Quote:
Originally Posted by Masque
(Post 35236747)
The argument now is a bit like the one that used to rage about VHS and Betamax and the winner this time is the hubs as the will be no return to the VMNG300 especially as the rumours now say that the Superhub will be built by another company for Virginmedia and if correct this will be the final nail in the coffin of the VMNG300.
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It will if it works correctly across the whole network, not just some UBRs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masque
(Post 35236747)
So why not get a grip and accept that the VMNG300 will be consigned to the annals of history and that soon any cries to try and get a VMNG300 from other sources will be answered with a "Sorry but we are only able to supply you with the Superhub so take it or leave it".
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Because customers want what works now, not what might work correctly 100% after a half dozen more botched firmware updates. The Ambit modems are quality products, simple and do the job well. Ambit 250 (well, the nearest neighbour 256) modem is still on the inventory; I know because I was offered a like-for-like swap when speaking to an offshore trying to get the Ambit 300.
Just because something is old, doesn't mean you throw it away, especially if it still has a use. Plenty of people still getting good performance from their older technology, me being one of them (I have a 20-year-old Phillips CM8833-II that I use as a kitchen monitor for one of my media centres for example).
In the case of my VMNG300, even if the bridge mode on the Super Hub is perfect it still draws more power than the standalone modem to do the same job. Assuming VM are going to stick with four downstreams for services of 100Mb or below and that the flagship tier isn't even available in my region yet, this makes it the best piece of kit for the job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masque
(Post 35236983)
It never has been a fallback plan, and personally it should never have been allowed to happen as it generates unwarranted calls for a device that is no longer supplied.
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Hardly. The ones insistent enough to go through to the CEO's office probably know enough about these things that they don't need support. And even if they do, the VMNG300 is even simpler than the Ambit 250/255/256. The web GUI doesn't even have a password, for example! Five lights, three connectors on the back, absolute childs play to install. And as I've said before, far quicker to connect and have removed from the walled garden than the Super Hub was.
I personally like the idea of using your own modem; if you're talking about a way to get support staff costs down, that's got to be one. You sign a disclaimer that you're using third-party CPEs you supplied and the impetus is on you to make sure it's compliant with VM's infrastructure. Not that I'm worried about that with a flawless modem, but the option to do so in the future would no doubt help VM stay on top.
Another thought was, extend customer beta testing extensively. Perhaps give a customer one month free service (for example) as they test the new CPEs and maybe not just for broadband, making sure that this free offer is only valid if the beta kit is continuously connected so can receive patches etc, and customers don't complain about outages but report them directly to VM, either via email or if the problem is network based then over the phone. I, for one, would love to do something like that.
