Virgin Broadband and DHCP issues

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,177
After success fixing my parent's BT broadband over Christmas, I've returned home to find a problem with my Virgin Broadband! :mad:

It keeps dropping out randomly and will only reconnect if I restart the modem or if I renew the DHCP through my Apple Time Capsule.

A colleague at work said he had the same problem which eventually led to him leaving Virgin, but that doesn't really solve my problem.

Has anyone experienced this before and is there an easy fix other than getting an engineer out?
 
Ah so you are using a stand alone modem and router? If so the only thing I can suggest is to try to bypass the router and direct wire to the modem and see what happens.

It sounds like to common issue of momem and router miscommunication which is usually fixed with a new router. Maybe virgin could fit you a hub?

If you are already using a hub and no other router then if restarting the hub fixes the fault each time then you need a new hub. If it was signal related a reboot would not solve the issue.

The other thing to check is the power supply. All the hubs should be fitted with Netgear plugs. The old modem plugs will work but don't provide enough power and can cause intermittent faults.

Hope that helps
 
I had awful trouble with the Virgin 'superhub'. It had poor range and was subject to multiple drop outs. In the end I bought a Netgear RT-N56U wireless N router as I have a 30MB link (perhaps I should say that I pay Virgin for a 30MB link). I connect the 'superhub' to this and then via the router to a wired network (2 Windows PCs) and a wireless network (could be four laptops at any time - two Macbooks and two Windows). This has resulted in greatly enhanced range and no drop outs in the first two weeks.

I have two questions:

1. Could I optimise my speeds by replacing the virgin 'superhub' with a new stand alone modem which I then feed into the RT-N56U router?

2. Has anyone solved the problem of how to connect OSX Snow Leopard machines to Windows 7 machines on a wireless network? At the moment, the Macbooks will not accept my WAP2-personal password for network access.

Thanks.
 
Could I optimise my speeds by replacing the virgin 'superhub' with a new stand alone modem which I then feed into the RT-N56U router?

In a word NO!

You cant fit any other modem other than a virgin media supplied modem. You wont get the old stand alone modem anymore either from virgin since you already have one, its called modem mode
 
Thanks for the advice so far guys.

It's not a Super Hub, it's one of the old back ones.

Some digging suggests it's an Ambit E08C007 what ever that means.

I've got that plugged into my Time Capsule which provides Wi-Fi around the flat.

Usually if the connection is lost, the LED on the Time Capsule changes from green to blinking Amber. However, when I experience the loss of connection described in the OP, the LED remains green (suggesting there is still a connection) but nothing web-related will load.

Only by going into the Time Capsule settings through AirPort Utility and reseting the DHCP lease or restarting the modem (not the Time Capsule) will get me back online.

So it sounds like it's time to replace the ageing modem with a Super Hub?
 
You may as well get the Superhub... you already have another router for wireless. They'll probably give you the Superhub for free as well. Then to avoid the issues with WiFi and the Superhub, just connect your AirPort to it and use that as a wireless access point.
 
If you have to renew the DHCP on the time capsule or reboot its a routing issue. I know its an apple product so it should be bombproof but most likely cause is the router
 
Back
Top Bottom