Superhub : R36 Firmware Beta Test (was R35)

[kwikbreaks]

Originally Posted by jempalmer

Kwik, it seems vastly improved for us on the R36 trial. No doubt there will be ever newer iterations of firmware but for now we are a great deal happier. We know it's a pile of carp but it's better than it was dude

I'm quite prepare to give it a go - all I absolutely need is port forwarding and that is there albeit with a very klunky set up procedure.

I never use ISP DNS and it's annoying that the firmware doesn't allow an override but I just manually hard code that.

No Dynamic DNS services but I have a 24x7 desktop so running a software client covers that. Come to that I could do it with an IP webcam I have too.

I don't use torrents so the problems I've seen reported with hangs doing so unless the SPI firewall is turned off really don't matter to me.

WiFi range is poor on R30 and I don't see how firmware could improve it anyway but I only need it for my phone and an iPad. I run a FON router with an external aerial so if I need WiFi in the garden and the SH doesn't provide it that will.

So long as I don't need regular reboots and it doesn't adversely impact web performance it will be OK - my internal network is just a couple of gigabit switches which is why my venerable Buffalo was OK when I was on 10Mbps. I bought the D-Link when I was on 50Mbps and had the Superhub then swapped out for a VMNG300.

Overall I'm pleased with the upgrade 10Mbps to 60Mbps for an extra £2.50 a month is a very good deal even if I didn't hit the 60Mbps but it looks like I am right now. Mind you on 50Mbps it was fine and went down the tubes alarmingly quickly which was why I downgraded to 10Mbps.

[Eeeps]

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

I'm quite prepare to give it a go - all I absolutely need is port forwarding and that is there albeit with a very klunky set up procedure.

What's 'clunky' about the port forwarding set-up?

Think of a name, select the start and end ports, the protocol, the last octet of the IP address and click add. Job done.

Ours hasn't rebooted at all since we have had R36 kwik. Oddly the wireless is improved but only in terms of reliability (range is still not what you would deem acceptable).

[kwikbreaks]

Originally Posted by Eeeps

What's 'clunky' about the port forwarding set-up?

Think of a name, select the start and end ports, the protocol, the last octet of the IP address and click add. Job done.

Well you forward to an IP address and it's the fixing of that IP to a given MAC that is klunky as you have to manually enter the MAC rather than just select it from a list of attached devices like most other routers I've used. True there is every chance that a well behaved router will always assign the same IP to a MAC it has handled before but sfaik there is no guarantee that it will and I wouldn't trust the SH to do so for sure. Once you've done that the SH reboots. It does that for every one. OK I can understand it may need to do so but it should give you the option to defer that until you've finished making reservations. When I had a SH before on one occasion it managed to corrupt the entire fixed IP table somehow and I had to start over. Not showstopping certainly but tedious, annoying, and totally unnecessary.

[Eeeps]

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

Well you forward to an IP address and it's the fixing of that IP to a given MAC that is klunky as you have to manually enter the MAC rather than just select it from a list of attached devices like most other routers I've used. True there is every chance that a well behaved router will always assign the same IP to a MAC it has handled before but sfaik there is no guarantee that it will and I wouldn't trust the SH to do so for sure. Once you've done that the SH reboots. It does that for every one. OK I can understand it may need to do so but it should give you the option to defer that until you've finished making reservations. When I had a SH before on one occasion it managed to corrupt the entire fixed IP table somehow and I had to start over. Not showstopping certainly but tedious, annoying, and totally unnecessary.

What firmware version are you using? On my R30 it's just the steps I outlined - no MAC address; no clunkiness; no reset?

[kwikbreaks]

R30. Are you reserving the IP address as that is what I find clunky not the actual port forward to an IP address.

[Kymmy]

Off-topic posts deleted, any more in any thread by the members with deleted posts may be infracted

[Eeeps]

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

R30. Are you reserving the IP address as that is what I find clunky not the actual port forward to an IP address.

ahh; got you.

No, I don't use the feature to force the DHCP to assign a particular IP addresses. However, the way it's done makes sense. I can't see any other way of getting the DHCP server to make particular fixed MAC / IP assignments.

All I do is set an appropriate mask and limit the range of DHCP adresses. Then use statics on the devices that are outside that range but within the subnet set by the mask.

[hjf288]

Only way they could boost range is by upping transmit to maximum allowed legally and eventhen it doesnt guarantee it will receive the clients signal unless its transmitting high enough for the SH to receive it

[babis3g]

Originally Posted by APS

R36 to be released next Monday, according to this:

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...e/td-p/1290753

Super Hub R36 Public Pilot
[ New ]
29-06-2012 19:11

After our beta test of the R36 firmware for the Super Hub we've decided to move to the next stage in piloting the firmware, a public pilot in selected areas for around 8000 Super Hub users from Monday. If this is successful next week we'll start deploying R36 to all Super Hubs across our network in the following two weeks.

Thanks to the help of our beta testers we're confident that R36 fixes a number of known issues, includes a number of stability and performance improvements and doesn't introduce any show stopping bugs that affect our users service,

I'll post an update on Monday identifying where we're testing along with the release notes for R36.

Thanks
Mark Wilkin
Help & Support Forum Manager

Sound Great

[boroboi]

Are they going to take our R36 firmware off us until general release? I hope that isnt the case.

Originally Posted by boroboi

Are they going to take our R36 firmware off us until general release? I hope that isnt the case.

I wouldn't have thought so. If the pilot for 8000 users is the same iteration as we Guinea Pigs currently have, then it wouldn't make sense to change our current firmware. Might be worth emailing Mark Wilkin to verify though.

[babis3g]

i have request if possible to be in the 1st 8000 SH for try the r36
recently had few T3 errors due to congestion with upstream channel and the engineer have fitted a distribution unit
Maybe is a good test for the r36
If not in few weeks should be rolled out hopefully and i will know if is good that time

[boroboi]

Originally Posted by babis3g

i have request if possible to be in the 1st 8000 SH for try the r36
recently had few T3 errors due to congestion with upstream channel and the engineer have fitted a distribution unit
Maybe is a good test for the r36
If not in few weeks should be rolled out hopefully and i will know if is good that time

Whats a distribution unit when it's at home?

[kwikbreaks]

Originally Posted by Eeeps

I can't see any other way of getting the DHCP server to make particular fixed MAC / IP assignments.

Well yes you have to specify both the MAC and the desired IP but manually entering the MAC - especially when you can't just use copy/paste is tedious and error prone - as I said originally most if not all routers I've used just allow you to select the device you want to reserve an IP for from the list of connected devices. With Tomato at least you build your table of reservations then hit apply just the once and it then restarts some services rather than doing a full reboot.

Originally Posted by Eeeps

All I do is set an appropriate mask and limit the range of DHCP adresses. Then use statics on the devices that are outside that range but within the subnet set by the mask.

I find setting static IPs on a number of devices more of a PITA than just setting them to use DHCP which is virtually always the default anyway then reserving whatever the router allocated useng the router GUI.

That said unless the router resets to defaults (which was a common problem with the Superhub) it doesn't need doing very often and I imagine there is zero chance of VM changing it.