Superhub : R36 Firmware Beta Test (was R35)

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Rob

It should be remembered that the vast majority of VM's Superhub users don't have problems. If the Ssuperhub were universally faulty VM wouldn't be able to use it.

Similarly, it should be remembered the vast majority of HTC One X users don't have problems, but they still fixed it in one month

So there are some things that a minority of customers find don't behave as they want. I suspect that those users who have problems are generally amongst the heaviest rather than average users and are somehow pushing some aspect of the system to a limit.

Same could be said of the One X's problems, the wifi was only buggy (in my experience) on 5Ghz 450mbps wireless networks. Still, fixed in a month with a new wireless driver, not the two years it's taking VM.

[BenMcr]

Not really the same.

[tweetiepooh]

Thing is you don't know how long HTC were fixing the issue. It could have been known about but since it would only affect a few users was released anyway. They then released a fix fairly quickly that was already in the pipeline when they got complaints. Maybe they found how to isolate the fix and release it early. So many maybe's.

With any release like this there is always the trade off that a bug fix in one area would impact another. It may sort your issue but suddenly another group of users is affected adversely and if that second group is larger than the new "happy" group the vendor is in bigger doo-doo that before.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Not really the same.

The problem symtoms and resolution were the same, what would you say was different?

---------- Post added at 11:19 ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 ----------

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

Thing is you don't know how long HTC were fixing the issue. It could have been known about but since it would only affect a few users was released anyway. They then released a fix fairly quickly that was already in the pipeline when they got complaints. Maybe they found how to isolate the fix and release it early. So many maybe's.

They acknowledged the issue had been brought to their attention and they were investigating it on the 11th May. Still, since the phone only finished development a few months ago, there's a limit to how long it could have taken.

With any release like this there is always the trade off that a bug fix in one area would impact another. It may sort your issue but suddenly another group of users is affected adversely and if that second group is larger than the new "happy" group the vendor is in bigger doo-doo that before.

Good job they tested it well enough that that didn't happen then.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

The problem symtoms and resolution were the same, what would you say was different?

For a start I'd say there is at least one extra company level in the process with the SuperHub, if not more.

[qasdfdsaq]

Perhaps on the hardware side, not on the software (firmware).

VM depends on Netgear to produce the OS code and Broadcom to produce the drivers, but depend on Netgear for the hardware
HTC depends on Google to produce the OS code and Qualcomm to produce the drivers, but design the hardware themselves

But in neither case is the hardware actually the problem.

[ileikcaek]

Originally Posted by Rob

That does to me indicate there is a continued effort behind the scenes to both make improvements, but equally important, not to introduce new problems by rushing out something that isn't ready.

If that was true it wouldn't be so funny because Virgin Media have released new firmwares for the superhub in the past (R25), even after testing found issues with it. Online streaming did not work properly at all for at least 6 weeks until they had another firmware update to fix it again. I remember that quite well. Online radio streams kept stopping with the need to keep pressing play. I think some video streams had the same issue too. I believe downloads were prematurely stopping also.

I hope they learned from that and will listen to testers information better.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Perhaps on the hardware side, not on the software (firmware).

HTC depends on Google to produce the OS code and Qualcomm to produce the drivers, but design the hardware themselves
VM depends on Netgear to produce the OS code and Broadcom to produce the drivers, but depend on Netgear for the hardware

But in neither case is the hardware actually the problem.

Except for HTC I'd expect its:

HTC-Google
HTC-Qualcomm

i.e. they have a direct path to both

Whereas for the SuperHub it's:

Virgin Media - Netgear - Broadcom

[qasdfdsaq]

That's how it stands now, yes, however HTC *could* rely on Google to integrate the Qualcomm drivers into the OS, they choose not to. They decided Google's solution wasn't good enough and improved on it themselves.

VM could do the same if they wanted to, but made a business decision to rely on Netgear to do all the work.

[BenMcr]

As far as I know, none of the broadband CPE released by Virgin or any previous incarnation has had the firmware maintained in house

So it's not a case of a decision to let Netgear do the work, it's a continuation of the support model that applies.

[qasdfdsaq]

While I'll agree it's consistent with what VM have done in the past, I don't believe that's adequate justification to continue the practice indefinitely. Particularly if it means it takes VM years to fix something that others can do in a month.

From my post of four days ago...

Originally Posted by Hugh

Now that people have had a chance to pick at old sores, could we now focus this thread on the R35 beta test, rather than re-hashing many, many other threads - thank you.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Hugh

From my post of four days ago...

I have been sat here waiting for that, I am amazed it took so long.

Well i registered for the beta just hope i get picked.

Off topic post removed - can post focus on the R35 Firmware beta test, or posters can expect them to be deleted.

[Daveoc64]

Originally Posted by Rob

So the current Superhub firmware is R30 and this beta is R35. That does to me indicate there is a continued effort behind the scenes to both make improvements, but equally important, not to introduce new problems by rushing out something that isn't ready.

I was in the last beta.

Didn't it go through several "release candidate" style versions, all with a new RXX version number but only with show-stopping bugs found at the last minute?