125M : Vmng300

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Masque

It is no longer a stock item but the CEO's office is giving which should not really be happening as it can cause issues and even resentment with customers who cannot get one once they run out.

The Ambit 256 though is still on the warehouse shelves and can be sent out to any customer that needs their modem replacing.

People seem to think that the stock they are using is never ending but sooner rather than later they will run out and people will have to accept the Superhub and even if the is a new one coming out you will just receive whatever version that is on the shelf or in the van.

Barring so called support issues as it's no longer supported, even though there are still many in use, wold you like to explain further?

The 50 Mb service is unlikely to be bonded in any other way in the near future as it is now - so a non issue.

The 30Mb service is unlikely to change it's bonding before the 50Mb service - so non issue.

The 100Mb though possilbly, is unlikely, certainly within the next couple of years. - non issue.

So please explain what the issues would be!

[Ignitionnet]

Can anyone remember what the original topic of this thread was before it became endless repetition and regurgitation of conjecture over CEO's office stocks of Superhubs, VM's future network strategy, etc?

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Can anyone remember what the original topic of this thread was before it became endless repetition and regurgitation of conjecture over CEO's office stocks of Superhubs, VM's future network strategy, etc?

I can , that's why I didn't mention the COE's office and asked for an explanation of the issues that the VMNG300 could or would cause.

It's an excellent piece of kit that out performs the superhub in all except routing as it is not a router.

I'd like to see your slant on the question I posed in my earlier post-re issues.(purely tech wise.)

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by pip08456

Barring so called support issues as it's no longer supported, even though there are still many in use, wold you like to explain further?

The 50 Mb service is unlikely to be bonded in any other way in the near future as it is now - so a non issue.

The 30Mb service is unlikely to change it's bonding before the 50Mb service - so non issue.

The 100Mb though possilbly, is unlikely, certainly within the next couple of years. - non issue.

So please explain what the issues would be!

To be quite honest VM can easily create a different configuration file for each of Superhub and VMNG300, and indeed this will be required for 50Mb.

That said it will not be required for 30Mb and 100Mb, both of whom should be running 100% on the 8 channel Superhub.

It's all about how they choose to play it. No technical reason why they cannot run with different configuration files for both. It would result in no issues for Superhub owners, quite the opposite it leaves VMNG300 customers more prone to contention as they will only have access to 200Mbps out of a service group of up to 400Mbps. This won't affect the Superhubs as they will automatically have data pushed to them on whatever downstreams are less utilised, the CMTS looks after downstream load balancing within a service group.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

That said it will not be required for 30Mb and 100Mb, both of whom should be running 100% on the 8 channel Superhub.

30Mbit won't be, as Virgin allow customers to either downgrade to it from 50Mbit, or upgrade to it if they previously went from 50 > 20 without replacing kit. So you will have customers with existing VMNG300 modems on 30Mbit.

It's only 100Mbit that should 100% be on the SuperHub (but as this thread shows due to engineers not doing their job correctly that's not always happening)

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

30Mbit won't be, as Virgin allow customers to either downgrade to it from 50Mbit, or upgrade to it if they previously went from 50 > 20 without replacing kit. So you will have customers with existing VMNG300 modems on 30Mbit.

It's only 100Mbit that should 100% be on the SuperHub (but as this thread shows due to engineers not doing their job correctly that's not always happening)

So there will be no problems or issues for 30Mb & 50Mb users. Thanks for that confirmation Ben.

Don't blame engineers for not doing their jobs correctly as they are the front line for customers expecting their connection to work, if the only way for that to happen is use a VMNG300 then the fault lies with VM not the engineer. He's done what he has to,, get the customer up and running!

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by pip08456

So there will be no problems or issues for 30Mb & 50Mb users. Thanks for that confirmation Ben.

Don't blame engineers for not doing their jobs correctly as they are the front line for customers expecting their connection to work, if the only way for that to happen is use a VMNG300 then the fault lies with VM not the engineer. He's done what he has to,, get the customer up and running!

