[Neil]

Originally Posted by entwisi

but isn't the whole point that its ONE cable so the more V boxes, teh less bandwidth for other stuff. think iplayer, internet access, etc

fibre or cable is irrelevant, in fact if anything co-ax is less ' future proof' than fibre would
be.

Only sort of Ian. That 30Mb limit is due to only using a couple of frequencies for broadband. Once they switch of the analog TV service on VM they will be able to use more channels for broadband and add more digital TV programs as well. They are currently testing 100Mb broadband modems and head end equipment ready for when they do switch of the analog.

It is the same with terrestrial TV. one analog channel can be replaced with 10 digital ones. Also because there is not the same interferance problems with digital the frequencies used can be closer together so even more channels can fill the old analog space.

I agree with the fibre thing but I think coax will out perform a copper twisted pair from BT's exchange for a long time to come.

Here are a couple of interesting quotes (if you like that sort of thing)

The first "wideband" cable modems employing the DOCSIS 3.0 transmission standard, which can deliver download speeds of 100Mbps or more, have been certified for production.

CableLabs, which is licensed to test for the standards, approved two modems from Motorola and models from Ambit, Arris Group, Cisco Systems and SMC Networks.

Headend equipment has also been approved as complying with the complete DOCSIS 3.0 standard for the first time. Two cable modem termination systems from Casa Systems were certified. A CMTS from Motorola was certified as supporting only the basic features.

Brian Roberts, chief executive of US cable provider Comcast and chairman of CableLabs, said: "We have now achieved successful certification testing for a system of very high-speed cable data products.

"This is a great accomplishment, ensuring that cable customers will continue to have access to the fastest Internet service available, along with access to more advanced service offerings."

In the UK, Virgin is in the process of implementing a version of DOCSIS 3.0 in some areas to provide downstream speeds of up to 50Mbps.

Turning off analogue signals will allow Virgin Media to provide 100Mbps downstream speeds over its cable network "if we chose", according to the firm's chief executive.

Neil Berkett said the combined effects of introducing the DOCSIS 3.0 transmission standard and the freeing up of capacity by switching off analogue cable TV transmissions would allow it to continue providing faster broadband than competitors.

The company today confirmed it was commencing a tentative region-by-region programme of ending analogue cable TV service.

"Relatively modest investment in customer equipment and [headend] ports for channel bonding is required to do this and is included in our current capital expenditure guidance," he told investors.

"Next year our 20Mbps and 50Mbps customers will move to the DOCSIS 3.0 platform. This will significantly improve the quality of service provided to all our customers, as the 2Mbps and 10Mbps customers will have more bandwidth specifically dedicated to them. This will help push real world delivery speeds as close as possible to the advertised headline speeds."

Berkett said: "We currently only use two 8Mhz channels to serve all our broadband customers. For DOCSIS 3.0 this will be tripled. Each additional channel will be freed up by switching off a single analogue channel.

"Clearly it will not be long before we are in a position to switch off analogue completely, and this will free up significant bandwidth for even higher broadband speeds. We could easily provide 100Mbps if we chose to do so. We have a huge broadband advantage over competing technologies for speed quality, reliability and cost."

The newly freed-up spectrum could also be used to provide more linear television channels or more on-demand programmes and films.

Berkett said broadband provided over BT's network would be unable to match Virgin's speeds despite a significant ongoing investment in its network. He also predicted that development of new super-high speed networks was some way off.