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Hub 3 / Compal CH7465-LG (TG2492LG) and CGNV4 Latency Cause

Datalink
Up to speed

Good Day Ladies and Gentlemen,

Greetings from the other side of the pond, so to speak.  Over the last few weeks I've been perusing various user forums across North America and Europe for issues related to Intel Puma 6 modem latency.  Of those forums, your Hub 3 stands out as yet another Puma 6 based modem where users see continuous latency no matter what site is used or what online game is played. Considering all of the problems that are on the go, the following information should be of interest to all Hub 3, Compal CH7465-LG and Hitron CGNV4 modem users.  There is much more to post regarding this, so this is a start, to alert VM users as to the real cause of the latency and hopefully engage the VM engineering staff, via the forum staff, with Arris.  I am surprised to see that there has been no mention on this board of users from other ISPs who are suffering the exact same issues with their modems, so, this may come as a surprise to some, and possibly old news to others.

So, the short story ........

The Hub 3 / Compal CH7465-LG (TG2492LG) & Hiton CGNV4 modems are Intel Puma 6 / 6 Media Gateway (MG) based modems.  These modems exhibit high latency to the modem and high latency thru the modem.  The latency affects all IPV4 and IPV6 protocols, so it will be seen on every internet application and game.  The basic cause is the processing of the data packets thru a CPU software based process instead of thru the hardware processor / accelerator.  It appears that a higher priority task runs periodically, causing the packet processing to halt, and then resume.  This is observed as latency in applications and in ping tests to the modem and beyond.  For the last several weeks, Hitron, along with Intel and Rogers Communications in Canada have been addressing the latency issue within the Hitron CGNxxx series modems.  To date, only the IPV4 ICMP latency has been resolved.  Although this is only one protocol, it does show that a Puma 6MG modem is capable of using the hardware processor / accelerator with good results.  Currently Rogers is waiting for further firmware updates from Hitron which should include an expanded list of resolved protocol latency issues.  For Arris modems, "Netdog" an Arris engineer indicated last week that Arris was onboard to address the issue for the Arris SB6190 modem.  That should be considered as good news for any Arris modem (read Hub 3) user as Arris should be able to port those changes over to other Puma 6/6MG modems fairly quickly.  This is not a trivial exercise and will probably take several weeks to accomplish.  Note that there is no guarantee at this point that it is possible to shift all packet processing to the hardware processor / accelerator without suffering from any packet loss side effects.  Time will tell if all of the technical issues can be resolved with the current hardware included in the Puma 6/6MG chipset.  Last night, Netdog loaded beta firmware on selected test modems on the Comcast Communications network.  As this was only done last night, it's too soon to tell what this version resolves and if it was successful or not.  Netdog has contacts with staff at Comcast, Rogers, Charter and Cox Communications to fan out beta versions and modifications for testing.  I'd say its time to add Virgin Media and/or Liberty Global to that group as well.

Recent activity:

Approx three weeks ago a DSLReports user, xymox1 started a thread where he reported high latency to an Arris SB6190 and illustrated that with numerous MultiPing plots.  This is the same latency that I and other users with Rogers communications have been dealing with for months so it came as no surprise.  As well as reporting via that thread, xymox1 took it upon himself to email several staff members at Arris, Intel, Cablelabs and others.  The result of that campaign was Netdog's announcement, last week, that Arris was fully engaged at resolving the issue.  That has led to last nights release of beta firmware, although as I indicated its too early to determine what the beta firmware resolves, if anything.


The original thread that xymox1 started is here:

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31079834-ALL-SB6190-is-a-terrible-modem-Intel-Puma-6-MaxLinear-mis...


Yesterday, DSLReports issued a news story covering the thread:

https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/The-Arris-SB6190-Modem-Puma-6-Chipset-Have-Some-Major-Issues-138...


Today, Arris responded:

https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Arris-Tells-us-Its-Working-With-Intel-on-SB6190-Puma6-Problems-1...


That response was also picked by Multichannel.com

http://www.multichannel.com/news/distribution/intel-arris-working-firmware-fix-sb6190-modem/409379

This is more news likely to appear in the next few days as additional tech and news staff pick up on this issue.


