Arris successfully tested a cable modem that delivers up to 800 Megabits per second -- more than five times as fast as the speediest U.S. residential broadband available today -- with South Korean telecom operator SK Broadband.
The test, performed in SK Broadband's labs, used an Arris C4 CMTS with software release 7.4 and an SK Broadband 16x4 modem to bond 16 downstream DOCSIS 3.0 channels.
"The ability to deliver 800 Mbps will enable cable operators to offer service that is competitive with operators using fiber-to-the-premises and passive optical networks," Arris chief technology officer Ken Wright. "By delivering this service over existing hybrid fiber coaxial infrastructure, cable operators will be able to deliver a competitive service offering without making substantial investments in network upgrades."
In a similar test, German cable operator Kabel Deutschland in November 2010 said it had achieved a download speed of 1.17 Gbps in a field trial conducted over its 862-MHz system in Hamburg using Cisco Systems' CMTS and cable modem equipment.
All-fiber networks, however, have considerably more total capacity than HFC networks.
Verizon, for example, last fall successfully tested 10 Gigabit per second links -- both downstream and upstream -- over its existing FiOS fiber-to-the-premises network in a field trial in Taunton, Mass. The telco's test used XG-PON2, a prestandard fiber-optic transmission technology. "XG-PON" stands for 10-Gigabit passive optical network.
Currently, Verizon offers the fastest widely available residential broadband service in the U.S., with the 150-Mbps FiOS Internet tier.