CODA-4582 - Open Issues for Investigation

[RogersDave]

*** This post was last edited May 2, 2017 ***

Good morning Community,

As I mentioned in a post two days ago, we have received the next firmware 2.0.10.20 from Hitron. We are currently running initial testing on this version and will push it out to participants in the firmware trial program as soon as it passes initial testing.

However, while running these tests, we discovered abnormal behavior with ICMP and are awaiting feedback from Hitron today to asses how this will be addressed. As soon as I this is confirmed, I’ll update the change log with the correct version information and start pushing it out.

In parallel, we are still working on the following high priority items. In some cases below, I requested affected customers to reach out to me via private message. If you do so, please include your modem MAC address in the subject line (even if we exchange messages daily) as there are a lot of you reaching out to me daily 🙂

UDP Packet Loss

The investigation for what has been reported as UDP packet loss is still ongoing. We have deployed a probe at one fellow forum member on both a CODA-4582 and a CGNM-3552 to collect additional data. We are actively working with Hitron and Intel on the results observed.

Based on what we know so far, in most instances UDP packet loss is coupled with higher uplink usage in the area. Although the impact is noticeable in specific logs (League of Legends), the root cause for the perceivable impact (while playing) is likely related to bufferbloat (see next issue).

Bufferbloat

When comparing the performance of a CODA-4582 to a CGNM-3552 in the same network conditions, the CODA-4582 consistently reports higher bufferbloat when tested on DSLReports.

Update April 12: The solution for this problem will come in two folds. It will require a change in software which will possibly be included in 2.0.10.27 but more likely in 2.0.10.28 and a change in network configuration.

The network configuration change is not compatible with the current firmware so this change will only come after a vast majority of the modems are running the new code. We are however looking at a way to make the change only for specific modems to support testing in the community.

Update April 22: This problem seems resolved in firmware 2.0.10.27

5 GHz WiFi Low range for channels 36 to 48

Lower WiFi channels on the modem have a much smaller range. This is due in part to the limit imposed by Industry Canada to maximum transmit power.

Furthermore, the current automatic channel selection (auto mode) tends to select the lower channels when in similar load conditions.

Workaround: manually select higher channels (149-153-157-161)

Update April 22: The channel selection algorithm has been improved in firmware 2.0.10.27

Loss of OFDM Channel Lock

Under some RF conditions, the modem fails to lock properly on the OFDM channel. This typically result in variable performance.

Update April 12: This problem is resolved in 2.0.10.26T2

List of connected device does not get fully populated

This is a known issue that has been tracked since firmware 2.0.10.13. We are making improvements at every firmware but it is not a perfect system.

The situation is worst after a reboot or firmware upgrade as the list gets reset and must be repopulated as devices renew their DHCP lease.

NAT Loopback not working for wired clients

When setting up port forwarding to an internal server, it is possible for a client on WiFi to reach the server using the external IP/port. If the client is on a wired interface, it doesn't work.

Update April 12: This problem is resolved in 2.0.10.26T2 (not confirmed)

LAN Counters not working

Some customers reported that LAN counters (especially in bridge mode) are reporting inaccurate values.

This problem has been reported to Hitron for investigation.

Unexpected modem reboot

Some customers reported their modem reboots unexpectedly. We have also seen this behavior in our lab.

Update April 12: This problem is resolved in 2.0.10.26T2

Missing SC-QAM Channels

After a reboot, some modems are missing SC-QAM channels. A fix has been implemented in 2.0.10.26T2 to address this behavior but it has not corrected all scenarios.

Investigation continues with Hitron.

WiFi Survey

The WiFi Survey functionality in firmware 2.0.10.26T2 (and possibly before) reports incorrect SSID names.

Guest Network

When connecting to the Guest Network, an error message is displayed "only allow DHCP client to use this wireless".  This has been reported in firmware 2.0.10.26T2.

