Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Has anyone heard if and when the Superhub provided for Business users will be getting an upgrade to match R36 domestic users are getting. This was discussed a few months ago and someone was even asked to trial a beta but I don't think an upgrade was pushed out.

Also has anyone ever seen the exact STM policy for business users in written form. I cannot find one anywhere on their site only reference to them now having one.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Business Superhub uses a different firmware configuration to residential services, so the R36 debate is irrelevant.

Regarding traffic management: http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk...ess-Broadband/


---------- Post added at 16:13 ---------- Previous post was at 16:07 ----------

If you take up this package http://store.virginmedia.com/broadba...s/the_biz.html it would appear you get the standard, residential STM stuff applying.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Yes it does have different firmware but has the same core code and shares some of the same bugs. Previously there was some discussion they would wait until the R36 release was out the way before a formal business release in case anything else relevant was found.


Unless I missed a link of that page that only gives enough detail to show it is not the same as domestic customers, i.e.

"Like most broadband providers, we manage traffic on our network to keep things fast (and fair) for everyone but this only applies to our Business Broadband bundles after 6pm. So our trigger threshold is set so less than 5% of business users will typically be affected.No traffic management applies during a normal business week (before 6pm daily). As its purpose is to specifically support business users, our bundles offer a higher trigger threshold than some consumer broadband products even when traffic management does apply."


That is an interesting new product that seems to be selling the domestic service to very small businesses/home offices. I am guessing it is a normal Superhub running the domestic firmware and the service is provided with no SLA etc, etc. It is not the same as the service offered by Virginmedia Business we have.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

The Biz is basically the domestic service with a 24/7 helpline.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Nope

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

What other differences are there?

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

FYI I got details of the STM for Business (not Biz) cable modems. The monitoring period is only from 18:00 to 23:00. On the top (50/5 Mbps) tier you are allowed 12.5/6.5 GB (Down/Up) before it cuts in. When it does speeds are cut by 75% for 5 hours.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

It's disgusting that the business one has STM at all. What about those people who do out of hours off-site backups etc?

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

The state of the business packages is why I recently left and came back to residential..

All the plus points which set it above residential slowly vanished apart from the fixed IPs

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Even the fixed IPs vanished from several tariffs for a period of time

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

In respect of offsite backups, this is the reason I asked for the STM details from VM. Clearly the STM time window is set to avoid business users clogging up the domestic service in the evening. However, it seems we can start the backup after 11 pm without fear of being managed.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

There has been an update to the business superhub firmware. I was on the trial for that. However that trial was complete - it should now be on all business superhubs and is V5.5.2R04T15-BU.

It was specifically to fix L2TP tunnel drops and fragmentation problems that cause emails to MS Exchange server to suffer long delays. I had also hoped it would fix the occasional hang of the GUI on login, but it didn't. The first two problems were fixed.

As has been said the core of the business softare is the same as residential, it just has more of the original Netgear features enabled.

Having spoken to Business sales, they still have new sale of the 50/5 and 30/3 business service suspended due to the original firmware issues. As soon a they are happy there are no further problems it will resume, with a speculated 100/10 being added.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Yes that is the firmware we have, but we still have issues with the GUI becoming inaccessible occasionally and some of the promised features for the GUI did not materialist yet. Generally apart from those niggles the connection is quite stable and fast though.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Yup I still get the GUI freeze issue. I find if you leave it it will time out after say 5 mins and you can then login, but it's very annoying for sure.

I am hoping there is a revised business superhub firmware to bring some of the fixes seen on the residential version to the business version.

regards
Clive

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

sitting there thinking "excellent, backup is 95% complete, I can go home in 10 mins" then stm kicks in and time remaining shoots up to 3 hours

:shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

So are you saying that Business STM reduces upload speed by nearly 95%?*


*or are you exaggerating for effect? ;)

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

I was imagining a worse case humerous scenario in my head

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Wouldn't that be in your upper arm, rather than in your head? :D

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Hrrr I see what you did there...

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

It can be used as a secondary backup:

Dual CPE braodband and leased line on separate routers

Single CPE both on same outer

Partially managed

With differing Cisco router options that will provide differing solutions for the customers basically.

Yes the modem is the same, but having different firmware for business use and the back up provided, so the modem is the same, firmware isn't, products available are not the same for residential

If this isn't enough well sorry

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Another disfference between the business cable service and residential is that you can only order the business cable service if the physical cable is already there. They will not accept new installs that require a cable pull. Crazy policy I think - as do some of the sales team it seems!

The newer two tiers 30/3 and 50/5 are still on stop sale right now due to Superhub firmware issues. Hopefully they will go back on sale soon and VMB will consider additional bandwidth options, as already they are falling behind the residential offerings again.

Now they have moved away from the old style long DHCP lease fixed IP method, they should be more flexible in options.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

We're talking about the Biz service.

It cannot be used as a secondary backup.

There is no dual CPE option

There is no partially managed option.

There is no Cisco router option.

The only router option is the Superhub. You get the residential superhub not the business hub. The firmware is the same.

You also get the same residential support number, residential "digital home" support, residential STM, and it even shows up in your order basket as residential "Broadband XL"

The only product available is standard 60Mb residential broadband XL.

Your entire post is complete rubbish.

---------- Post added at 12:27 ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 ----------

The Biz is not the business cable service. It's residential cable service with 24/7 support. From their site:

"The Biz is especially for home businesses, so we can only install it at residential addresses"

Doesn't say anything about only available at existing cabled addresses, indeed it allow me to request installation at an address with no previous cable service.

There is only one tier available on the Biz and that's 60Mb XL. You can't get 50/3 or 50/5.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Well the info I have is either incorrect or....it's complete rubbish then as you say

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Qas you are totally wrong. The business service is not how you describe it. The 30 and 50 service comes with the superhub and business firmware.

However it's not on sale just now. The 10 and 20 bus service still comes with the standalone modem,

You were talking about this
http://store.virginmedia.com/broadba...s/the_biz.html

We are talking about the business service tiered at 10mb or 20mb. However it's not showing on the site just now but is available when you call for corporate or public sector.

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Perhaps you've not been following the conversation correctly. I've not once tried to describe the business service. I clearly stated in nearly every post I was talking about The Biz. I was replying to a post talking about The Biz.

Who exactly do you mean by "We"? Rob and APS, the two people I was replying to, were talking about both services. I clearly stated which one I was talking about in my reply.

To summarise:

In reply to the above:
Quoting the above:
In reply to the above:
Quoting the above:
Quoting the above:

Now, care to point out where I'm wrong or where I've tried to describe the business service?

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Naughty Kymmy
:shocked:
Part of the T&Cs states that you should not use a residential service for business purposes :D

But Qas the original posting was about the business services not the new biz service. It looks like Sollp was describing the bus service but you replied about the biz service.

anyway Keep calm and carry on. No need to get so defensive!!

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Whoever said that I continued using residential for business purposes??? :rolleyes:

Only thing I used the business package for business wise was on the fixed IP's for my servers, no fixed IP's on residential so the servers got taken off before I migrated and I went to hosted servers for web and email..

Sorry Stephen but you assumed incorrectly instead it was the lack of plus points that made me dump business as I moved it all elsewhere..

Re: Business cable modem firmware and STM policy
 

Am I right in saying they will install it for anyone (ie not just corporate & public sector) provided that some form of cable service is already present?

I am surprised the business 3/30 and 5/50 services are not back on sale, since the firmware update addressed the issues with that service.

There is still an issue with the GUI on the Business Superhub hanging at login at times, but it's not service affecting, and in my opinion, it's serious enough to prevent sale.