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If the modems aren't DOCSIS, they won't be in AT&T Broadband's systems much longer.
That's because the Englewood, Colo.-based MSO has a plan to root out cable modems built before the Data Over Cable Interface Service Specification became the industry standard.
The result will not only afford the MSO's longest-running data customers a new Motorola SB 4200 cable modem and access to expanded services, but it also will free up a 6-megahertz channel within the cable network.
AT&T Broadband started the conversion process in August, shipping new modems to three markets in the Pacific Northwest. The MSO expects most customers will be switched over by the first quarter of 2003, although a few systems may take until the second quarter to make the transition, said director of Internet services product marketing Richard Herbst.
The older legacy modems -- distributed in the early days of modem deployment by predecessors Tele-Communications Inc. and MediaOne Group Inc. - presently connect about 10 percent of AT&T Broadband's 1.8 million data subscribers. In recent years,...