Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[roseway]

Following on from this discussion a question was raised about differences between the two firmware versions B030SP06 and B030SP08. I was using the 06 version initially, and this morning I swapped to the 08 version. In both cases these are the Howlingwolf unlocked firmwares with GUI. I'm connected to a Huawei DSLAM. This is an initial comparison:

Performance: No significant difference on my connection. Not surprising perhaps because both versions achieve very close to the full 80/20 at 6dB downstream SNRM, so there wasn't much improvement to be had.

HLog, QLN and SNR per tone reported values: 06 reports downstream only, 08 reports both upstream and downstream.

The band plans are quite different:

06 version:

Code: [Select]

Discovery Phase (Initial) Band Plan
US: (0,95) (868,1207) (1972,2783)
DS: (32,859) (1216,1963) (2792,3971)
Medley Phase (Final) Band Plan
US: (0,95) (868,1207) (1972,2783)
DS: (32,859) (1216,1963) (2792,3971)
08 version:

Code: [Select]

Discovery Phase (Initial) Band Plan
US: (7,32) (871,1205) (1972,2782)
DS: (33,859) (1216,1961) (2793,3970)
Medley Phase (Final) Band Plan
US: (7,32) (871,1205) (1972,2782)
DS: (33,859) (1216,1961) (2793,3970)
The reported per-band data is different. 08 reports band U4 (although it's not currently used).

06 version:

Code: [Select]

  VDSL Band Status    U0    U1    U2    U3    D1    D2    D3
  Line Attenuation(dB):    2.9    14.7    21.6    N/A    8.2    18.1    28.7
Signal Attenuation(dB):    2.9    14.0    20.9    N/A    8.2    18.1    28.7
        SNR Margin(dB):    14.7    14.8    14.9    N/A    6.1    6.1    6.1
         TX Power(dBm):    -13.0    -28.9    1.4    N/A    11.0    8.1    6.7
08 version:

Code: [Select]

  VDSL Band Status    U0    U1    U2    U3    U4    D1    D2    D3
  Line Attenuation(dB):    3.0    14.9    22.0    N/A    N/A    8.2    18.1    29.0
Signal Attenuation(dB):    3.0    14.0    21.2    N/A    N/A    10.0    18.0    29.0
        SNR Margin(dB):    15.9    14.9    15.2    N/A    N/A    6.1    6.0    6.0
         TX Power(dBm):    -12.5    -28.7    1.7    N/A    N/A    11.0    8.0    6.8
There are some small differences between the outputs of xdslcmd info --stats (probably only of interest to writers of monitoring programs)

It's too early to assess differences in error rates, so I'll return to that later.

[Bald_Eagle1]

I think you'll also see quite a significant change in DS bitswapping.
I certainly did on my connection.

The attached graph shows the stats from before the firmware update & after.

The increased bitswapping certainly seems to have made my connection perform 'better', presumably as more tones can now be used dynamically rather than fixing their capacity at resync time?


I'm not quite sure exactly what changed when the software version changed from 06 to 08 though.

[les-70]

The 38 dsl driver in the 08 version supports a few extra options.  Most of these are ignored by the DSLAM but the 08 version allows speed capping with e.g.
xdslcmd configure --maxDataRate 64040 16040 1000000   giving 64Mb/s down and 16mb/s up.

 The third figure should be equal or bigger than the sum of the down and up values.  1000000 allows all values up and including 80/20.  The 08 firmware performs better re errors on my line and as BE1 notes it gives more bit swapping than the earlier dsl drivers.

[roseway]

It's certainly doing a lot more bitswapping than the 06 firmware did, and indications so far are that ES and CRC are significantly lower.

[les-70]

  Looking at your stats the HG612 08 does look as though may be doing a good job re errors.  I certainly get the lowest errors with it even if at the expense of a little speed c.f. a 63168 modem. I don't find the small speed drop an issue at all and think low errors are always best.

 I guess a longer test is really needed though as errors on your line do seem a bit variable.

[roseway]

It certainly does seem to be the case that the 08 is performing better in every respect than the 06 did. The most obvious difference is the much higher level of bitswapping, which is no doubt helping to maintain stability. It's difficult to compare with the earlier experiences with the Billion and the Zyxel, because my line was experiencing higher levels of interference when I was using them, and it has calmed down a lot now.