Puma 6 Chipped Modems, What issues would I see using one?

[JOE.G]

Hi, I have done a lot of research but the posts seem to all go off course and are not clear. My ISP issued modem is a Arris with a Puma 6 chip. Using the Internet for Streaming some gaming and with 6 People in the home we may have a lot of connected devices, Tv's,PS4,Computers, I Pads and so on. I made a post asking for Modem options but I am wondering what I should look for to see if it is worth it. I get 400 MBPS currently though WiFi and I have a 400 Plan. Thanks

 

[Greg72]

Zi do not have any issues with mine that I rent through Comcast.

 

[Val D.]

Hi, I have done a lot of research

Google -> "puma 6 issues" -> lots of information. On some modems firmware update makes things better. I have one of those ISP provided Hitron CGN3. It is updated to one of the recent firmware versions and works OK for what my family uses the Internet connection for. May have some latency spikes, but not noticeable. There is a test at DSLReports. I can see some pings jumping over 200ms from time to time, but I can't be sure what exactly the cause is, the modem itself or the connection to the test servers. It's a free modem provided with the Internet service, I don't pay rent for it. Nothing to complain about in my case.

 

[JoeBee]

This problem was apparently fixed by Arris, it effected a wide range of Arris modems from Comcast, Hitron and Virgin media Hub 3 Routers and similar.

Massive 448+ page thread on the Pumagate scandal here:

https://community.virginmedia.com/t...TG2492LG-and-CGNV4-Latency-Cause/td-p/3271492

You should have had the fixed firmware pushed to your router automatically, may take a day or two depending on your isp.

The flip side is I have read from several Redditors that claim the puma issues were NOT fully fixed but apparently Arris simply offloaded the cpu work load off to another hardware chip and this helped or ease the congestion or overall work load. Apparently the lag/latency spike still exist on the newer Arris modems (hub 4.0, just released) but not as bad as older routers.

From my own personal experience ( I have Superhub 3 made by arris) I feel It still has the puma chipset issues despite most people saying the issue does not exist, but I am still testing all my equipment it could be an issue my end with software or hardware, my fault is I get capped during torrenting to 1.5Mbps from 250Mbps, its almost like the modem is overworked and it needs a jump start or some time to reset then it goes back to 25MB (my normal speed)

 

[JoeBee]

Google -> "puma 6 issues" -> lots of information. On some modems firmware update makes things better. I have one of those ISP provided Hitron CGN3. It is updated to one of the recent firmware versions and works OK for what my family uses the Internet connection for. May have some latency spikes, but not noticeable. There is a test at DSLReports. I can see some pings jumping over 200ms from time to time, but I can't be sure what exactly the cause is, the modem itself or the connection to the test servers. It's a free modem provided with the Internet service, I don't pay rent for it. Nothing to complain about in my case.

Seems were Arris owners and Asus 86u owners

Can I find out what kind of symptoms do you get with that latency spike, for me during speedtest (ookla or any) and especially when torrenting my speed plummets to 1.5Mbps and hovers there, usually it un works itself and goes back to fuller normal speeds after a minute or two.

Its like the Arris router is choking and gasping for air at times still it could be my hardware or software at fault.

 

[JOE.G]

I installed a MB8600 now, I think things are smoother and my speed tests are a touch faster, I have a 400 MB plan and i get 480 Plus on Wifi.

 

[JoeBee]

I installed a MB8600 now, I think things are smoother and my speed tests are a touch faster, I have a 400 MB plan and i get 480 Plus on Wifi.

You isp allows you to install different routers ? Very lucky for us Brits we are stuck with whatever Modem the isp gives and locked to it along with the faults our work around is to set it to modem mode and use a better router to do all the hard work.

 

[ColinTaylor]

@JoeBee As I posted in your other thread I believe the Puma issue has been fixed on the Hub 3.0 (or at least worked around to such an extent that it is no longer detectable). I also have no problem downloading torrents at full speed if I need to, although I don't leave the torrents running 24/7.

In that other thread you appeared to have significant problems with your line that was unrelated to the modem. Did you get that fully resolved?

 

[JoeBee]

@JoeBee As I posted in your other thread I believe the Puma issue has been fixed on the Hub 3.0 (or at least worked around to such an extent that it is no longer detectable). I also have no problem downloading torrents at full speed if I need to, although I don't leave the torrents running 24/7.

In that other thread you appeared to have significant problems with your line that was unrelated to the modem. Did you get that fully resolved?

hi yes you could be right, I have yet to double check if VM did fix the line fault in my area but will check with them. I do not do testing or torrenting between 6pm-11pm since that is busy peak times.

I have also found torrent settings can effect my torrent speeds for example, TCP protocol is important and so is switching off uTP protocol was giving me many speed issues, public torrents usually have no issues with my speed cap issue but the other ones can certainly cause more erratic performances at times.

Out of interest, what torrent settings have you found more reliable yourself ?

I almost use utorrent with defaults, but Port forwarding correctly set up and TCP protocol enabled and uTP switched off, UPnP and nat switched off also. My Global max connections is 200, max connected peers 50, upload slots per torrent 4 and queing max number active torrents set to 8 and max active downloads 5.

 

[ColinTaylor]

@JoeBee I use qBittorrent with the default settings apart from disabling uTP (so TCP only) as I found that was causing me significant issues. I have UPnP enabled on the router so I don't manually forward any ports. You say you have "nat switched off", hopefully that's some sort of setting in utorrent and you're not referring to the router setting! Turning NAT off in the router would be very bad.

If you have any other non-Puma related questions I suggest you put them in your other thread so as to not divert the subject of this thread.

 

[Val D.]

Can I find out what kind of symptoms do you get with that latency spike, for me during speedtest (ookla or any) and especially when torrenting my speed plummets to 1.5Mbps and hovers there, usually it un works itself and goes back to fuller normal speeds after a minute or two.

Not related to Puma 6 chipset issues. Look somewhere else in your ISP line or modem/router/network configuration.