Superhub Awful SH wifi: Can I improve it?

RainmakerRaw · 02-10-2013, 16:34

Hi everyone,

We're on 120/12 and get great throughput via gigabit ethernet (Intel Pro 1000MT). However we also have seeral wireless-only devices like an Android tablet (Samsung Tab 2), a HTC One, iPhone 5 etc.

The wireless has to be set to 2.4GHz due to the Tab2 not supporting 5GHz properly, and I'm struggling to see 1MB/sec upstairs if I can get a signal at all. I usually can't watch YouTube in bed because the wifi drops continuously, or stutters like crazy. It's not the connection because ethernet is flawless and we're on a new build estate with low utilisation.

It affects every wireless device, so it's definitely the SH wireless (no surprises there, then). I've tried changing the wireless settings (speed, range, greenfield mode etc) and nothing helps. Does anyone have any ideas that would help improve the wifi?

We're only in a small 2 bedroom semi, and the bedroom is directly above the room the SH is located in, so it's hardly a range/distance issue. The SH can barely manage 1 bar of wifi signal even a room away, it's ridiculous.

I'm not wanting to shell out for a crappy consumer router to add on to the SH, but wondered if there were any settings or tricks I might have missed on the SH? If not do you think there's any chance VM would supply a new hub (SH2?) seeing as the issue is so severe wireless is unusable outside the room the SH is actually in?? It's so frustrating having no connection at night unless I physically come downstairs!

Thanks in advance.

Sephiroth · 02-10-2013, 17:14

It could be all sorts with 2.4GHz wireless. There might be copper pipes under your floor getting in the way.

I take it that you have a SH1 right now, which is dire. 120 meg customers can usually get a SH2 free of charge but you'll have a battle with them trying to force a new contract on you and so on. In the end, you'll ring retentions, tell them about the runaround you're getting (by then) from CS - the wireless is dire you need a SH2 or you'll have to change ISP. Usually works.

Or, if you rring CS andd get a UK agent, it might just get sorted on the spot!

RainmakerRaw · 02-10-2013, 18:03

Thanks.

I figured as much but wanted to be sure before I spent half an hour on hold lol... As predicted, TS wanted to check the SH was on channels 3, 6, 9 or 11 and suggested I restart it. After explaining again that I'd tried all that and the weakness is in the SH's wireless chip itself, she offered to send me a DIR-615 so I could put the SH into modem-only mode. I explained I wasn't happy with that as the 615 isn't great for WAN>LAN throughput on 50 meg let alone 120/12.

Eventually she offered a SH2 for £50 or offered to have an engineer move the SH to a different room. I asked what use it would be to have wireless in a different room when it didn't address the fact that it only really worked in that one room?

Cut a long story short she put me through to retentions, and the lady briskly offered to send me a SH2 for the £5 postage charge which suits me. Thanks very much for your help.

Sephiroth · 02-10-2013, 18:05

You're welcome. You told it as I wrote it!!

Let's hope that's an end to the matter. Do keep us posted.

Kushan · 02-10-2013, 19:15

Glad you got it sorted. I'd never pay £50 for the SH2, as it's still Virgin's equipment even when you leave - makes sense to buy a dedicated router instead for that money. But £5? That seems reasonable enough to me, though I'm sure some would disagree.

qasdfdsaq · 03-10-2013, 00:43

Retentions could probably have cut off the postage charge too if you persisted. But the first guy who gave you the run around should really get trained better.

General Maximus · 03-10-2013, 18:57

ya, they know the shub is pants for wireless and the chance of them making any significant performance increases are minor so why not just nip it in the bud to start with, keep the customer and promptly move onto the next call.

03-10-2013, 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainmakerRaw

Thanks.

I figured as much but wanted to be sure before I spent half an hour on hold lol... As predicted, TS wanted to check the SH was on channels 3, 6, 9 or 11 and suggested I restart it. After explaining again that I'd tried all that and the weakness is in the SH's wireless chip itself, she offered to send me a DIR-615 so I could put the SH into modem-only mode. I explained I wasn't happy with that as the 615 isn't great for WAN>LAN throughput on 50 meg let alone 120/12.

Eventually she offered a SH2 for £50 or offered to have an engineer move the SH to a different room. I asked what use it would be to have wireless in a different room when it didn't address the fact that it only really worked in that one room?

