Top all-time · #3419
CableLabs
Company blog · cablelabs.com/bloghardwaresystems
CableLabs is the company blog at cablelabs.com, writing about hardware and systems. Since 2011, 23 different Hacker News readers have linked it 24 times, most often “Low Latency Docsis”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-22, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (14) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN commenters link CableLabs for the DOCSIS cable modem specifications and related broadband projects, such as 10G internet, low-latency DOCSIS and open-source LoRa. The comments cite these pages as sources rather than judging them.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 14 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
CableLabs advances broadband innovation through research, technology development, and industry collaboration to create the networks and connected experiences of tomorrow.
Most-linked posts?
- Low Latency Docsis2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-06-13
What Hacker News says?
Plain old copper has seen similar "appreciation": https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1219210/000119312513... Of course none of that ever makes it to the consumer, investment is stagnant or down and all this tech ends up achieving is accommodating higher Internet penetration (and customer counts). Here is the DOCSIS evolution: http://www.cablelabs.com/full-duplex-docsis/ All this cable infrastructure previously…
Comment linking /full-duplex-docsis/
on “Verizon Throttles Netflix Subscribers in Test It Doesn't Inform Customers About”Submitted Expanded testing of video conferencing bandwidth usage over 50/5 Mbps broadband as a story · 40 points
HN discussionDo you have an example of a cable modem that blocks remote setting updates? Both remote configuration and remote software updates are MUSTs in the DOCSIS spec[1], and my understanding is that the information in the configuration file is technically required for the modem communicate with the headend for anything more than bootstrapping. There’s no way to turn this off and have a functioning modem. CableLabs enforces…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2015/08/CM-SP-OSSIv3.0-I05-071206.pdf
on “Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points”Submitted Wi-Fi Spectrum: 6 GHz Use Is Surging and Headed Toward Exhaustion as a story · 5 points
HN discussionIt's about like you'd expect. They do. The interesting thing is that a huge focus appears to be cost-sensitive. As last mile operators, they have relatively low profit-per-customer (compared to a backhaul operator) with which to build each final physical network link. Hence crazy stuff like "fiber to the box and short-run copper standard to the house". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableLabs https://www.cablelabs.…
Comment linking /about-cablelabs/member-companies/
on “ISPs Aim to Use Facebook Fracas to Saddle Silicon Valley with Crappy New Laws”Submitted Docsis 4.0 Certification Available as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe biggest problem with CAKE/CoDel is that if you're not deploying it on the bottleneck device, you have to artificially limit the download/upload speed ("bandwidth 280mbit" "bandwidth 45mbit" in this example) in order to create a new bottleneck. Finding the correct limits is nontrivial because they might change over time. Anecdotally, switching from DOCSIS 3.0 to 3.1 seems to have improved my worst-case latency, b…
Comment linking /blog/how-docsis-3-1-reduces-latency-with-active-queue-management
on “Unbloating the buffers”Submitted IMSI catching attacks and false base stations as a story · 2 points
HN discussionCableLabs.com, the creators of the DOCSIS standard for cable modems are part of an industry wide push towards 10G internet for ISPs. According to Neilsen's law, we should see 10G internet become more common than 1G internet is today within 10 years. https://www.cablelabs.com/10g https://www.nngroup.com/articles/law-of-bandwidth/
Comment linking /10g
on “XDP for game programmers”Submitted Next Generation Video: Beyond 4K as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://www.cablelabs.com/10g
Comment linking /10g