Update April 22: This issue has been resolved in firmware 2.0.10.27

Update May 2: It seems this issue is not fully resolved and still experienced by some users

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Future Planned Improvements

The following are items that we are working on in parallel of the above.

• Improvement in WiFi speeds
• Improvement in latency / bufferbloat

Dave

*Edited Labels*

[LSTA]

I've primarily (only) used my modem in bridge mode, @RogersDave but other than that -- yes, it occurred on .13/.14 as I had that before I reached out to you for .18/.19/.20. I've used two separate routers (Google & Ubiquiti) and both experienced the issue. I've also encountered the issue with wi-fi off when using the modem as a gateway, non-bridged. The only scenario I haven't tested is using the modem's own Wi-Fi -- as I fail to see how that would help 🙂

[14N]

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@14N wrote:

@RogersDave

I got the .20 but now my our phone and TV cannot connect to 5Ghz AC. Stuck in obtaining IP.

I did reset and reboot several times

Anyone encountered the same error?

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I reset it through the pinhole at the back of the modem and I manually set my settings instead of restoring from backup. I can now connect to 5Ghz AC.

Bridge mode with TP-Link C2600 is still not working.

[NBomb]

I know that Rogers no longer shapes, but I wonder at how realistic the speed tests are sometimes.

Using both speedtest.net and the DSL Reports speed test, I've gotten anywhere between 300mbps and 750mbps down, through my router+bridged modem.

However, using a large Linux ISO torrent, my router's CPU would cap out at only ~39MB/sec (which is around 312 mbps)

I'm not sure which is the more accurate, but the torrent sustained that speed for a decent period of time where the speed tests have never been consistent twice in a row. Could be that the torrent is just stresssing my router and showing its limitations, not getting to the point where my connection might be flaky?

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@gp-se wrote:
I don't wanna take this thread off topic, but you've posted this a few times now. Rogers DOES NOT do any form of traffic shaping, the speedest.net results are accurate. Different providers use different peers/routing, so the private server you used that provides maximum speed may not be peered well with Rogers and that's why you aren't seeing max speeds. Every ISP has certain routing/peering they use, so not every server will connect at full speed, and there can be high latency depending how it's routed/server location. It's always best to use a local speedtest server when testing speed, I use beanfield on the speedtest site.

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[gp-se]

I don't think your connection is bad, the problem with torrents is depending on seeds/peers its not consistant. I think if speedtest.net shows you as getting good speeds then that is your real speed. Also there are a lot of variables: local node congestion, your computers hardware and background tasks it's running when you test speed, etc. If Rogers was "boosting/faking" speed test results then you would see a lot of people complaing about this, but I haven't heard of anyone complain about this issue. From my personal experience I'm getting the speeds I'm paying for when I download from various sources. (I'm on 1000/50) 

[Triple_Helix]

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@Triple_Helix wrote:

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@14N wrote:

@RogersDave

I got the .20 but now my our phone and TV cannot connect to 5Ghz AC. Stuck in obtaining IP.

I did reset and reboot several times

Anyone encountered the same error?

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I haven't reset or rebooted yet, was just about to so I will wait! 250\20

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I did a reset and a reboot and all is working fine:

5GHz wi-fi band!

[JohnBeaudin]

CODA with .19

250/20 Plan

+Speedtest on .19 similar to previous version .17 and .13 ( also similar to CGN3 ACMR)

-Down 330 / Up 22 ( speedtest,dslreport all, rogers speedtest).

+ Online Gaming: Similar results to .17 and .13 ( also similar to CGN 3 ACMR)

-Ping in CSGO,DOTA2,Overwatch and all similar to before.

DSLreports blufferbloat

PC hard wired with cat6 , D on Blufferbloat

Ipad air 2 on 5 ghz, I got a D and did another test later got an F.