Cut a long story short she put me through to retentions, and the lady briskly offered to send me a SH2 for the £5 postage charge which suits me. Thanks very much for your help.

Due to this post I called faults for a 4th time complained about wireless offered router or move of SH said I will leave got through to CS wanted £50 said no went to retentions said I will be straight I want a SH2 but do not want to pay 50 quid he said I can do it for £20 I said I know due to a forum post you can do it for a fiver he went off talked to a manager and said he coudl do it for £5.99 being delivered Saturday

General Maximus · 03-10-2013, 21:27

sweet. Make sure it is a shub2 when it arrives.

03-10-2013, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus

sweet. Make sure it is a shub2 when it arrives.

will do

SnoopZ · 04-10-2013, 00:29

Glad i got mine free from someone posting on here saying we could trial them.

It is worth keeping an eye out for posts like that and also having an account on the Virginmedia forum to apply to be a beta tester.

RainmakerRaw · 04-10-2013, 12:14

Glad to hear you got a SH2 sorted as well. I'm glad I posted now.

My SH2 arrived this morning as promised, and I have to say it's much better than the SH1 already. It's nicer looking and nicer to handle than the SH1, though it's way too light - it tries to fall over due to the weight of the coax and ethernet cables, unless you balance it just right on the shelf/table.

Still, I got all our devices (except the awkward tablet) on 5GHz and my desktop (Debian) gigabit ethernet. Looks OK to me!

Sephiroth · 04-10-2013, 12:46

Excellent.

RainmakerRaw · 07-10-2013, 03:18

Well I may have spoken too soon. The 5GHz wifi drops loads, sometimes a couple of times per minute, though the 2.4GHz is OK. If anything I'd expect it to be the other way around!

That's not a major issue though, but the trouble I'm having with VPNs since switching to a SH2 is...

120/12 without a VPN gives an Ubuntu torrent (which is guaranteed to max any line) download speed of 15MB/sec consistently. Brilliant!

120/12 WITH a VPN (either PIA or proxy.sh, so it's not the VPN provider) caps at a hard 4MB/sec. Sometimes it spools up to 15MB/sec as it should but then dwindles down to 4MB/sec as though it's being throttled??

Interestingly if you add a SOCKS5 proxy, you get the full 15MB/sec again even if using the VPN. Initially that suggested a port forwarding issue (not being connectable); whereas using the SOCKS5 proxy - part of my PIA VPN subscription - you bypass that and let the proxy machine handle things. However, this can't be right as I'm set up properly, the port is forwarded on my machine (iptables) as well as on the VPN and the torrent program (qBittorrent) says 'green light - all ports working OK'.

So I'm stumped. What on earth would cause this? The SH1 connected to VPN fine. The fact I get the full 15MB/sec without a VPN, and the full speed again with a SOCKS5 proxy over the VPN (from either company) suggests it's not throttling, shaping or STM. Nor is it the VPN providers else they'd not be able to give full speed when also using the SOCKS5 proxy.

But for two renowned VPN providers, one in the Seychelles and one in the US, to have the same exact 4MB/sec cap? Not a chance. Something's screwy here. It's not my OS as it's worked perfectly until the SH2 swap. I've tried UK, NL, FR and DE servers so it's not the VPN or location (eg routing). I've also tried TCP and UDP over different ports to no avail.

The only alternative is the hub. Surely not?? Anyone got any ideas before I bend the ears of the VPN companies and VM's tier 1 tech support (please God, no...)??

Edit: The firewall on the SH2 is off, and I have a reserved LAN IP over gigabit cat6 Ethernet. I know I had to register the SH2 MAC with VM to get it online but will they have deleted the old SH1 MAC? If not I'm tempted to swap back to see what happens with the VPN speeds.

General Maximus · 07-10-2013, 09:46

yes they will have deleted the shub 1 mac however I can't see there being a problem with them re-registering it as shub1s are still in use on the network. If worst comes to worst and they don't want to register second hand equipment they'll send you a new shub1 out.

As for your problem, whilst I cannot offer any productive comments to remedy it, I am not surprised with this kind of stuff because VM bang the shubs out as fast as possible once they know they can handle the basics and then spend ages afterwards trying to fix the proper routing features. They did exactly the same thing which shub1. Have you got a proper router you could try so you can defo say it is the shub2 which is at fault?