Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

Alex Brown, the blogger is one of the Senior manager at VM, he is the most customer focused person I have even met .. he posts on most forums and Twitter .. in fact he setup the Twitter support team ..

A few complaints wont dampen his spirits .. he'll find the fixes :D

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

Credit to him for what he has done but as he frequently and understandably states that some issues are beyond his knowledge it must be obvious that the dumbing down of the router may have gone far too far.

Everything to do with the Superhub depends on VM's strategy. If it is a simplistic internet gateway for multiple P.C.'s then with compatible ethernet or wireless components it is plug and play using DHCP and may be the limit of VM's desires.

If people require the WAN and LAN requirements with sophistication from basic to advanced then it may be considered that the knowledge level required does not suit mass market release and especially if people are going to tie themselves and support in knots.

It is good that he communicates but the strategy dictates what his audience is.

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

I dont understand reasons for dumbing down equipment.

Non technical customers wont fiddle with settings unless they have a specific need to, eg. directed to by tech support. So it serves to upset the tech minded ones.

Even could have put various options in a advanced page with a scary warning prompt to scare off people who not sure what they doing.

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

I think its more about what they can support.

If you enable the more technical options you have to support them. Even if you say these aren't supported you will get calls demanding they are ..

Training people is expensive and VM want a plug and play device.

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

IMHO there is no problem with dumbing down equipment for the mass market that VM has. For them the superhub is ideal and "looks nice"!

The more technically minded already have their own networks set up with their own kit, all they need is the modem to connect to the net, nothing more.

There was a simple common sense requirement for the superhub on release. The ability to turn off the router and use it as a modem only.

Why it was released without such a simple facility is beyond me!

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

There is a work around for it although it isn't straight forward for the none tec person, i also heard there is going to be a firmware that will do it all for you.

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

Correct on both points.

My point is why was the facility not there in the first place?

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

Because it's not crucial to the service/device functioning. Most people can get by without needing to using their own router, and those that do need it are generally competent enough to apply the workaround.

Long as it works well enough for most people they can sell it to most people, and the custom they lose from not having bridge mode is far less than what they'd lose by not being able to sell any service at all. Even I'd put up with the Superhub if it were my only option for a 50mb/100mb connection.

That said, the above is only true as far as the Superhub is required for the 100mb service, which in actual fact it's not >_>

---------- Post added at 19:58 ---------- Previous post was at 19:55 ----------

Needs of the many > Needs of the few.

They can't please everybody, and as with STM, a few people lose out while a great majority benefit. Slightly.

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

If that were the case why bother with new firmware which will allow it?

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

I understand that, but I would prefer to have a modem/router in one device, I prefer to not have so many seperate devices running and using power sockets. Having it in bridge mode is a 2nd best to having it with needed features in the first place. Is it possible to flash these things to stock netgear firmware or something like dd-wrt?

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

Nope. From that point of view it's a cable modem, so you don't get to flash it with anything only Virgin do.

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

Not unless you want to kill it.:D

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

With all this said, it may be the superhub has enough features for me. :)

On my dlink with dd-wrt I am not using any of the advanced stuff, except maybe tuning some timeouts in ssh, and using the ntp client to keep the router's clock in sync.

I am port fowarding but I assume VM have kept that on the superhub.

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

Well .. I dunno .. I guess if you kept the MAC the same and its ability to hold our docsis, it would work .. VM wouldn't care as it would become unsupported ..

Althought, it might say in the T&Cs not to do that .. I dunno

Re: 20 Mb/s to 30Mb/s free upgrade
 

It would probably kill the modem side and then you would have no internet, so the possibility of bricking the modem becomes very likely.