My replacement Superhub
 

Following Masque's advice I reported my Superhub as faulty and the VM community techs sent me another. This is a copy of my post on the VM community board reporting on the replacement...

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Rather than wait for connectivity problems to show up I decided to try a test using my N wireless (Atheros)  laptop. This is in the same room as the hub about 5m from it.

A speedtest using the Speedtest.net London server showed my normal 50/4.7Mbps result. Latency wasn't noticeably different from previous wired tests. Not being a gamer I don't have any fixation on ping and don't recall the sort of figures I had pre Superhub.


With the hub set at 145Mbps mode I ran an Acronis TrueImage backup of the laptop to a wired network device. Using TaskManager to view the speed this showed peak speeds of 30% of the reported 130Mbps connection (39Mbps) and I had to leave it running overnight. It completed sussussfully.


With the hub set at 300Mbps this same backup failed to complete 3 times. Peak speeds were ~ 17% of the 300Mbps (51Mbps). A reboot of the hub was needed before anything could connect by WiFi after each failure. Wired was OK but just turning the wireless off and on again wouldn't clear the fault.


As my wired network is based around a couple of switches and I use the hub just as an internet gateway and WiFi AP no high volume traffic goes across its switch so I can't say for certain how it would perform wired.


It seems clear to me that the WiFi problems I experienced were not the result of a faulty unit and are either inherant in hardware which is not up to the job or faulty firmware which given Netgear/VMs past track record is not going to be properly fixed any time soon so I'll be contacting the CEO office to see if they have any modems left.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

hasn't anyone told you yet? there is nothing wrong with the superhub so the problem must lie in your other equipment which Virgin don't support. All your connectivity problems are your fault.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

Yeah it's real bad - I'm going to have to throw away desktops, laptops, phones, NAS, freesat box, NMT, and an iPad because they're all obviously rubbish as they don't work with the brilliant Superhub. I'm real glad I don't have any gaming consoles because I expect they would all be faulty too.

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I've seen complaints that you can't connect more than 4 wireless clients. I just had 5 connected at the same time so that particular problem doesn't happen with mine. Of course they weren't doing a lot of work so possibly that matters too but I can't easily test that as 3 were mobile devices so just sofa surfers really.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

Wireless 'N' performance can be variable but 300mbps mode (HT) is notoriously hard to get right. That said your reported speeds are verging on the pathetic side of bad, seeing as even my mobile phone manages 35mbps in 65mbps link mode. The highest efficiency I've seen is in the 70-80% range.

That said even the high quality, reputable OSF products have trouble getting HT mode right, so the fact that the Superhub keels over and dies doing it is no surprise to me. Last time I dabbled with Openwrt I had to modify several elements of the firmware itself to make it not crash and/or not cripple itself while running in HT mode.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

I just had another case where I couldn't connect until I rebooted the thing. I've switched it back down to 135Mbps as it last longer like that before playing up. Luckily I only use WiFi for my phone + an iPad or I'd be really annoyed.

No reply to my email to CEO office - maybe they are getting miffed about SH complaints. Either way I've now complained that they didn't even acknowledge the email. If there is still no response I'll call retentions next week and have a try with them. For me this is just an inconvenience but for some it must make the service virtually unusable - I bet they must have had plenty bailing out inside the cooling off period.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

Result :)

CEO Office is sending a VMNG300. I suppose I should have moaned before but my troubles were more of an inconvenience than a show stopper.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

Glad to hear you got your problem resolved - sometimes complaining is the only way to get things fixed.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

:tu: Excellent result for you.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

I wonder if you can get one from the outset - say to them, I currently have 20Mb, want to upgrade to 50Mb, but will only do so if you give me a VMNG300.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

if this were possible i'd upgrade today.... Now... THIS SECOND!!!

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

If you upgrade you will receive a Superhub as the is no other option available to the installer.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

Unless he goes via the CEO's office.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

He can't upgrade his broadband via the CEO office.

He may get a superhub that works fine though as there are a lot out there that do.

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

Hi Stephen, just thought i`d ask before i comment.

Do you also work for VM?

Re: My replacement Superhub
 

Not an option for an upgrade as he has to have a manned installation at which point a Superhub will be installed which may work perfectly.