[prateeck7]

@NBomb @gp-se From my experience, I often get a real actual speed from Testmynet. I use NY server. While others are getting 250mbps+on a 250u plan. I am getting 110mbps at max on a Gigabit plan right now in that site with this modem. I suspect it is because of very high lag spikes as reported in DSL reports. I get 5000+Mbps and sometimes even 10,000+Mbps. During downloading files the test gets stuck 3-5 times for 5-7 seconds. I think it is lag spikes that is causing this.

[Coccino]

So I bought a TP-Link Archer C2600 but have not set it up. Is the issue on the C2600 as a whole or is it selected? I have yet to find time to actually install it on my end so I may just wait it out for the *.21 firmware

[RogersDave]

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@Coccino wrote:

So I bought a TP-Link Archer C2600 but have not set it up. Is the issue on the C2600 as a whole or is it selected? I have yet to find time to actually install it on my end so I may just wait it out for the *.21 firmware

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I believe the issue affects the stock firmware of the TP-Link C2600. Running DD-WRT or OpenWRT would likely work.

Dave

[Coccino]

Thanks @RogersDave. I'll give it a test maybe this weekend just to see how it is with the stock firmware. I am not too keen to flash this with Open-WRT right now. If all things fail, I will wait for the new CODA firmware. What is the timeframe for that anyway?

In other news, since the updated CODA firmware, I am back to getting ~600mbps. While it isn't the full speed, it is what I was getting before the CODA modem swap.

[wellrichk]

Hi RogersDave,

Yesterday I upgraded from ignite 100 to the ignite 250, replacing the rocket modem with the Hitron CODA-4582. We had some initial hiccups with the registration but these were resolved this morning.

We are getting good speeds when we are close to the unit (over 300 Mbps down and over 20 Mbps up) however, compared to the rocket, the 4582 does not work as well at  distance. even moving 20 feet away we see slower speeds than we had before.

I also work out of my basement - 60 feet away - and have poor reception and at times cannot even connect  to the 5G. I have tried using a dlink-1320 booster but that did not improve the speed. The 4582 modem is in the same position as before. Have you seen or heard of the speed dropoff? When/where would you expect this to ba an issue? Is there any way to boost the power output to provide a better range?

I look forward to your response.

Keith

[RogersDave]

The best suggestions I can give you are

1- Make sure the modem is standing up right (the Rogers logo should be front top)

2- Make sure there is nothing on top of the modem especially and leave some space around it

3- For the 5 GHz band, manually set your channel to 149-153-157-161

Other than that, there are still improvement planned to the WiFi, likely in version 2.0.10.22 of the firmware (and no I have no date yet).

Dave

[RogersDave]

Community,

I did some further testing regarding bufferbloat and I'm asking for your help for some additional tests.

On the Rogers network, we have had a feature enabled for quite a few years that allows short bursts of much higher data speed. For example, a 100u plan can actually burst in excess of 200 Mbps. This feature is not active on our Gigabit plan but does exist on the lower tiers.

When running a speedtest on DSLReports here, the impact of this feature can often be seen in the download speed where the speed starts high then drop closer to the real plan speed. I am wondering how much impact this feature has on the bufferbloat measurement if the speedtest detects a much higher speed than than the reality.

In the speedtest preferences on DSLReports, it is possible to set "Down megabit/sec" to a target test speed.

My ask is would it be possible for some of you to run a speedtest without this setting and report the speed and bufferbloat then set this parameter to your actual tier speed (60, 70, 100, 250 or 500). I'm really interested in knowing what bufferbloat result you get with and without this setting and also what tier you are on.

Thanks

Dave

[wellrichk]

Thanks Dave. I am not too tech savvy but how do I manually set the channel?

Modem is upright and lots of space around it. Does Rogers upload/download the firmware automatically or do I need to activate it when it is available?

Keith

[JohnBeaudin]

On CODA .19

250/20 Plan

-Set to max speed 250 MB/S

Here's my result

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/8751338

B for blufferbloat the best I ever got so far.

So I think the speedboost might cause some heavy blufferbloat.

