Working and learning remotely for the past 15 months brought unique circumstances for all of us to navigate in several areas, and central to it all is having access to a reliable, secure internet connection. The pandemic posed the biggest technological test in the history of the internet. According to the NCTA, when offices and schools closed in March 2020, internet traffic across the U.S. surged by 20 – 35% over pre-pandemic baselines for cable broadband providers nationwide, as millions of people transitioned to working, learning and consuming all of their entertainment at home.
Now our communities are transitioning back to working from offices or making hybrid work arrangements, and schools are planning to reopen their doors beginning in August. A flexible, continuously evolving network staying ahead of customer demand is critical.
The success of a network hinges on three factors: decades of strategic investment, continuous network innovation, and the best team in the business.
Investment
In the last three years alone, Comcast invested $1.3 billion in technology and infrastructure investments just in Colorado, including upgrades to our broadband network.
Since 2017, Comcast devoted more than $15 billion nationwide to strengthening and expanding our network – including building more than 33,000 new route miles of fiber, which is like driving from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine more than 10 times. Every two and a half years, the company adds as much capacity to the network as it added in all the previous years combined.
One of the greatest advantages of our massive network is we already pass 60 million homes and businesses with a powerful, fiber-dense network, and we can quickly, surgically, and efficiently add additional fiber and capacity when and where it’s needed.
Because of our continuous investment in our network, we can often complete targeted upgrades in weeks rather than months and years.
We have a proven track record of completing network upgrades and improvements ahead of schedule, and delivering the performance our customers need, well before they need it.
Innovation
Continuous innovation throughout every part of a network is key.
Comcast has technologies running behind the scenes, so our customers don’t notice, such as Comcast Octave, which is an AI-based Platform, developed by our engineers that checks 4,000+ telemetry data points (such as external network “noise”, power levels, and other technical issues that can add up to a big impact on performance) on tens of millions of modems across our network every 20 minutes.
Comcast is also a leader in the 10G initiative, which leverages new standards and technology to dramatically increase internet speeds. The technology lays the groundwork for network operators, like us, to deliver multigigabit download and upload speeds over connections already installed in hundreds of millions of homes worldwide. Meaning, we can deliver multigigabit speeds to homes without the need for massive digging and construction projects.
Simply put, with decades of experience, we’re able to meet the needs of tomorrow – today, and continually improve the customer experience by delivering faster speeds, greater capacity, and more dynamic connected experiences.
Team Support
In addition to investing billions in building and evolving our network, Comcast engineers, artificial intelligence scientists, and cybersecurity experts across the country are continuously developing and deploying new technologies to protect our customers and ensure our network can meet emerging threats and challenges.
We have a team of cybersecurity experts scanning the network for threats and actively defending our network and our communities.
Our teams are made up of elite talent working at every level of the network from software and artificial intelligence at the core, to the best field teams laying new fiber and upgrading the network year-round in all conditions.
New network entrants who don’t have a plan or resources to support never-ending network evolution, cybersecurity protection, and hardening may put customers who rely on them at unnecessary risk.
As the country shifts yet again, home and business internet connections remain essential for video calls, education, healthcare access, workforce development, streaming entertainment, and more.
At Comcast, we remain relentlessly focused on connectivity, to deliver the smartest, fastest, most reliable network to the communities we serve - keeping you connected to more of who and what you love.