Cox: Our Non-Fiber Network Is In Fact Fiber
Cable industry somewhat ashamed of coaxial use
11:40AM Friday Dec 11 2009 by Karl Bode
Yesterday Cox announced that they were launching 50 Mbps broadband service in Las Vegas. In the announcement, local Las Vegas Cox executive Marilyn Burrows did something strange: she explained the Cox network in reasonable, realistic terms -- addressing its "non fiber" aspects and plainly exploring how DOCSIS 3.0 allows coaxial based infrastructure to achieve new heights. Why was this strange? To combat Verizon FiOS, the cable industry has been engaged in an industry-wide advertising campaign that tries to confuse customers into thinking last mile and core network fiber are essentially the same thing.
The claims have been at the heart of several truth in advertising debates. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureau recently urged Cablevision to change a number of their ads claiming they offer "America’s most advanced fiber optic network." Apparently, Burrows didn't get the memo that the cable industry isn't in the business of describing their networks as anything other than cutting edge fiber. In a follow up statement to the media, Cox spokesman David Deliman suggests that Burrows "wasn't very clear" when she very clearly, in fact, explained that Cox's network (gasps) actually uses coaxial:
The claims have been at the heart of several truth in advertising debates. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureau recently urged Cablevision to change a number of their ads claiming they offer "America’s most advanced fiber optic network." Apparently, Burrows didn't get the memo that the cable industry isn't in the business of describing their networks as anything other than cutting edge fiber. In a follow up statement to the media, Cox spokesman David Deliman suggests that Burrows "wasn't very clear" when she very clearly, in fact, explained that Cox's network (gasps) actually uses coaxial:
Unfortunately, one of our statements wasn’t very clear about the architecture of our network, which is fiber based. We used the term ‘non-fiber’ to describe only the last-mile connectivity of an advanced network that allows Cox customers to experience some of the fastest broadband speeds in the marketplace. To be clear, Cox’s Las Vegas system, like all of our cable systems, is built around an extensive network of fiber, and more than 90 percent of the path between the customer and the Cox headend is fiber. Via DOCSIS 3.0 technology and our network investments, we are delivering among the fastest speeds in Las Vegas and the nation. We’re very proud of our fiber networks across the country."
Hopefully Burrows learned her lesson and won't make the same mistake of accurately describing Cox's HFC (hybrid fiber-coax) network again.