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Author Topic: Quick Update on the Virgin Media Hub 3 Cable Router Latency Fix  (Read 2575 times)

Bowdon

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Quick Update on the Virgin Media Hub 3 Cable Router Latency Fix
« on: February 21, 2018, 10:41:03 AM »

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/02/quick-update-virgin-media-hub-3-router-latency-fix.html

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Last week it emerged that cable broadband ISP Virgin Media UK had begun deploying a new firmware update v9.1.116.603 for their Hub 3.0 (SuperHub v3) wireless router in order to fix the long running latency bug (here) on the Intel Puma 6 chipset. Today we wanted to share a quick update.

As a quick recap. The CPU (processor) inside the modem component of the Hub 3.0 router was taking on too much work while processing network packets, which caused the chipset to run a high-priority maintenance task every few seconds. Owners noticed that this task was occupying the CPU a bit too much and causing momentary latency spikes (increases of 200 milliseconds+), including a little packet loss.

The problem was disruptive enough that it could affect some time sensitive internet applications, such as fast paced multiplayer games. After a painfully long wait Virgin Media finally appeared to be rolling out a fix for the problem last week, which among other things shifted some of the load away from the CPU (we think the AR9382 comms chip takes it on) and did a few other things to improve the situation.

Lets hope that VM are tackling this issue because at the moment I think its a bottleneck in their network. People who do get good fast connections end up suffering with this problem if they have the SH3.

We have a thread about this on-going topic here: http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,21046.0.html VM - Smart Hub 3 - Will there ever be a fix for the Puma?

I'm wondering when DOCSIS 3.1 comes along will VM have to make a SH4 ? If so, I hope they use a regular chip maker.
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Ronski

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Re: Quick Update on the Virgin Media Hub 3 Cable Router Latency Fix
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2018, 06:45:42 PM »

Well they do state the following in that ISP Review article:

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A faster or multi-core CPU would have been better able to cope with the underlying issue but we won’t see that until a future Hub 4.0 launches (possibly something like the ARRIS TG3442). In the meantime Virgin’s partial fix will have to suffice.

Hopefully they'll need something better for the higher speeds when the do come.
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Formerly restrained by ECI and ali,  now surfing along at 390/36  ;D

niemand

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Re: Quick Update on the Virgin Media Hub 3 Cable Router Latency Fix
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2018, 01:36:35 PM »

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/02/quick-update-virgin-media-hub-3-router-latency-fix.html

Lets hope that VM are tackling this issue because at the moment I think its a bottleneck in their network. People who do get good fast connections end up suffering with this problem if they have the SH3.

We have a thread about this on-going topic here: http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,21046.0.html VM - Smart Hub 3 - Will there ever be a fix for the Puma?

I'm wondering when DOCSIS 3.1 comes along will VM have to make a SH4 ? If so, I hope they use a regular chip maker.

Answering the above.

VM can do exactly nothing to tackle this issue. They and Liberty Global only control a small subset of the software running on the devices. This is at a deeper level than even the device provider can manage, this is down to the chipset manufacturer, Intel.

Will there ever be a fix? Nope.

Will VM need a new hub for DOCSIS 3.1? Yup. They, or more accurately their parent Liberty Global, are already shopping for said CPE. There are 3.1 trials in 2 European countries in progress.

As far as a regular chip maker goes I'm not sure what you are saying here? They purchase the Hub 3 from Arris, who acquired Motorola's cable division. Very much a mainstream provider. The chipset used in the Arris device alongside many others is from Intel who in turn acquired Texts Instruments' cable operation. Again very much mainstream and regular.

Intel screwed up the integration of the Puma and their own SoC. It previously used ARM CPUs and was replaced by an x86 because Intel. The only other real option besides Puma 7 is Broadcom.

Unsurprisingly Arris 3.1 kit uses Broadcom  ;D
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