Just months after publicly unveiling an experimental technology that produces next-generation gigabit Internet speeds on cable networks that are already in place throughout much of the country, Comcast's impending super high-speed Internet service has officially gone live -- at least for one Philadelphia-area home.

Gigabit Internet, Coming Sooner Than Fiber

Last week, Comcast announced it had installed and activated the first consumer DOCSIS 3.1 modem in the country at a home in Philadelphia, the city where Comcast has its corporate headquarters. That lucky home will now enjoy Internet data speeds on par with fiber optic networks, like Google Fiber and AT&T's Gigapower, anywhere from 125 megabytes per second to up to 250 mbps.

That's already several times faster than the current national average for broadband speed, and the new 3.1 cable standard is reportedly capable of reaching up to 10 Gbps, at least in lab conditions.

Comcast's first next-generation Internet customer in Philadelphia won't be alone for long, because the technology is backwards compatible on existing hybrid-coaxial networks.

DOCSIS, or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, first introduced Internet data transmission on cable networks with version 1.0 in 1997. Now, for Comcast to expand its gigabit cable to new customers will only require a standard cable connection, a new modem, and a software upgrade to DOCSIS 3.1 installed in Comcast's neighborhood network hubs.

Compared to the costly and complicated process of building fiber optic networks in new areas, Comcast's gigabit upgrade is practically like flipping a switch.

As such, Comcast announced it plans to roll out the new gigabit cable option to "several parts of the country" before the end of 2016, starting with expanded trials in Northern California and Atlanta, Georgia. And, as VP of Comcast network architecture Robert Howald told FierceCable earlier this year, the company hopes to deploy the new technology throughout its entire U.S. network footprint within the next two to three years.

"We're testing it this year," said Howald, adding, "We're shooting for two years." 

The Inherent Downside of Comcast's Gigabit Internet

The news is certainly auspicious for consumers whose only other option for gigabit Internet was to wait for fiber optic networks to be built in their area, but the potential near-term future of gigabit-through-cable is not an entirely happy picture. And it's not just because the pioneering company behind the new technology is Comcast, one of the biggest ISPs that also frequently rates among the lowest in its field for consumer satisfaction.

It's because Comcast is seemingly very knowingly expanding its Internet data caps to more and more customers prior to the implementation of the new speed-boosting technology. In fact, one of the first areas for the high-speed DOCSIS 3.1 rollout, Atlanta, Georgia, also happens to also be one of the latest major metropolitan areas that Comcast has added to its list of 'trial markets' for the 300GB per month data limit.

In the increasing number of places included in Comcast's policy "experiment," customers must either pay a $10 per 50GB overage or add $30 and $35 extra per month to their Internet bill for uncapped, "unlimited" service.

Comcast argues that only about one percent of customers are affected by that data cap, though the 13,000 complaints filed this year with the Federal Communications Commission against Comcast's data caps belies the company's figures.

But even if only a small minority of Internet users hit the monthly limit, as Internet speeds increase, data usage follows.

It's inevitable: When most Internet users had dial up, it'd be unlikely for most to reach, say, 10GB of data usage in a month, much less 300GB. But with the expansion of broadband, and the services that faster Internet enables, the average Internet user could easily hit 10GB in one evening of Netflix binging.

How much data will the average customer use per month once the current speeds are amped up tenfold? What about when gigabit Internet speeds are widespread enough to enable 4K (or maybe VR) as the standard for streaming?

As Latin Post previously noted, the push-pull of ubiquitous fast Internet connections and the limits increasingly being set on total data use ultimately gives ISPs more power: Power to charge more, power to offer data-cap free services, and thus, power to choose winners and losers on the Internet.

And even if Comcast chooses to exempt DOCSIS 3.1 connections from its caps, or set those limits much higher, that still currently remains Comcast's choice, not consumers'.

Gigabit Internet speeds across the country by 2018 sounds great, but new game-changing technologies require new rules to play by. It took about a decade before the government caught up to the new reality of broadband Internet. Will it take another decade to do it again?