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Virgin Media Discussion Thread
- Thread starter macca40
- Start date
Associate
Well I've moved house (a massive tale of woe), took all my kit including the Superhub 3, same pfsense firewall I used before, unifi ac lite and all switches etc. Now getting what I can only describe as 'deadspots' on my connection for the whole household. They usually kick in every 15-30 minutes and last around 10-20 seconds - during which the internet connection doesn't respond at all. If I'm gaming (BF4) I get kicked off servers, if I don't get kicked off - the whole game just locks all movement for 10-20 seconds - I have the FPS monitor running, the game hasn't crashed, just waiting for network data. I did notice some issues when working from home too - my laptop on wifi had similar issues with remote connections via RMM to servers. Looks like its another call to Virgin. I've removed lots of redundant coax connections to various rooms, so now have a single entry point with a single cable to the cable mode (through an attenuator). Signal levels look fine, SNR and power levels on both the upstream and downstream look fine -complete pain the backside.
Associate
I called Virgin this morning and there was an activation issue on my line apparently so they got that sorted - insisted I put my Superhub 3 back into router mode - which played havoc with my network as you can imagine (pfsense, vlans and site to site vpns), I just took the pfsense out, disabled DHCP and wireless on the superhub and used that. Interestingly I also moved the PSU for my Netgear 8 port POE switch and Superhub which were back to back with each other. Been doing a bit of gaming this evening, no lag at all - put the Superhub 3 back into modem mode and reconnected the pfsense box - still no issues. SNR/Power levels look almost identical to yesterday - something Virgin did or weird PSU issues with them being back to back - who knows? 
Just had Gig1 activated on my line yesterday and upload speed drops as low as 20Mb/s during peak hours.
The 50Mb/s upload that they advertise on their gigabit connection is already laughably low but having that drop to less than half during peak hours is completely unacceptable. Will test few more days and most likely cancel it.
The 50Mb/s upload that they advertise on their gigabit connection is already laughably low but having that drop to less than half during peak hours is completely unacceptable. Will test few more days and most likely cancel it.
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That sounds more like a fault (bad TAP in the cabinet, dodgy SNR whatever). The Gig1 service is on a new platform and is - supposedly - congestion free. I'm in a heavily congested city but when I moved to Gig1 I got 940/55 all day every day, no matter what time. It's never missed a beat since (about a year). It's worth getting them to come out and check it before you throw in the towel.
Upload on Gig1 is still using DOCSIS 3.0, so that is just as congested as the rest of the DOCSIS 3.0 network.
While I agree with the concept of giving someone a chance to resolve the issue before cancelling, the likelihood of it being fixed before the cooling off period ends are close to zero if it's a utilisation problem.
While I agree with the concept of giving someone a chance to resolve the issue before cancelling, the likelihood of it being fixed before the cooling off period ends are close to zero if it's a utilisation problem.
Most Virgin users have SH3 in modem mode with a router. I use TP Link AX20 with my SH3, works great.
Lag and spike issues can be caused by line issues as well. However SH3 is always better in modem mode with a router.
Just ordered the above router for tomorrow, hopefully I see an improvement thanks
Does it just automatically update the firmware?Just remember there has been a couple of firmware updates for the AX20,
Yes, there is a firmware check and auto update or you can do it manually.
There are two version of AX20, version 1 or 2, I have version 1.
Both firmwares can be found here https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/download/archer-ax20/v1/ , v2 here https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/download/archer-ax20/v2/
Soldato
Is this router a good upgrade over the Asus AC86U.
On the lookout to upgrade it eventually and maybe use the asus as an access point if I find the range doesn't reach some areas with whatever new router I get.
I only use Asus and TP Link routers, not had any experience with that Asus router so hard to say.
The wifi on my AX20 is very good, two floors up and I get a good wifi signal in testing ( I use wired personally) .
All true, however third party routers do have some advantages over SH3 ie they give better range on wifi then crappy SH3, he needs to find out if he has any line fault issues or just oversubscribed users in his area, however I would always recommend third party router with SH3 for Virgin users in general.
Soldato
Thanks, I might stick with it for now, as it is still fine really, and I doubt any of my devices would make use of any new tech on newer routers.
Not a clue mate. I saw it on cableforum earlier. There's a similar thread on the VM forums (https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Superhub-5/td-p/4846270) but no concrete info I'm afraid.