Hub 3 observations:

Like many others using a Puma 6/6MG modem, Hub 3 users are experiencing latency when they ping the modem, or ping a target outside of the home, game online or use low latency applications.  The common misconception is that this is Buffer Bloat. It's not. Its most likely a case of the packet processing stopping while the CPU processes a higher priority task.  The packet processing is done via the CPU no matter what mode the modem is operating in, modem mode or router mode and no matter what IPV4 or IPV6 protocol is used.  Normally, the latency is just that, latency.  The exception are UDP packets. In this case there is latency and packet loss.  The result of that is delayed and failed DNS lookups, and poor game performance for games that use UDP for player/server comms or player/player comms.


Can this be fixed?

So far, it appears that the answer is yes.  Rogers Communications issued beta firmware to a small group of test modems in October.  This version shifted the IPV4 ICMP processing from the CPU to the hardware processor / accelerator, resulting in greatly improved performance in ping latency.  At the present time we are waiting for the next version firmware which should shift other protocols over to the hardware processor / accelerator.  That can be seen in the following post:

http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/Getting_connected/message-id/369...

The details and results of last nights beta release to the Comcast group have yet to be seen.

At this point there is enough reading to keep most staff and users busy.  My intention is to post some of the history leading up to this point and instructions on how to detect the latency and packet loss.  This is not thru the use of a BQM.  I had hoped to post this all at once but events are moving much faster than I had thought they would.  For now this should suffice to get the ball rolling.

Below is a link to a post with a couple of HrPing plots from my 32 channel modem to the connected CMTS.  This shows the latency that is observed and reflects what others have posted in this forum using Pingplotter and HrPing.

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31106550-

HrPing is one of the freebie applications that can be used to monitor the latency to and thru the modem. 

Pingplots with Pingplotter which show the latency from my modem to the CMTS can be found in the first two to three rows of my online image library at Rogers Communications, located below.  They are essentially what the BQM would look like if you were able to zoom into the plot to the point where you could see the individual ping spikes.  Those ping spikes are common to Puma 6 and Puma 6MG modems.

http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/media/gallerypage/user-id/829158

 

 

 [MOD EDIT: Subject heading changed to assist community]

4,478 REPLIES 4,478

hi shawn @RockerSBM whats the email adress buddy david please wanna say a few things as they wouldnt swap hubs 

Oh cool, thanks!

wotusaw
Superfast

I've got a hub 2 and seen a post by shanematthews. He says his SH2 works with the gamer package so apologies for saying it didn't work.

I read the answer from Virgin given out to a customer....Yes, I believed them.:)

Not going to go the SH2 route as I believe a fix is about 2 weeks to month away for Virgin media. Someone is rolling a fix out but not Virgin. Recon it will take Virgin a month to catch up. I'm now looking for this post....if I find I'll post it. Yes, know from what the DSL boffins say, it won't fix everything but any improvement would be nice.

This is'nt the one I was after but it makes interesting reading..

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/04/claims-low-bandwidth-dos-attack-can-hammer-virgin-media...

Ah, here it is..not as definitive as my 'wishful memory' led me to believe but it's something to grasp onto..

"VM and other ISPs that use cable both here and worldwide are likely to just give up on waiting on Intel to fix the issue which is in many cable modem devices. The superhub 3 is over a year old, it does not support Docsis 3.1 which is the future, that along with the issues and i would not be shocked if VM and others using gear with the same chipset just dumped it soon for a new device. That would be the logical thing since the chipset has had so many issues and getting support from Intel for any legacy device is like pulling teeth." 'Kelvin'

Tend to agree with 'Kelvin'. I've had 5 teeth out lately so know what he's on about.Robot Frustrated

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31382894-

There is so much stuff on this and it's really confusing.

What is the problem with just giving customers some kind of clue about what's going on....on this forum would be nice. If I owned the company there would be changes. Ah, US billionaire John Malone is the guy to phone. All I need is 20 odd billion. No probs, got that is my Miss Piggy piggy bank. 🙂

 


@wotusaw wrote:

I've got a hub 2 and seen a post by shanematthews. He says his SH2 works with the gamer package so apologies for saying it didn't work.

I read the answer from Virgin given out to a customer....Yes, I believed them.:)

Not going to go the SH2 route as I believe a fix is about 2 weeks to month away for Virgin media. Someone is rolling a fix out but not Virgin. Recon it will take Virgin a month to catch up. I'm now looking for this post....if I find I'll post it. Yes, know from what the DSL boffins say, it won't fix everything but any improvement would be nice.

This is'nt the one I was after but it makes interesting reading..

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/04/claims-low-bandwidth-dos-attack-can-hammer-virgin-media...

Ah, here it is..not as definitive as my 'wishful memory' led me to believe but it's something to grasp onto..

