Wifi
 

I have Broadband L (25.25) & TV XL (£25.00) + line rental (£12.24) (less Triple Combo Pack Loyalty Discount -£18.25). I am considering getting a Wifi to use with a lap top. As I am paying all that lot does anyone know what Virgin will charge for a wifi connector?
Thanks
T

Re: Wifi
 

you mean the router ? or the dongle ?

The router is £75 .. but call them up, see if they can sort a price, maybe with an upgrade ?

Re: Wifi
 

Thanks. I'll look into it

Re: Wifi
 

£60 for the base router/modem thing (Hub), £75 for the upgraded router/modem thing (Superhub) neither of which (in my opinion) are good value paying for, unless you depend on VM support. Even if you pay for it, it remains the property of VM and you cannot take it with you when you leave.

You'll get the Superhub free if you upgrade to XL or XXL, otherwise you're better off buying one yourself. You can get decent 11n routers equivalent to the VM £60 Hub for £10 or less second hand and starting at £20-30 new.

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Thanks - I'll look into that too

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What good would it do you to take it with you ? its a cable modem ..

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Since the cable modem part is essentially free all you're paying for is the wireless router part. If you're going to pay for a router, you might as well pay for one you could keep and would still work if you switched provider.

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presumably the 'hub' approach was intended to match/compete with the BT adsl type product - in my opinion it is alienating cable customers, rather than drawing them in?

---------- Post added at 01:09 ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 ----------


I just spent a lot of money on a router - unless VM can supply me a modem to complement, rather than replace my purchase I won't be interested in any 'upgrades' ?

---------- Post added at 01:25 ---------- Previous post was at 01:09 ----------

In my opinion Virgin Media should be focusing on providing their customers with modems that will be capable of connecting to all current & future iterations of the available standards - but routers, dongles, switches, hubs - whatever - are another dimension that they shouldn't get involved with?

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They have a wide range of customer types so they really do need to cater to those who don't have a clue about networking or who don't want to spend £50 on another piece of kit. The hub does this, its a good entry level way of getting a household online and will support future speeds up to 400meg.

Eventually when the new firmware is released it will be possible to use it as just a cable modem.

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They were catering for them with stand alone modems and routers. I can see the economics of a hub but they failed with bridge mode not being there out of the box.

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Well if they wanted to cater to those who didn't want to spend £50 on anothe piece of kit, they wouldn't be charging £60/£75 for the Hub/Superhub.

Also the hub does not go anywhere near 400meg, it's limited to 38/50meg. The superhub could do 400, but not very well, and certainly not wirelessly. It's practically limited to about 200

---------- Post added at 02:36 ---------- Previous post was at 02:29 ----------

Pretty much, yeah. The installers are supposed to set up the standalone modem + router for the customer and ensure it works before leaving.

Re: Wifi
 

I finally got round to contacting VM (as the laptop is to be delivered this week) and was offered a 10mb wireless router for £60. Is there any point looking for one at a fraction of that price (from ebay or amazon) or will they not do the job as well?
Cheers
T

Re: Wifi
 

Which router are they going to charge you £60.00 for ????. VM dont do stand alone routers anymore ?. They only do hubs

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VM said it was a router which would allow access for 4 users - and it is a 10 meg. That's all I was told. Should I ask for further info?

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Must be the Superhub ..

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I would as £60.00 is way to much if you ask me

---------- Post added at 11:39 ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 ----------

We dont charge £60.00 for it do we ?

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Apparently its £60 for the normal Hub

http://shop.virginmedia.com/broadban...s-routers.html

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Omg !

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If you want to stick at 10MB broadband you can buy your own router for around £20 tops, £60 is not worth it IMO. You could upgrade to 30MB broadband and get the Superhub free as your upgrading. 30MB is £5 a month more meaning a 12 month contract will cost you £60 extra! Meaning pay £60 over the year and get faster broadband and a free router!

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VM offered an alternative - that was a 30 meg which meant upgrading the broadband.

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£60 for the VM Hub is overpriced in my opinion, especially since it is a lease not a purchase (I belive it has to be returned at the end of the contract).

Pros:

• They support it 100%, this could be useful for those who are not very technically adept.
• Its a single device, as opposed to seperate modem and router.

Cons:

• Its somewhat expensive, imho, especially since you are never the owner of it.
• Its somewhat ugly. That said, so is the superhub.

The girl houses down the road from me has one, and I can "see" her ssid broadcast from here, so the range seems good on them.

I would suggest, if you are technically competent, that you take a look in PC World at the price of alternative wifi routers, before making a decision. Just make sure you are not looking at the ADSL ones, those would be of no use to you for a cable connection.

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PC World recommended a Belkin Surf N300 - I'm tempted to go for that. Not much change from £40 though

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I've not much experience with Belkin routers. I'm very much a "netgear" man myself. £40 is still £20 cheaper than £60 though, is it not?

Can I ask what modem it is you have atm? If its an Ambit256, then it should work fine with that router. Just make sure it is a router you are getting. I did a quick search on google, and it seems Belkin make a cable router, adsl router, and a USB dongle, ALL called the Surf N300, talk about confusing.

