Research: Median downstream fibre outpaces DOCSIS 3x in US
May 15, 2026



Median usage for fibre subscribers in the US is more than triple the downstream bandwidth of DOCSIS subscribers during evening peak hours, according to the Q1 2026 edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report.

The latest edition of the report builds on earlier analysis to show how median downstream fibre consumption is 3.15x that of DOCSIS during the four-hour period, and that the highest ratio between fiber and DOCSIS median downstream use is 3.6x at 6pm. The report also notes that widest absolute gap during any daypart is at 8pm, when median downstream fiber usage is 1.346 GB for fibre and DOCSIS is at 0.456 GB – a delta of 0.890 GB.


Using data collected by OpenVault’s network-agnostic broadband optimisation solutions, the Q1 2026 OVBI examines the how fiber is become a pivotal factor in new consumption trends. The report also uses data from Aispire, a provider of consumption-centric intelligence, to provide insights into applications driving growth, particularly in the upstream.

Among the Q1 2026 OVBI findings:

Power Users – More than a third (33.8 per cent) of fibre customers are consuming 1 TB or more of data per month, an increase of 35.1 per cent over the 25 per cent of Power Users on DOCSIS networks.
Downstream – Average downstream fiber usage was 837 GB, 26.1 per cent more than the 664 GB recorded by DOCSIS subscribers.
Usage Drivers – Aispire data shows that cloud sync – especially ChatGPT reasoning models, MS365 Copilot, Apple Intelligence, and agentic AI workflows – is the dominant upstream category at 15–16 per cent of classified upload volume, and up to 25.5 per cent of upload traffic at the 1 Gbps+ tier.
Residential vs. Non-Residential – Residential subscribers run at a 23:1 download-to-upload ratio, with video comprising 48% of downloads. Non-residential subscribers run at a 7.3:1 ratio with cloud connections accounting for 20% of uploads.
“While almost half of residential traffic is video downloads, non-residential subscribers use cloud services that require symmetric fiber. Thus the two market segments should be modeled separately for capacity planning,” the report notes. Further, “as fiber footprints expand, operators should anticipate a structural uplift in overall network demand.”