cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

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


@donniem wrote:

If people reported this issue in the SuperHub3 early trials then there is absolutely no excuse. It seems like Virgin knew the hardware was a goose and went ahead anyway.

 


Who knows, maybe Intel promised back then to them that they "will fix it soon" (what they still do), and it was cheaply priced, so hard to resist 😉

"Gamer package" - well, depends what "Gamer" means? Downloading games? Having most of online games run without too noticeable glitches? Having definite latency guarantees? (this I think not 😉 )

Considered OFCOM deemed legal to sell "Unlimited" broadband which actually had limits in small print, I doubt "Gamer" package will have any more scrutiny all of the sudden.

 

Having done firmware trials for another company, it is usually picked up but the powers high up override it.

We had an issue with VPN nor working with our routers. I reported it but management decided it would delay the launch and would be fixed quickly. So it launched. Business customers were **bleep**... Took 9 months to fix it.

The first assumptions I would make seeing a premium 'gamer' deal advertised is:

A) Amazing latency helped along by
B) Great bandwidth

In that order. I would actually forgo the bandwidth as long as I had amazing latency. Latency is literally everything in games, a gamer package with KNOWN latency issues which are hidden from the customer is the definition of a scam.


@donniem wrote:
The first assumptions I would make seeing a premium 'gamer' deal advertised is:

A) Amazing latency helped along by
B) Great bandwidth



Assumption is a key word. And Virgin will maintain that you shouldn't just assume things unless given it guaranteed in contract (which you are not).

I think they are perfectly aware of what bounds they push by their sneaky adverts, and are sure they will get away with it (and I don't see why not). Again, "Unlimited" broadband is not "Truly Unlimited" in UK, so they may bring "Truly Gamer" package at some point with proper gamer-grade router 😉


@donniem wrote:

If people reported this issue in the SuperHub3 early trials then there is absolutely no excuse. It seems like Virgin knew the hardware was a goose and went ahead anyway. Perhaps we should start a website to document their lack of communication and negligence? What's going on here is unheard of and I can't believe they continue to sell a premium Gamer package with this issue, it seems so deceitful.

 


As i've posted, they were likely made aware of the issue and when they contacted the people up the chain they were assured it would be fixed within a reasonable timeframe, i mean if intel say they are going to fix something wouldn't you have trusted them when they had a faultless record previously?

Not that anyone will care and i'll get labelled as some sort of secret person paid to make VM look good etc, but if you apply a little common sense and look at the bigger picture you'll arrive at a similar conclusion, granted that doesn't help you now but its likely the reason the hub3 went ahead in the first place


@donniem wrote:
The first assumptions I would make seeing a premium 'gamer' deal advertised is:

A) Amazing latency helped along by
B) Great bandwidth

In that order. I would actually forgo the bandwidth as long as I had amazing latency. Latency is literally everything in games, a gamer package with KNOWN latency issues which are hidden from the customer is the definition of a scam.


Well thats nice of you to assume, but nowhere on the package does it mention anything about latency, the package itself is fine, i use it myself but on a hub2, the issue is the hub3


@shanematthews wrote:

@donniem wrote:
The first assumptions I would make seeing a premium 'gamer' deal advertised is:

A) Amazing latency helped along by
B) Great bandwidth

In that order. I would actually forgo the bandwidth as long as I had amazing latency. Latency is literally everything in games, a gamer package with KNOWN latency issues which are hidden from the customer is the definition of a scam.


Well thats nice of you to assume, but nowhere on the package does it mention anything about latency, the package itself is fine, i use it myself but on a hub2, the issue is the hub3


Your wumming and trolling is seriously annoying.  Do you have nothing better to do!  Get a life.


@dcookster wrote:

@shanematthews wrote:

@donniem wrote:
The first assumptions I would make seeing a premium 'gamer' deal advertised is:

A) Amazing latency helped along by
B) Great bandwidth

In that order. I would actually forgo the bandwidth as long as I had amazing latency. Latency is literally everything in games, a gamer package with KNOWN latency issues which are hidden from the customer is the definition of a scam.


Well thats nice of you to assume, but nowhere on the package does it mention anything about latency, the package itself is fine, i use it myself but on a hub2, the issue is the hub3


Your wumming and trolling is seriously annoying.  Do you have nothing better to do!  Get a life.


Where have i "trolled" exactly? i mean you're going to need to provide an actual citation on this, i mean if you call using common sense and educating people to be "trolling" then you must have loved being trolled by your teachers and bosses 😛

Hi all,

Please keep this thread on topic. This thread will be locked if the off-topic posts persist but we don't want to have to do this as this thread has been going for a while. 

If you want to continue a discussion, please either take it to Private Messages or discuss in our Chatter forum. If you have an issue which you want attention for, then please create your own individual thread providing as much detail as possible, and someone will assist you. Please also note that further off-topic posting may result in individual warnings, review the Forum Guidelines for more information.

 

Stephen_B
Community Moderator

The do's and don'ts. Keep the community welcoming for all. Follow the house rules



@Stephen_B wrote:

Hi all,

Please keep this thread on topic. This thread will be locked if the off-topic posts persist but we don't want to have to do this as this thread has been going for a while. 

If you want to continue a discussion, please either take it to Private Messages or discuss in our Chatter forum. If you have an issue which you want attention for, then please create your own individual thread providing as much detail as possible, and someone will assist you. Please also note that further off-topic posting may result in individual warnings, review the Forum Guidelines for more information.

 


I think we got bored waiting for an update from VM.  Do you have one?