[e2e] What's wrong with this picture?

David P. Reed dpreed at reed.com
Fri Sep 11 08:02:50 PDT 2009


Signal condtions were excellent, 5 bars, line of sight out the window of 
a 6th floor hotel room, clear weather.



On 09/11/2009 09:24 AM, Stiliadis, Dimitrios (Dimitri) wrote:
> btw, the bimodal can be also explained if your card is attaching
> to two different cells (or bands), depending on signal conditions/fading etc.
> (i.e. it oscillates between cell A and cell B or band A and band B).
> Also, it is not rare to see that the device will switch
> between HSDPA and EDGE if the signal conditions on HSDPA are marginal.
> Several tests have shown that EDGE delays of 500ms are normal.
>
> In order to fully understand the issue, you need to also log all the
> modem information (such as cell ID, band that it is attached etc.etc.),
> or you need to perform the test in a anechoic chamber with test
> equipment. Usually you can do that, by issuing the right AT commands
> to the modem.
>
> David:
>
> As for the uplink bandwidth bottleneck, the problem there other than
> larger router buffers is that ARQ interprets losses on the wire
> as losses on the air, and tries retransmissions. Your picture
> is not accurate without an RNC in the middle that implements some form
> of ARQ/RLP
>
> There are just two many things going on in the background, that pings
> alone cannot show.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dimitri
>
>    
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: end2end-interest-bounces at postel.org
>> [mailto:end2end-interest-bounces at postel.org] On Behalf Of
>> Dominik Kaspar
>> Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 8:38 PM
>> To: David P. Reed
>> Cc: end2end-interest at postel.org
>> Subject: Re: [e2e] What's wrong with this picture?
>>
>> Hi David,
>>
>> Thanks for the explanations about the bottleneck link to the
>> backbone ISP. The illustrated system architecture and the
>> overuse of buffers certainly sounds like reasonable cause for
>> those huge delays you have posted at the beginning of this thread.
>>
>> The "bimodal" behaviour of delays>  5000 ms and delays<  200
>> ms that you have measured is really extreme and it seems to
>> differ somewhat from what I have observed. In my experiments,
>> the delay abruptly switches between two rather stable
>> "modes"... sometimes every few minutes, sometimes just once a
>> day. It is completely unpredictable and I have not yet found
>> _the_ explanation for its cause. I doubt it has anything to
>> do with TCP... it seems much more likely to be one of the
>> HSDPA-specific properties that Detlef has pointed out (line
>> coding, MAC-layer ACKs, ...).
>>
>> Here is the entire 24h ping log that clearly illustrates the
>> two "modes":
>> http://home.simula.no/~kaspar/static/ping-hsdpa-24h-bimodal-00.txt
>>
>> Greetings,
>> Dominik
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 1:07 AM, David P. Reed<dpreed at reed.com>  wrote:
>>      
>>> I'm willing to bet that you are seeing the same problem I
>>>        
>> am, and that
>>      
>>> it has nothing to do with the modem or wireless protocol.
>>>
>>> Instead you are seeing what would happen if you simulate in ns2 the
>>> following system structure:
>>>
>>> -------------------------\
>>> --------------------------\
>>> ---------------------------\
>>>        wireless medium   [WIRELESS
>>> HUB]------[ROUTER]-----------backbone ISP
>>>        
>> ---------------------------/
>>      
>>> --------------------------/
>>>
>>> When the link between the ROUTER and backbone ISP is of
>>>        
>> lower bitrate
>>      
>>> B than the sum of all the realizable simultaneous uplink
>>>        
>> demand from
>>      
>>> devices on the left, the outbound queue of the router is of
>>>        
>> size M>
>>      
>>> BT where T is the observed stable long delay, and the ROUTER does
>>> nothing to signal congestion until the entire M bytes (now
>>>        
>> very large) of memory are exhausted.
>>      
>>> Memory is now very cheap, and not-very-clueful network layer 2
>>> designers (who don't study TCP or the Internet) are likely to throw
>>> too much at the problem without doing the right thing in
>>>        
>> their firmware.
>>      
>>> On 09/08/2009 06:47 PM, Dominik Kaspar wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello David,
>>>
>>> You mentioned the bimodal behaviour of your 3G connection.
>>>        
>> I recently
>>      
>>> noticed the same thing but have not yet been able to
>>>        
>> explain why this
>>      
>>> happens.
>>>
>>> I also ran Ping tests over multiple days using an HSDPA modem (with
>>> both the client and server located in Oslo, Norway). The
>>>        
>> experienced
>>      
>>> RTTs were very stable over short periods of time, but
>>>        
>> sometimes they
>>      
>>> averaged around 80ms, while at other times the average was at about
>>> 300ms.
>>>
>>> A CDF illustration of the results is available here:
>>> http://home.simula.no/~kaspar/static/cdf-hsdpa-rtt-00.png
>>>
