Patience has run out with Virgin Superhub

Associate
Joined
17 Sep 2008
Posts
815
Had Virgin broadband for about 6 weeks now. I'm pleased with the download speeds but the router is rubbish. The signal is very poor and the wireless connection is sporadic. I live in an old house with thick walls. I upgraded the wireless cards in the PCs in the house which fixed the wireless stability issues for a time. However, now I cannot connect at all over WiFi. I can see the network but it just wont connect even if I am in the same room as the router. PC says the signal is 85% but the connection just times out, same with the Macbook Pro. At the moment I'm having to sit on the floor with an ethernet cable to the router, which isn't ideal, especially as I work from home.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? The web is full of posts of people saying this router is utter crap. Could I buy a better router and use it instead if I can't fix it? Can't really afford to carry on with it because it's now affecting my ability to do my job.

Thanks in advance.

Update: Fixed the issue by turning off firewall filtering and turning down 802.11 mode 300mbps to 145mbps. Still not ideal. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days. However, my original question still stands: can I use a third party router with Virgin broadband?
 
Last edited:
Yes, you can use a third party router, but you cannot get rid of the superhub. You can turn off the wireless on the superhub (as I have done myself) and use a wireless router as wireless access point. All you need to do is connect a cable between the superhub and the new router (use the LAN ports, not the WAN) and turn off the DHCP on the new router. Then set it up as normal.
 
I did notice, going from the virgin hub to the virgin super hub, my connection strength dropped dramatically, had to spend £45 on a new wireless dongle to rectify the problem.
 
All I want is to have my 15z on my desk and work at full speed over wireless, and it's not working. The connection is sporadic on my GFs laptop and cagey on our phones.
 
ThundyCat... you do realised you deleted a COMPLETELY legit post of mine? I was discussing my router setup from SUPERHUB to my Machine for the OP, along with the fact the DIR655 router is great. Not sure why you think that is related in ANY way to malicious activities.

O well.
 
Just a tad trigger happy isnt he.

I can also recommend a DIR 655 with a notsosuperhub. I believe there has been cases where you can get virgin to give you the modem only again. I still have mine its why I have not upgraded to 100mb not risking having to use the hub.
 
My old man upgraded and got a super hub loads of trouble but one day he managed to get a decent tech on the phone who went through some settings and has been fine since

Thats all the help I can offer though
 
The hub has been perfectly fine for me, apart from the wireless. I bought an N card for my laptop, but it was never 100%. I just turned it off and went back to my wireless g, it does me!
 
Just a tad trigger happy isnt he.

I can also recommend a DIR 655 with a notsosuperhub. I believe there has been cases where you can get virgin to give you the modem only again. I still have mine its why I have not upgraded to 100mb not risking having to use the hub.

Interesting....I have not managed to get my DIR-655 to play with the SuperHub......tried chucking it in the SH's DMZ, with a fixed IP and MAC listed in SH, but just cannot get it recognised :(
So, been waiting for modem-only firmware....for some time !
 
Interesting....I have not managed to get my DIR-655 to play with the SuperHub......tried chucking it in the SH's DMZ, with a fixed IP and MAC listed in SH, but just cannot get it recognised :(
So, been waiting for modem-only firmware....for some time !

You should firstly log in to the DIR-655s inteface (192.168.0.1 IIRC), and disable DHCP on it.

You should then just get a crossover cable (unless the router support auto MDI/MDIX), put it in a LAN port on the SuperHub and the other end in a LAN port on the DIR-655 (not the WAN port), and it should just work.

Don't forget that the 2nd router's IP will have to be in the same subnet mask as the first, unless you're setting up two separate networks. (So if the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and the IP for the first router is 192.168.1.1, the network's IP of the first router is 192.168.1.0. That means, if the 2nd routers IP is 192.168.0.1, the network IP is 192.168.0.0. I can imagine that is where the problems are occurring, so give your 2nd router an IP of 192.168.1.X.



I tend to give X a reserved IP, and set it to something like 254 as there's not going to be 253 computers connecting to my home network :)
 
Last edited:
Modem mode is coming out for everyone very soon according to the Virgin Media forums, then you can disable the routing/Wireless functionality of the Superhub completely and use your own router if you wish.
 
You should firstly log in to the DIR-655s inteface (192.168.0.1 IIRC), and disable DHCP on it.

You should then just get a crossover cable (unless the router support auto MDI/MDIX), put it in a LAN port on the SuperHub and the other end in a LAN port on the DIR-655 (not the WAN port), and it should just work.

Don't forget that the 2nd router's IP will have to be in the same subnet mask as the first, unless you're setting up two separate networks. (So if the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and the IP for the first router is 192.168.1.1, the network's IP of the first router is 192.168.1.0. That means, if the 2nd routers IP is 192.168.0.1, the network IP is 192.168.0.0. I can imagine that is where the problems are occurring, so give your 2nd router an IP of 192.168.1.X.



I tend to give X a reserved IP, and set it to something like 254 as there's not going to be 253 computers connecting to my home network :)

Thanks for this, although the above is (more or less) what I have attempted before.....I had noted on t'internet that others had struggled with the DIR-655, but then seen a few herein who have succeeded.
Back to sqaure one, then - may well have another crack...

Modem mode is coming out for everyone very soon according to the Virgin Media forums, then you can disable the routing/Wireless functionality of the Superhub completely and use your own router if you wish.

Yup, read this and let's just hope that it really is close :rolleyes: :)
 
Hmm, another option might be to create two separate networks, obviously you'd have your 1st network on the SuperHub, and then you'd have your other (wireless) network on the DIR-655 and use the wireless on that. Then get the cable from a lan port on the SuperHub, connect it to the DIR-655's WAN port, and then you can either setup some static routes, or enable RIP on both of them, that way the two networks can communicate with each other, and you'll get internet access on the DIR-655.
 
Last edited:
"Modem mode" is essencially already achievable. All you have to do is plug your desired router into one of the superhubs LAN ports, change your new router to DHCP Forward (instead of Server) make sure your superhub IP is 192.168.0.1, and your 2nd router is 192.168.0.2, and you're good to go. You can plug your devices into the LAN ports on both routers and it should work no problems. Just turn off the wireless on the superhub.

Simple. No "Modem mode" update needed.
 
"Modem mode" is essencially already achievable. All you have to do is plug your desired router into one of the superhubs LAN ports, change your new router to DHCP Forward (instead of Server) make sure your superhub IP is 192.168.0.1, and your 2nd router is 192.168.0.2, and you're good to go. You can plug your devices into the LAN ports on both routers and it should work no problems. Just turn off the wireless on the superhub.

Simple. No "Modem mode" update needed.

95% of Virgins customers wont have a bloody clue on how to do that.
 
Back
Top Bottom