Superhub : can we really write it off?

[tjay2]

I got the superhub when it first came out and went through two of them neither worked with wireless constantly dropping out.

I switched back to the VMNG300 and Dlink 615 router which were always rock solid at 50mb - wireless has never dropped out in 4 years and I always got full speed.

I gave the superhub another go and this time had 3 of them again they all had the same sort of problems wireless would drop out and I would struggle to get signal in certain areas of the house

I am again back with my rock solid VMNG300 and Dlink 615 and again literally have no problems and signal is strong throughout the house.

I am loathed to even bother trying the suberhub again even with the R30 release. The VMNG300 supports 50mb just fine and until I decide this isnt enough speed I wont be changing my set up

[jb66]

So far 60% of folk don't rate the hubs wifi well. I wish virgin would get there finger out and get a new piece of kit fit for purpose in the supply chain

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by jb66

So far 60% of folk don't rate the hubs wifi well. I wish virgin would get there finger out and get a new piece of kit fit for purpose in the supply chain

Remember that is only on a forum so not a realistic poll.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by jb66

So far 60% of folk don't rate the hubs wifi well. I wish virgin would get there finger out and get a new piece of kit fit for purpose in the supply chain

Usually all it takes is a change in the settings to solve the drop outs.

However I have have mine for over a year now and not had any issues with wireless at all.

[jb66]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Usually all it takes is a change in the settings to solve the drop outs.

However I have have mine for over a year now and not had any issues with wireless at all.

In my experience nothing stops the dropouts/poor wifi signal/slow speeds when there is mild interference

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by jb66

In my experience nothing stops the dropouts/poor wifi signal/slow speeds when there is mild interference

I have my Superhub on top of my PC tower with a Samknows device and an Edimax router and facing that a steel filing cabinet and if I enable wireless and switch the Edimax into an access point then my laptop defaults to the Superhub and it does not drop out ever.

I think you will see my setup is not as recommended but it works perfectly.

I have my Sh behind our LCD TV in the lounge, and we have no dropouts either.

(and most evenings, we have two laptops and two tablets logged on).

[Tuvoc]

So, wireless OK for some and not others. Probably environmental factors - wireless phones, type of house, interference from other wifi in the area etc. Of course some routers are more tolerant of this than others, and it sounds like the superhub is one of the less tolerant ones

Anyway - will upgrade if Virgin give me a sensible price. As per my last phone call though, an extra £15 per month to go from 20Mb to 50Mb is in no way acceptable.

[finaldest]

Voted Modem Mode.

Had a superhub forced upon me when I changed address and once r30 was released I have had zero problems.

I am currently on my 2nd superhub as VM insisted that it be changed with an install visit when I upgraded from 50mb to 100mb.

[sniper007]

My experience with the superhub has been mixed. I was quite excited to hear of an all in one unit to be honest. Less faff, less cable, less bulk and less power consumption. Possibly no less heat mind as I feel the superhub gets fairly hot compared to other routers.

I have had problems I won't lie. But....they have been manageable. To be fair, I was never really expecting it to be on par with the most robust work horse ever the Linksys WRT54GL I had years ago. This is VMs first ever all in one solution. It has been frustrating watching them roll out stuff untested or despite problems pointed out by BETA testers. The main issues I experienced were:


1: Having to turn off SPI firewall, IP flood detection and the other service I forget, in order to get stability and consistent solid performance.

2: Only use 2.4ghz wireless and 145mbps setting otherwise I have a nightmare with wireless clients dropping out or not negotiating a connection.


Once the above settings were in place everything started working more reliably, but it is still not perfect. Up until yesterday when I actually needed to get onto the router, I would say it was probably running for a good couple of months. I couldn't check however because the routers admin pages via http stopped responding and I could not get a logon page. This is the most frustrating thing with this router, it seems to lock up and stop responding when it does go wrong requiring a reboot, although I supose one would rather have this than it constantly rebooting itself, as despite not responding to logon the functionality as a router reamains so.

I really applaud an all in one solution that for once did not skimp on the internal LAN ports being Gigabit. For me, this was one of the main reasons I would have continued to use my own router elsewhere had they not been gigabit. I am all for minimizing clutter/power/components and simplifying so I like to try to make do with the superhub. I do not really find it gives any limitations on my home network as of yet, as I only do basic IP/Mac filtering and port forwarding rules anyway - all of which I can administer.

I am yet however to truely "rinse out" the Gigabit LAN transfers so I cannot speak of this performance, and I am not sure if the router supports wake on lan facilities as I could not get this working, although admitedly spent no more than 10 minutes on it last night.

I think it is hard to please everyone but personally I like an all in one solution in one box. If I had to make improvements on the next superhub box I would quite like the following to be addressed:


1: Wireless performance/range and stability. This seems to be the most common complaint.

2: Better stability generally, perhaps due to hardware improvements

3: Even lower power consumption.
This is easily possible with improved eco technology like ports that are "put to sleep" when not in use, wireless options etc. Also would like to see an option to change LED status lights on the unit at the very least to ALL OFF. This is a feature I would like to see more in other electronic products and which I hear more and more people asking for. Not everyone wants a room lit up like a christmas tree, especially at night time. The superhub is OTT with extremely bright blue LEDs which are unecessary for such a unit that is generally prefered to be never seen or heard and to "just work".

4: Less heat output. I personally think it gets too hot even idling with wireless off. Not sure why as it's hardly a small unit.

5: Smaller unit that is more traditionally square edged for hiding away.

6: Power supply that does not sqweeeaaalll at high pitches.



What would be nice (but these are more advanced features and unlikely to be wanted by majority of customers):

- Jumbo frames support
- Wake on lan function (possible via internet) built in
- VPN management options
- QOS features
- Bandwidth monitoring tools
- Better logging support

[kwikbreaks]

Originally Posted by sniper007

6: Power supply that does not sqweeeaaalll at high pitches.

If you complain about this on the VM Community Forum they will arrange a replacement. Not just the PSU of course as this is VM so you'll get a new hub complete.

Your stated initial hopes, disappointments suffered, and wishes for the future are pretty close to what mine were when I waited for the Superhub to become a free part of the 50Mbps package. It's a great shame that the hub didn't live up to the hype.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

If you complain about this on the VM Community Forum they will arrange a replacement. Not just the PSU of course as this is VM so you'll get a new hub complete.

As powerpacks do not come separately even with other ISP's you will always get a complete device.

[kwikbreaks]

Perhaps to save money VM should stock up with some then. Even though the Superhub is virtually worthless putting them in landfill (which is what will happen to most) isn't a good idea.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

Perhaps to save money VM should stock up with some then. Even though the Superhub is virtually worthless putting them in landfill (which is what will happen to most) isn't a good idea.

I doubt it would save much money otherwise I expect they would do so.

[kwikbreaks]

Given what they probably pay for the things you may well be right but they should collect the old ones for proper disposal and they don't - I've had one to bits and there's another in the loft they haven't asked me to return.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WEEE_Directive