Honestly, don't have an major issue with it for 30Mbit and 50Mbit, because those will be mixed equipment customer base for a while yet. Reason I don't like it is because it means engineers are not following what is on their job sheet, which if they then do the same for other things can result in shoddy installs

However, as I've said before, 100Mbit has been SuperHub since launch, so there should be zero reason for it not to be installed with one. Any customer that orders it is aware of what it comes with, and every tech knows what it should be installed with. If the customer doesn't want the SuperHub they shouldn't get 100Mbit

Whether 100Mbit is currently compatible with the VMNG300 modem is irrelevent. It will cause Virgin complications in the future when deciding how to manage the product or (as is more likely), will cause customer frustration if/when they suddenly lose their connection or some of their speed if/when the configuration of the product is changed because Virgin expects everyone 100Mbit customer to be on a SuperHub and will configure the network accordingly

[Welshchris]

Why is it that VM did away the VMNG300 and yet sticking to the AMBIT 256 when their aim is to get everyone onto DOCSIS 3.0 eventually and the AMBIT 256 arnt even DOCSIS 3.0. Its just another senseless example of something not quite being thought through i think.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Welshchris

Why is it that VM did away the VMNG300 and yet sticking to the AMBIT 256 when their aim is to get everyone onto DOCSIS 3.0 eventually and the AMBIT 256 arnt even DOCSIS 3.0. Its just another senseless example of something not quite being thought through i think.

DOCSIS 3's main advantage is Channel Bonding, which isn't needed for the products that are run on the 256 modem i.e. 2/10 and 20Mbit

The 256 is compatible with DOCSIS 2 which means it can still run on the overlay network if required (which is how some 20Mbit customers are on the new network without a D3 modem)

[Welshchris]

yes its capable of DOCSIS 2.0 but thats not DOCSIS 3.0 is it, doesnt have the capabilities of DOCSIS 3.0 that Virgin has stated that it wants EVERYONE to eventually be on and thats why they wanted these so called superhubs for example.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by pip08456

Barring so called support issues as it's no longer supported, even though there are still many in use, wold you like to explain further?

The 50 Mb service is unlikely to be bonded in any other way in the near future as it is now - so a non issue.

The 30Mb service is unlikely to change it's bonding before the 50Mb service - so non issue.

The 100Mb though possilbly, is unlikely, certainly within the next couple of years. - non issue.

So please explain what the issues would be!

The VMNG300 should not have been allowed to be issued after it was withdrawn and that is my personal thoughts on the issue, as it causes people to call up for a device that is no longer supplied by Virginmedia.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Welshchris

yes its capable of DOCSIS 2.0 but thats not DOCSIS 3.0 is it, doesnt have the capabilities of DOCSIS 3.0 that Virgin has stated that it wants EVERYONE to eventually be on and thats why they wanted these so called superhubs for example.

However D3 kit is still more expensive than D2 kit, so Virgin will target those products that require channel bonding for the D3 kit.

10 and 20Mbit don't really need channel bonding. Especially when it's easier to get them to use 1 channel of the channels the other products use.

If/when a customer upgrades to product that does need it, they get kit that can deal with it

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Welshchris

Why is it that VM did away the VMNG300 and yet sticking to the AMBIT 256 when their aim is to get everyone onto DOCSIS 3.0 eventually and the AMBIT 256 arnt even DOCSIS 3.0. Its just another senseless example of something not quite being thought through i think.

What gives you that idea?

We have far more people on the 2Mb, 10Mb and 20Mb tiers and they will never need to go onto the Docsis 3 platform plus they do not get the Superhub as we have the standard hub for them which is compatible for Docsis 1/2 the same as the Ambit 256 and all the millions of existing modems still out there.

[Welshchris]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

However D3 kit is still more expensive than D2 kit, so Virgin will target those products that require channel bonding for the D3 kit.

10 and 20Mbit don't really need channel bonding. Especially when it's easier to get them to use 1 channel of the channels the other products use.

If/when a customer upgrades to product that does need it, they get kit that can deal with it

The Whole point of having it all D3 kit was to eventually make it easier to upgrade between platforms with as little cost and effort as possible.

What i think has happened personally Virgin was premature in ending the supply of the VMNG300 and didnt foresee the problems of the hub.

---------- Post added at 16:31 ---------- Previous post was at 16:30 ----------

Originally Posted by Masque

What gives you that idea?

We have far more people on the 2Mb, 10Mb and 20Mb tiers and they will never need to go onto the Docsis 3 platform plus they do not get the Superhub as we have the standard hub for them which is compatible for Docsis 1/2 the same as the Ambit 256 and all the millions of existing modems still out there.

read what ive replied to Ben

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Welshchris

The Whole point of having it all D3 kit was to eventually make it easier to upgrade between platforms with as little cost and effort as possible.

Considering it's only BB L that isn't on D3, then Virgin are heading in that direction

However as with any business, it's a balance between costs. Supplying expensive D3 kit to services that don't require it means you don't have it for services that do

Same as why it was only the V+ boxes that were HD - because the costs of making HD kit were high. When the costs came down Virgin were able to produce boxes at a low enough cost to make HD ready boxes standard.

Eventually D3 kit will become standard across all the services - but only when it's economical to do so