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I just had close look underneath the modem and, yes; it bears the name 'Ambit' and '256'

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PC World recommend the product with the highest margin.

Go with a Netgear router.

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I saw a netgear router on ebay for 9.99. Do you recommend any particular netgear model?

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just to throw a spanner in the works, I strongly recommend going for this one, i can guarantee it won't let you down and it kicks the superhubs ass into next week:

http://www.dabs.com/products/linksys...ons--75S6.html

It is a bargain for what you are getting

Re: Wifi
 

lol.

Ask 10 nerds which router to get, and get 20 different answers (each nerd giving two different replies depending on your circumstances).

OK, I know thats an exaggeration, but not a huge one. Which is the reason I refrained from suggesting a specific router. I am hearing good things about draytek and tplink these days, and I will admit the latest generation of netgears aimed at the domestic user aren't up to much.

I think the last good one they made was the WGR614-v6. Versions 1 through to 5 had an overheating issue. I can't comment on versions 7, 8 and 9, as I never used them.

I would concur with General Maximus, because I almost bought that very router once.

Re: Wifi
 

The mention of overheating reminds me that PC World said that the Belkin has a lifetime guarantee

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yeah but that is the same as VM saying "don't worry that the superhubs don't work, we'll give you a new one every week for the rest of your life". You still don't want something that is broken, it isn't worth the hassle.

Re: Wifi
 

Just as a note, the Netgear WNR1000v3 is the direct decendent of the WGR614 series. I had the WGR614v9 from VM and, with standard Netgear firmware, it was very reliable and sturdy.

I have now attached a WNR1000v3 to my Superhub to cover the 2.4GHz band (whilst by Superhub covers the 5GHz band). Most 2.4GHz equipment will either be G or N on a single spatial stream as battery powered kit needs to think about power conservation. In such cases an N150 router is all that is needed and as a bonus will trigger short guard intervals at 72meg mode on one channel and 150meg mode on two. As such, it will be even faster than the Superhub (or any N300+ router) when communicating with single spatial stream kit.

The WNR1000v3 is basically the WGR614v9 with a new colour scheme, N150 speeds and WPS + radio on/off buttons. Oh, and a guest network facility and QoS as well. It shares the same external colour scheme and user interface style with the Superhub (both being Netgear) and is a great compliment to the VM supplied Superhub.

The WNR1000v3 remains very sturdy and reliable as a wireless access point, never needing a reboot and giving good range.

Just so you know, the WGR614 quality is still available from Netgear.

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I'll tell you what would make the superhub "super" and live up to the ultimate wireless experience bla bla bla; being dual band, which is what I am sure every family needs with the assortment of wireless devices that are around these days.

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Its wifi being able to penetrate more than one wooden floor/ceiling would have been a good start.

Router choices can be a minefield anyway, it all depends on what you want. I'm a power user so want one with decent signal strength that can handle custom firmware, so for me the Asus RT-N16 was perfect as it has a beast of a CPU (for a router) and as a result can run the most feature packed versions of Tomato and DD-WRT. Being able to get a signal from the bottom of the 130ft garden was also semi important). I would never recommend the Superhub to anyone though, unless it was to run it in modem mode with a standalone router.

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Why? It's better to just buy a cheap N150 router as I describe to use as an access point. Two transmitters are better than one for throughput. Plus I get the guard interval bonus as well. So, free Superhub (well, inclusive, no extra fee above normal line rental...) for upping to 50meg and all I had to pay for to make it better than a dual band hub is a cheap N150. Ker-ching!

So long as you don't want custom firmware and exotic stuff, the Shub seems to do well. Wireless is great for some and poor for others but the circumstances are so variable that all we can say on that score is use what works in your spot. It's a lottery whatever bit of kit you choose for any given RF environment it seems. I do wish, though, that there were more channels available in 5GHz mode on the Shub as there used to be but unfortunately VM culled those last firmware update with no explanation as to why. Perhaps VM are giving them a respray and they'll be re-added in the next firmware update?

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I didn't realise it had a descendant at all, so thank you for this information. I strongly suspect I shall be ordering one next paycheck, provided I have no unexpected expenses :D

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you are my saviour, I have been trying to work out what to call it for months now. I get told off for calling it the pooperhub and I have to bite my tongue calling it "super"hub.

From now on let it be know as the shub. So say we all :clap:

Re: Wifi
 

Bring me... a Shubbery!

---------- Post added at 22:59 ---------- Previous post was at 22:55 ----------

The shell of the WNR1000v3 is exactly the same as the WGR614v9, except it is in the new Netgear colour scheme and has holes for the wifi-off/WPS buttons. You'll see what I mean when I say it is a direct decendent, it is basically a 614 that's been given a boost. You'll like it if you liked the reliability of the 614.

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Play world of warcraft much (its the name of a level 61 quest). Yes, I used to play world of warcraft farrrrr too much.

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I've never played WoW before. This is a miss-quote from 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. Watch that scene with this community in mind then you'll get it. :)~

Ni! Nnnni!