unprecedented spikes in internet traffic—from the state lockdowns of last spring when more people than ever before connected online, to the present day as businesses and schools begin to experiment with new hybrid working models. But no matter what the “new normal” will be, one certainty is the importance of a reliable and robust broadband connection. As we step back and assess how networks handled the pandemic surge in traffic, a new report by Cartesian, a consulting group with
Broadband Stats: America’s Fast Internet Speeds
Over the last year, Americans have moved more of their lives online. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, many offices are now embracing hybrid work models, and at the same time new advancements in entertainment and gaming like augmented reality and virtuality reality are starting to take off. Despite the surges in internet traffic that these new habits and technologies are causing, America’s broadband networks are ready for whatever the future holds. Compare that to the global average of 99 Mbps, and it is clear the United States is in a strong position to handle whatever the future has in
Why Cable ISPs are Invaluable to Advancing Telehealth Services in the Home
While the concept of telehealth had long been around prior to March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was undoubtedly a catalyst for the widespread adoption of the practice. In fact, adoption for this form of healthcare delivery among Medicare recipients jumped by 10,000% over a six-week period during state lockdown orders, according to a new study. Never before had a broadband connection proven to be more critical in healthcare than when millions of Americans connected online from home during the pandemic to meet with healthcare professionals. Telehealth firms like Cox's Trapollo kept patients and
Five Ways 10G Will Transform Today's Technologies and Applications
Cable internet service providers have invested billions of dollars into continually upgrading their networks, and over the past couple of decades that has translated into increased speeds and access for millions of people in the United States. In fact, over 80% of cable customers have access to gigabit speeds. And since the cable industry’s announcement in 2019 about the 10G initiative, cable operators have been working towards rolling out 10 gigabit speeds to households all over the map and making steady progress on deploying this next-generation service. But what will 10G look like in
New NCTA Member Enghouse Drives Digital Transformation for Industry
The past year has demonstrated the power and importance the internet plays in all of our lives. Advanced technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and holograms all rely on the robust broadband networks that internet service providers build and continue to upgrade as the 10G future looms near. In turn, ISPs rely on their partnerships with technology providers to continue to innovate and evolve their networks. Enghouse, a global technology provider and new member of NCTA, plays a big role on the software end of how we connect and use the internet. NCTA