"VM and other ISPs that use cable both here and worldwide are likely to just give up on waiting on Intel to fix the issue which is in many cable modem devices. The superhub 3 is over a year old, it does not support Docsis 3.1 which is the future, that along with the issues and i would not be shocked if VM and others using gear with the same chipset just dumped it soon for a new device. That would be the logical thing since the chipset has had so many issues and getting support from Intel for any legacy device is like pulling teeth." 'Kelvin'

Tend to agree with 'Kelvin'. I've had 5 teeth out lately so know what he's on about.Robot Frustrated

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31382894-

There is so much stuff on this and it's really confusing.

What is the problem with just giving customers some kind of clue about what's going on....on this forum would be nice. If I owned the company there would be changes. Ah, US billionaire John Malone is the guy to phone. All I need is 20 odd billion. No probs, got that is my Miss Piggy piggy bank. 🙂

 


Dont get your hopes up too high, although there may be some form of fix coming, its more of a band-aid then a cure 🙂

but good to hear that in theory we are not tooooo long away till a patch-up fix might hit.

Anonymous
Not applicable

I had CEO ring not long ago, as emailed them last night, said they are working on a fix but don't have a ETA currently, said just keep eye on forum for when fix is out for it, he did kindly remove my £5 discount that was due to end soon and replaced it with a £10 one for 18 months...

I got a SH2ac on Monday 🙂

I don't want to annoy people but after many calls to VM, and an unasked for delivery of a Hub3 to replace my useless Hub3, a nice engineer called on Bank Holiday Monday about replacing my Hub3 with a Superhub2ac, so I cancelled my plans and stayed in.

Amazingly he turned up with a Superhub2ac, he had to spend a lot of time on the phone getting approval to "downgrade" my Hub3 but eventually he did and I could play games online again 🙂

Of course now my wife is not happy as she is convinced the WiFi was faster with a Hub3 and i have to admit the UI and functionality of the Hub3 is better than a Superhub2 but I don't really care as I'm back playing games 🙂

The BQM graphs of the two hubs show a clear difference, but again I don't care now that the Hub3 is just a bad memory.

 


@Awal wrote:

I got a SH2ac on Monday 🙂

I don't want to annoy people but after many calls to VM, and an unasked for delivery of a Hub3 to replace my useless Hub3, a nice engineer called on Bank Holiday Monday about replacing my Hub3 with a Superhub2ac, so I cancelled my plans and stayed in.

Amazingly he turned up with a Superhub2ac, he had to spend a lot of time on the phone getting approval to "downgrade" my Hub3 but eventually he did and I could play games online again 🙂

Of course now my wife is not happy as she is convinced the WiFi was faster with a Hub3 and i have to admit the UI and functionality of the Hub3 is better than a Superhub2 but I don't really care as I'm back playing games 🙂

The BQM graphs of the two hubs show a clear difference, but again I don't care now that the Hub3 is just a bad memory.

 


Well done! I'm not sure who you bribed but clearly it worked 🙂

Just spoken to 2nd line support, and a SH 2ac is allegedly on it's way to me!

Let's see what arrives in the post.......

🙂

 

 

Area 20 - Hub 3.0 - Vivid 350

I'm just another geek and all my posts are my own personal opinion. 🙂
Hopefully I may have been some help, though!

Apparently, Virgin are indeed in the throws of early development of the SH4 - but as already said, with DOCSIS 3.1 around the corner that was logical even if the issues were not present on the SH 3.

As to a Firmware fix for the SH 3 - the rollout of the latest firmware enabling the hotspots is about 75% complete, and Virgin will not be pushing another update out until this one has finished.

There is the expected 'limited' firmware fix in the pipeline, but the current timescale - according to the call I have just had - taking the current rollout above into consideration and the Virgin 'boffins' to finish configuring it is - wait for it......

 

About 8 to 12 weeks away..!

 

Area 20 - Hub 3.0 - Vivid 350

I'm just another geek and all my posts are my own personal opinion. 🙂
Hopefully I may have been some help, though!

No news yet on any firmware trials, so there's going to be a long wait. The Hub 3 trial boards have been dead since November 2016. 

I would expect the Hub 4 is years away as the current Hub 3 supports enough channels for most areas. Since most of the public don't know or care about latency it's highly unlikely VM will launch a new hub just for the few that do.

When a Docsis 3.1 hub gets rolled out on the network it's most likely going to be running in Docsis 3 mode anyway (with no OFDM), just with the capability of expanding to 32 downstream channels. So until that number of channels are required..