>>> What is the reason of these two modes? Is it caused by adaptive
>>> modulation and coding on the physical layer? If so, why
>>>        
>> does it affect
>>      
>>> the delay so much? I would only expect a reduced bandwidth, but not
>>> much change in delay...
>>>
>>> Greetings,
>>> Dominik
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 7:56 PM, David P.
>>>        
>> Reed<dpreed at reed.com>  wrote:
>>      
>>>
>>> I should not have been so cute - I didn't really want to
>>>        
>> pick on the
>>      
>>> operator involved, because I suspect that other 3G operators around
>>> the world probably use the same equipment and same rough
>>>        
>> configuration.
>>      
>>> The ping and traceroute were from Chicago, using an ATT
>>>        
>> Mercury data
>>      
>>> modem, the same channel as the Apple iPhones use, but it's
>>>        
>> much easier
>>      
>>> to run test suites from my netbook.
>>>
>>> Here's the same test from another time of day, early Sunday
>>>        
>> morning,
>>      
>>> when things were working well.
>>>
>>> Note that I ran the test over the entire labor day weekend
>>>        
>> at intervals.
>>      
>>> The end-to-end ping time was bimodal.  Either it pegged at
>>>        
>> over 5000
>>      
>>> milliseconds, or happily sat at under 200 milliseconds.
>>>        
>> Exactly what
>>      
>>> one would expect if TCP congestion control were disabled by
>>> overbuffering in a router preceding the bottleneck link
>>>        
>> shared by many users.
>>      
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> $ ping lcs.mit.edu
>>> PING lcs.mit.edu (128.30.2.121) 56(84) bytes of data.
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=1 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=209 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=2 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=118 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=3 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=166 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=4 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=165 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=5 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=224 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=6 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=183 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=7 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=224 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=8 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=181 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=9 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=220 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=10 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=179 ms
>>> 64 bytes from zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121):
>>>        
>> icmp_seq=11 ttl=44
>>      
>>> time=219 ms
>>> ^C
>>> --- lcs.mit.edu ping statistics ---
>>> 11 packets transmitted, 11 received, 0% packet loss, time
>>>        
>> 10780ms rtt
>>      
>>> min/avg/max/mdev = 118.008/190.547/224.960/31.772 ms $ traceroute
>>> lcs.mit.edu traceroute to lcs.mit.edu (128.30.2.121), 30
>>>        
>> hops max, 60
>>      
>>> byte packets
>>>   1  * * *
>>>   2  172.26.248.2 (172.26.248.2)  178.725 ms  178.568 ms  179.500 ms
>>>   3  * * *
>>>   4  172.16.192.34 (172.16.192.34)  187.794 ms  187.677 ms
>>>        
>> 207.527 ms
>>      
>>>   5  12.88.7.205 (12.88.7.205)  207.416 ms  208.325 ms  69.630 ms
>>>   6  cr84.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.152.134)  79.425 ms  89.227 ms  
>>> 90.083 ms
>>>   7  cr2.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.123.7.250)  98.679 ms  90.727
>>>        
>> ms  91.576
>>      
>>> ms
>>>   8  ggr2.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.132.137)  72.728 ms  89.628 ms  
>>> 88.825 ms
>>>   9  192.205.33.186 (192.205.33.186)  89.787 ms  89.794 ms
>>>        
>> 80.918 ms
>>      
>>> 10  ae-31-55.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net (4.68.101.158)  79.895 ms  
>>> 70.927 ms
>>>   78.817 ms
>>> 11  ae-1-5.bar1.Boston1.Level3.net (4.69.140.93)  107.820
>>>        
>> ms  156.892
>>      
>>> ms
>>>   140.711 ms
>>> 12  ae-7-7.car1.Boston1.Level3.net (4.69.132.241)  139.638
>>>        
>> ms  139.764
>>      
>>> ms
>>>   129.853 ms
>>> 13  MASSACHUSET.car1.Boston1.Level3.net (4.53.48.98)  149.595 ms  
>>> 154.366 ms
>>>   152.225 ms
>>> 14  B24-RTR-2-BACKBONE.MIT.EDU (18.168.0.23)  146.808 ms
>>>        
>> 129.801 ms
>>      
>>> 89.659 ms
>>> 15  MITNET.TRANTOR.CSAIL.MIT.EDU (18.4.7.65)  109.463 ms
>>>        
>> 118.818 ms
>>      
>>> 91.727 ms
>>> 16  trantor.kalgan.csail.mit.edu (128.30.0.246)  91.541 ms
>>>        
>> 88.768 ms
>>      
>>>   85.837 ms
>>> 17  zermatt.csail.mit.edu (128.30.2.121)  117.581 ms  116.564 ms  
>>> 103.569 ms $
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>        
>>
>>      
>    
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