Cable Forum - View Single Post - Superhub 60mb

General Maximus · 25-07-2012, 09:57

to cut a long story short a modem is a MODulator/DEmodulator which means your pc or some other device is connected to it, sends it some info/signal and the modem converts it to a different type of signal and bangs it off across the internet. This is ok if you have only got one device which you want to have internet access.

A router routes your traffic across a network (which it is creating). The router connects directly to the modem and any devices like pcs, games consoles, printers etc can connect to the router directly (cable) or laptops, printers, phones etc wirelessly if you want. The devices send the info to the router, the router changes it slightly (long story) and then send it to the modem which does its stuff.

Now, for many many years peeps have always had a seperate modem and router and they will continue to do so for donkeys years to come. The problem is that VM used to only supply modems and they very rarely break. People obviously have problems with their connections all the time and I don't know what the % is but as an example say 70% of the time there was nothing wrong with their connection and it was the router they had bought from PC World which was the problem and needed rebooting or something. VM cannot support every type of 3rd party router its customers are buying so they tried to come up with a combi modem/router (aka the shub) which they could give all customers so when they rang up moaning about their connection VM were in a position where they could say whether it was the connection which was the problem or the router, and be in a position to help with both.

The bummer is that VM rushed an untested shub out to customers a few years ago and the whole thing has been a disaster. There are many features which are common to all routers and you can go down to PC World and buy any branded router you want and it just works. There were many flaws with the shub from day 1 which caused all sorts of problems whether it was wireless (which has been the worse) or wired.

When they first started forcing the shubs on customers you had to use the router function even if you already had your own top of the range router. It supremely screwed you over because as it couldnt do the most basic of functions without crashing. After many many complaints they finally got round to releasing a version of firmware which allowed the user to switch it to "modem mode" which basically disabled the router part of it and made it a modem. This allowed you to reconnect your proper router.

VM have spent the last 2 years releasing numerous firmware updates and still havent got round to fixing everything. People will tell you that wireless performance has been greatly improved in the latest firmware revision and that may be true, but there is still much to be desired.

The best advice I can give you is to definitely put it in modem as soon as you get it. You can leave it as it is with your pc directly connected if you want to maintain that setup but if you ever want to let more devices connect to the internet you'll need a router and I strongly recommend you buy your own one. I have always been a Linksys fan but there are many good brands out there which you can get for very reasonable prices that will kick ass over the shub. If you ever think about getting one just come back here and there are plenty of people who will gladly recommend various models.

25-07-2012, 09:57	#3
General Maximus cf.mega poster Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lincoln Services: phone + 1gbit BB + SkyQ Posts: 11,021	Re: 60mb - old modem to cut a long story short a modem is a MODulator/DEmodulator which means your pc or some other device is connected to it, sends it some info/signal and the modem converts it to a different type of signal and bangs it off across the internet. This is ok if you have only got one device which you want to have internet access. A router routes your traffic across a network (which it is creating). The router connects directly to the modem and any devices like pcs, games consoles, printers etc can connect to the router directly (cable) or laptops, printers, phones etc wirelessly if you want. The devices send the info to the router, the router changes it slightly (long story) and then send it to the modem which does its stuff. Now, for many many years peeps have always had a seperate modem and router and they will continue to do so for donkeys years to come. The problem is that VM used to only supply modems and they very rarely break. People obviously have problems with their connections all the time and I don't know what the % is but as an example say 70% of the time there was nothing wrong with their connection and it was the router they had bought from PC World which was the problem and needed rebooting or something. VM cannot support every type of 3rd party router its customers are buying so they tried to come up with a combi modem/router (aka the shub) which they could give all customers so when they rang up moaning about their connection VM were in a position where they could say whether it was the connection which was the problem or the router, and be in a position to help with both. The bummer is that VM rushed an untested shub out to customers a few years ago and the whole thing has been a disaster. There are many features which are common to all routers and you can go down to PC World and buy any branded router you want and it just works. There were many flaws with the shub from day 1 which caused all sorts of problems whether it was wireless (which has been the worse) or wired. When they first started forcing the shubs on customers you had to use the router function even if you already had your own top of the range router. It supremely screwed you over because as it couldnt do the most basic of functions without crashing. After many many complaints they finally got round to releasing a version of firmware which allowed the user to switch it to "modem mode" which basically disabled the router part of it and made it a modem. This allowed you to reconnect your proper router. VM have spent the last 2 years releasing numerous firmware updates and still havent got round to fixing everything. People will tell you that wireless performance has been greatly improved in the latest firmware revision and that may be true, but there is still much to be desired. The best advice I can give you is to definitely put it in modem as soon as you get it. You can leave it as it is with your pc directly connected if you want to maintain that setup but if you ever want to let more devices connect to the internet you'll need a router and I strongly recommend you buy your own one. I have always been a Linksys fan but there are many good brands out there which you can get for very reasonable prices that will kick ass over the shub. If you ever think about getting one just come back here and there are plenty of people who will gladly recommend various models.