Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Hi all,

I've had the Hub 3 for a long time now and thinking of moving to internet only (no TV or Land Line Phone).

I get the M350 service, so should VM have moved me to the new Hub 4 or 5 by now to make sure I'm getting the best possible speeds?

OR

If I'm wanting to move to Internet only, are other providers offering better rates, speeds etc.. ?

Cheers

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Internet service providers generally upgrade kit when you agree new terms.

Have a look here https://www.cableforum.uk/board/show...php?t=33713613

If you can get fibre to the property I'd go with one of the associated providers

Virgin Media hubs explained here https://www.virginmedia.com/broadban...omer-deals/hub

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Yeah, looking at the Uswitch website, it looks like I can get 1800Mps for £34 a mouth. VM have offered M350 for £47 a month until this April and then that goes up to £51 and then up to £55 in April 2027.


The Uswitch is a 12 month contract which includes a WiFi 7 Router.

I don't even you the VM router I was given, I by-passed it to a TP-Link Router.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Modem mode is the smart thing to do :tu:

Yeah go for fibre to the property. You can carry on using your own choice of router with the wall mounted modem :)

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

£47 for M350 is way over priced especially when you factor in the abysmal customer service.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

There's an upgrade programme underway to replace Hub 3 & 4 to the Hub 5. It might take a while to reach you though.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...-for-free.html

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

"Hi all,

I've had the Hub 3 for a long time now and thinking of moving to internet only (no TV or Land Line Phone).

I get the M350 service, so should VM have moved me to the new Hub 4 or 5 by now to make sure I'm getting the best possible speeds?

OR

If I'm wanting to move to Internet only, are other providers offering better rates, speeds etc.. ?

Cheers”

If the hub 3 is working OK, then the best advice is to leave well alone. If you are playing for 350 Mb/s and you are getting anywhere close to that, then an ‘updated’ hub will do nothing - except, possibly, lock you into a new 24 month minimum term contract.

Your second question is answered simply by ‘yes’. Other providers do offer vastly better speeds at cheaper costs. Do a bit of research, what is available to you, what can they offer, how much do they want?

And is something seems better than what VM offer then go for it. The only hassle will be the cancellation, but even that can be helped by the now mandatory ‘one-touch’ switching process. Unless you have a TV provision, because TV isn’t covered by this provision and you have to sort it yourself.

But honestly if you don’t mind a slight degree of hassle, then just go for it and move on.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

If you are in a City Fibre area you will have a good choice of symmetrical connection deals superior to and cheaper than what you get with any VM deal.

If you are a gamer I would avoid Vodafone though. They use CF's local network but their own over-subscribed national network with latency varying wildly as they move you from one BNG (Broadband Network Gateways) to another to spread the national load.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

When my aging Hub 3 failed last year, it was replaced with another Hub 3. I'm quite happy with the performance (386 down, 37up) on 350Mb. The WiFi performance is more than adequate in our small house. I also have it operating at a central point, and have a long 2 core lead through trunking plugging straight into the power brick. Taking a Hub 4 or 5 would mean rewiring with a 3 core mains lead & additional socket, which I would rather avoid.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

I think I got a free upgrade from the Hub3 to the Hub5 when it was offered a few years ago.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

If its working and gives you the advertised speed why change? Any 'upgrade' from VM is likely to bring as many issue as it solves.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

New WiFi standards may help some people.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

I think some peope just see a bigger version number or the word ' upgrade' and assume an improvement.

With VM it isnt always the case ( e.g. their tv boxes have gone downhill from V6 to 360 to Stream, with less functionality with each 'upgrade').

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Can't wait to ditch VM for everything, just waiting for February then I'll decide.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

When I came back to VM lastmid November onto the M250 (upgraded to M350 via O2) I was sent a Hub 5 which I use in Modem mode, in 2023/24 when I was on M500 I was using a Hub 3 in Modem mode, can't say I can notice any difference using Modem mode between Hub 3 and Hub 5.
I use a TP-Link Router M1750 to distribute the Ethernet and WiFi signals.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

On M500 I would not expect much difference, the hub 5 is just able to do the higher speeds that a Hub 3 cannot, I only needed one when I went to their 1G service.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

OK, I’m a bit confused "Can't wait to ditch VM for everything” - fine, but then "just waiting for February then I'll decide”. So are you dumping them (which originally you seemed to can’t wait for), or are you still open to decide?

Or is this some oddball attempt to see if you can’t score a better deal? Fair enough, although I doubt that VM monitor this forum, so I expect you might be out of luck.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

I've only had the option of VM in my village for high speed internet but late last year City Fibre dug the area and laid the ducts so I was thinking, at last a super fast alternative but then unexpectedly Openreach became Live to order in December and I suspect they're using the City Fibre ducts, so because I had planned to get City Fibre I decided to hold out hoping they would also go live.

Anyway today I decided not to wait and ordered Zen FTTP, when that's up and running I'll ditch VM for everything and my TV license and rely solely on my IPTV saving me a fortune.

Nothing Oddball about that.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Good choice with Zen, they're not the cheapest but in my experience very reliable, better kit and and knock VM out of the park with their customer service.
What speed have you gone for, you'll get a Fritzbox router up to 900 mb then the Eero Pro 6 for speeds above that.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Their top package in my area Full Fibre 900, I'm just hoping the order goes through ok as I was told it had initially failed so they have resubmitted it and I should hear more today.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Good luck with it, at least they're relatively easy to contact if something goes wrong.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Thanks, not had any communication today, I just hope it's not a problem because I have paid £65 and gave them until 30th January when I was asked when I would like it up and running.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Did it say why it failed ?

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

Unfortunately not, I had originally emailed them to ask a question and they replied the next day with this. I was originally worried because I thought I may have given the impression I already had an active line from someone because all they said in the order email was about sending the modem, nothing about an engineer date for drilling through house wall or pulling the cable.

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

I have used both the Hub 3 and Hub 5 at different times, running in modem mode (it's the only way I use the Hubs) The TBB BQM's do show a small difference in the average latency between the two, with the Hub 5 being better. To be honest, it's something I would not have noticed in "real use", but it does show up on the BQM.
If I had to guess, I'd put the difference down to the Hub's chipsets?

Re: Should I still be on the Hub 3?
 

It could also be down to you getting a different public IP address with the new hub and the possibility that it is a routing issue. You would have needed to do a traceroute with the old and new hubs (obviously not feasible) and compare them.