on “XDP for game programmers”Submitted Low Latency Docsis as a story · 1 points
HN discussionhttps://www.cablelabs.com/technologies/low-latency-docsis
Comment linking /technologies/low-latency-docsis
on “Sunshine – an open-source gamestream server for Windows and Linux”Submitted L4S Interop Lays Groundwork for 10G “Metaverse” as a story · 1 points
HN discussionWe at Sipwise implement VoIP switches at major ISPs in Europe, and the most uncomfortable question, which is ALWAYS asked (mostly just as a side-question, like "Btw, I suppose you support it anyways, so how does your solution work in that regards?") is the one of lawful interception. There's a specification defined by the PacketCable consortium ( http://www.cablelabs.com/packetcable/downloads/specs/PKT-SP-... ), and…
Comment linking /packetcable/downloads/specs/PKT-SP-ES-DCI-I01-060914.pdf
on “Age of surveillance: the fish is rotting from its head”Submitted Meet CableLabs Tech Policy Whisperer Rob Alderfer as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThe internet is a form of free speech. The more bandwidth, the more free content available. For example, DOCSIS 4.0 can deliver symmetrical 10Gbps to the house.[1] YouTube would be obsolete if a P2P video platform was available with users pushing 10Gbps each. Faster internet is worth it. Nobody uses what they have because they don't have much. Everything has been designated to the cloud. [1] https://www.cablelabs.co…
Comment linking /technologies/docsis-4-0-technology
on “Typical U.S. households don’t use most of their bandwidth”Submitted Don Clarke Wins Layer123 Network Transformation Award as a story · 1 points
HN discussionthe only problem with LoRa is that it is proprietary... but I just did a quick search and there appear to be open source alternatives now, like this: https://www.cablelabs.com/cablelabs-announces-open-source-lo...
Comment linking /cablelabs-announces-open-source-lorawan-network-solution/
on “IoT Sensors Monitor a 1,400-Kilometer Canal in China”Submitted New Development of LoRaWAN Open Source Solution as a story · 1 points
HN discussionHowdy, I design optical integrated circuits for coherent communication. mmmBacon is correct. See here[0] or [1] for examples of the types of forward error correction used in coherent links. Pre-FEC bit error rate thresholds of 1e-3 or 2e-2 for <1e-15 post-FEC errors are fairly standard. [0] https://www.cablelabs.com/forward-error-correction-fec-a-pri... [1] PDF warning: https://www.infinera.com/wp-content/uploads/So…
Comment linking /forward-error-correction-fec-a-primer-on-the-essential-element-for-optical-transmission-interoperability
on “Ultra-dense optical data transmission over standard fibre with a single chip”Former ARRIS employee here and part of the team that wrote the DOCSIS HMS-MMM specification. Here's a link to the specifications for version 3.1 - https://www.cablelabs.com/specifications/search?category=DOC... . Understanding how these devices work will make understanding the software much easier. I will warn you however that most of the magic is in the hardware. Also note that the surfboard line originated at Moto…
Comment linking /specifications/search?category=DOCSIS&subcat=DOCSIS%203.1&query=&doctype=&content=false&archives=false¤tPage=1
on “Arris Cable Modem Teardown”> Only Gigabit? I'm holding out for 10G! 10G is for newbs. IEEE Std 802.3ca-2020 does 25Gbps (50G if two lambdas are used): * https://blog.siemon.com/standards/ieee-p802-3ca-25-gb-s-and-... * https://www.cablelabs.com/25g-50g-epon-standard-crosses-the-... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_in_the_first_mile Though most PON fibre deployments seem to use the ITU GPON standards, and not the IEEE's EPON. An ITU gr…
Comment linking /25g-50g-epon-standard-crosses-the-finish-line-enhancing-fiber-deployments-as-part-of-cables-10g-platform
on “What’s the Point of Gigabit Broadband?”How'd you figure? DOCSIS 4.0 spec[1] was first issued circa Aug 2019 and has undergone 6-10 revisions since. [1] https://www.cablelabs.com/specifications/search?currentPage=...
Comment linking /specifications/search?currentPage=1&query=&category=DOCSIS&subcat=DOCSIS%204.0&doctype=&content=false&archives=false
on “Comcast deploys 2 Gbps symmetrical internet speeds via decades-old coaxial cable”
