Definition: DOCSIS

(Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) A cable modem standard from the CableLabs research consortium, which provides equipment certification for interoperability. DOCSIS supports IP traffic (Internet traffic) over digital cable TV channels, and current cable modems are DOCSIS compliant. In 2006, DOCSIS 3.0 added the capability of bonding from four to 32 upstream channels and from four to eight downstream. All bandwidth is shared among neighboring subscribers.

Originally formed by four major cable operators and managed by Multimedia Cable Network System, management of the project was later turned over to CableLabs. See cable modem, EuroDOCSIS, eDOCSIS, CMTS and S-CDMA.

 DOCSIS                 Speed
 Version  Year     Down       Up

   1.0    1997   40 Mbps    10 Mbps
   1.1    2001   40 Mbps    10 Mbps
   2.0    2002   40 Mbps    30 Mbps
   3.0    2006   1.2 Gbps  200 Mbps
   3.1    2016   10 Gbps    10 Gbps

Down/Up Discrepancy

In order to prevent a residential customer from supplying content on a website to the general public or providing some other business data service, ISPs often keep upstream (upload) speeds much lower than down. This is a home network cable Internet speed test from Ookla, a company that provides Internet metrics.