Impact of Streaming Video on Rural Broadband Providers
COVID-19 has dramatically stressed the importance of broadband connections in America’s homes. Once the pandemic struck, the requirement for home broadband exploded and turned into a requirement for work, school, entertainment, and other aspects of [...]
Fiber Optics – Troubleshooting Those Dirty Little Fibers
With its greater bandwidth capacity and ability to transmit signals over long distances with very little power loss, fiber has become the hands-down favorite for the future of Broadband. Fiber’s resistance to magnetic interference makes transmissions [...]
What is NetFlow and What Can It Do for You?
When network problems surface, are you able to quickly identify and address the issues to keep your network performing optimally? Understanding network traffic and how it flows is essential when trying to resolve issues, or [...]
A Primer on STIR/SHAKEN
Have you ever gotten a phone call from what looks like a familiar number only to answer and find out that it's a call about your car warranty or some other potential scam? If you [...]
CBRS – Opportunity Abounds with Shared Spectrum
CBRS marks a turning point in shared spectrum, allowing general access users to deploy private LTE based solutions of their own, and opening up valuable mid-band spectrum for 5G use. Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) [...]
What is DOCSIS 10G?
At the Consumer Electronics Show in January of last year CableLabs announced their 10G initiative. The goal is to make changes in DOCSIS technology and cable plant architecture to allow for 10 Gbps transfer rates both [...]
New PON Technologies for Fiber Network Transformation
Nowadays, over the top TV and video on demand streaming are the main drivers for additional bandwidth to your subscribers. And you can add to this the content and applications such as video surveillance, remote [...]
Will 5G make wireline broadband obsolete?
The buzz in the broadband industry these days is 5G. That’s not G as in Gigabytes. That’s G as in Generation. 5G is the latest generation of cellular technology, and some say that it could [...]
Connect America Fund CAF II Testing Requirement Details
Access to high-speed Internet in the U.S. has improved significantly over the years, but there are still some unserved and underserved rural communities where slow internet service is impacting the people who live, work and [...]
What is DOCSIS PNM and Why You Need It
Diagnostics tools on a DOCSIS network have traditionally been part of a reactive, break-fix methodology, where the operator is notified about issues in their plant AFTER service for subscribers have been impacted. In fact, it [...]
DOCSIS Codewords and their Importance in Monitoring RF Performance
Codewords are a key feature and an important check on data transmission in DOCSIS networks. They are are often able to recreate bad bits of data corrupted by linear distortions and noise in the cable [...]
Running out of IPv4 Addresses? Here are two options.
If you are an ISP and haven't experienced your own IPv4 shortage yet, you most likely have heard that IPv4 addresses are getting hard to come by. This is sending many Internet providers into panic [...]
Identify Downstream RF Impairments With This eBook
As a cable operator you have to do a lot of path monitoring to gauge the health of your plant. Most often the problems are in the upstream signals, but the downstream, while typically a [...]
Call Center 101: Getting Started with Broadband Technical Support
What does it take to start your own call center to service Internet subscribers and provide broadband technical support? Is it difficult? What do you need to know? In the competitive world of broadband services, [...]
Set-Top Box Survey Shows Need for Video Diagnostics Monitoring
As you may know, ZCorum provides web-based applications that gather diagnostics information from CMTS, Cable Modems and EMTAs to help cable operators support their data and voice services. In speaking with customers and prospects we [...]
Advantages of DOCSIS Provisioning of EPoN and GPoN
As costs for fiber equipment and installation have come down, many Cable Operators are considering deploying fiber to offer the increased speeds their subscribers are looking for rather than DOCSIS 3.1. One of the challenges [...]
Broadband Usage Caps’ Increase – For the Better?
When Internet Service Providers (ISPs) began doling out broadband usage caps, there were groans heard around the world from consumers that were not happy that they could no longer enjoy the freedom of having “limitless” [...]
Tracking Down Ingress in Your Return Path
Every cable operator has a constant struggle with ingress. As external RF signals leak into the return path from various sources, that noise accumulates and funnels upstream to the CMTS. This cumulative effect can cause [...]
WiFi Connections Gone Wild – Is Your Customer’s WiFi on Spring Break?
When Wi-Fi technology first started taking off, people were connecting one or two devices to their Wi-Fi network. Today it’s a WiFi party with most households having at least four connected devices and planning to [...]
Is Your Data Center Ready for the Internet of Things?
Can your networks handle anticipated increases in information flow related to Internet of Things (IoT) optimization? Subscriber to Service Provider: “So what you’re telling me Mr. Internet Provider is that I can run my lawn sprinkler [...]
The Hold Up with the Internet of Things
The term Internet of Things was first coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999, but actually, the Internet of Things goes back a lot further than merely 15 years. In fact, already in 1926, we saw [...]