[RogersDave]

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@wellrichk wrote:

Thanks Dave. I am not too tech savvy but how do I manually set the channel?

Modem is upright and lots of space around it. Does Rogers upload/download the firmware automatically or do I need to activate it when it is available?

Keith

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On your computer while connected to your home network, follow these steps:

1- Go to https://192.168.0.1

2- Username is cusadmin and password is your WiFi password

3- Click in the top menu on Wireless

4- Click on 5G

5- Set the Wireless channel from Auto to 149-153-157-161

6- Click on Save Changes at the bottom of the page

If you were connected on WiFi while performing these changes, you may get disconnected momentarily.

Dave

[RyzenFX]

CODA-4582 On 2.0.10.20

100u Plan

Speedtest #1 (Limited at 100Mbps)

Result: https://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/8752262

Getting a good bufferbloat of B

Speedtest #2 w/Speedboost

Result: http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/8752468

Bad bufferbloat of F

@RogersDave You are correct, the bufferbloat is caused by the speedboost technology, but isn't his only reported on the CODA-4582, or has it been reported also on the CGN3ACSMR?

[LSTA]

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@RogersDave wrote:

@LSTA, @mikeepolmic, @Dragus, @traghipp, @hood

All of you reported experiencing speed degradation over time (somewhere between 30 minutes to 12 hours). One question asked by Hitron is if this degradation occurs only using a Wired connection or if it occurs on both WiFi and Wired?

Also, did any of you run firmware version 2.0.10.13 or 2.0.10.14 for a couple of days without experiencing this issue (was it introduced by 2.0.10.19)?

Thanks

Dave

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Hi Dave (and community),

So the techs from Rogers & Hitron stopped by. Since I last restarted my modem at 10pm the night before, it was unlikely we'd see issues this morning, and we didn't. I'll shoot Hitron an email when I notice the speeds drop again (probably tomorrow morning or mid-afternoon) and they can remote in to a PC I set up to troubleshoot via telnet.

There's apparently a long list of things Hitron would like to check when it reoccurs. I'll keep you and the community posted as to the results.

To clarify, for those who haven't seen my PMs as @RogersDave has, I kept Wi-fi disabled on the modem, but speeds would vary from 940-960mbps when first restarted to 0.2-0.8mbps at the worst. They'd flip pretty suddenly, meaning I'd have 600-800mbps over Wi-Fi/Ethernet, then after a few hours away, I'd come back to 5mbps and YouTube would be buffering constantly. The only thing that would (instantly) fix it was to restart the modem.

Also, the dropped packets are driving me nuts, but that's been less aggrevating so far than the bandwidth fluctuations. Looking forward to getting this (and any other issues) fixed asap; happy to help any way I can.

Louis.

[Hybrid_Noodle]

@RogersDave I completed the buffer bloat test. (On 1G/50 Plan). I ran the test 3 times when hardcoding the 'Down megabit/sec" to 1000. Ran this test 3 times with the following results

Test 1 (930/31) - http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/8752386

Test 2 (838/25) - http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/8752648

Test 3 (877/22) - http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/8752724

I ran the test one final time with the default settings with the following result

Test 1 (817/23) - http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/8752878

[wellrichk]

That does the trick! Speed is over 50 Mbps  which is a hige improvement.

Thanks,

Keith

[RogersDave]

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@eddiethefunnyon wrote:

@RogersDave You are correct, the bufferbloat is caused by the speedboost technology, but isn't his only reported on the CODA-4582, or has it been reported also on the CGN3ACSMR?

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The problem is not so much that speedboost causes bufferbloat but the fact that the DSLReports speedtest does not correctly handle this case. Ultimately, we could disable speedboost and it would make the bufferbloat results look better. On the other hand, there is a benefit to this feature to better handle short bursts of data.

We always had reports of bufferbloat issues but all the other modems using Puma 6 chipsets were severely impacted by other latency impairment so there wasn't really any effort put into addressing the situation.

Dave