Virgin Superhub + router

IndexRated · 12 May 2012 at 09:20

I've had a WRT54G for years, and seems like it'll still be useful to me.

I'm having the Superhub installed some-time today, I trust my routers firewall/wireless routing more than Virgin's (S)hub.

Is firmware required (All posts seem to suggest DD-WRT or tomato firmware to get it to work or can I just bang the hub into modem mode and use the router as I am doing now with the ancient ambit NTL modem, current setup is perfect.

I'm not sure the firmware effort is worth the rewards, my android phone is the only device that I use wireless for and that isn't used for anything extensive.

Dist · 12 May 2012 at 09:43

If you want to keep using your WRT54G you can, just sett he superhub to modem mode and connect the router to the correct port on the superhub, no need to play with any firmware. You can put dd-wrt on the WRT54G if you like, but not all users will make use of the features available.

Also keep in mind, the WRT54G is getting old and it's WAN-LAN throughput is limited, if you are on 60Mb or higher then the WRT54G will act as a bottleneck if used as a router.

djg85 · 12 May 2012 at 09:48

Unless you are needing any advanced features the defaults on the Superhub should be fine. If you want to use your own router then popping the Superhub into modem mode will work. Only one LAN port on the Superhub will remain active and you should connect your WRT54G to this port (no need for any custom firmware to achieve this). I'm planning on doing something similar as I need static routing which the Superhub does not offer. I've used tomato before which was great but there seems to be a lot of talk about DD-WTR and the features are impressive.

I currently have the Superhub setup as its default settings (router) and have a netgear plugged in at the other end of the house used as an access point for improved wireless. Everything is currenty on default firmware and works fine.

Beansprout · 12 May 2012 at 09:49

I've just got the Asus RT-N56U and before, with the Superhub I got maybe a 5mbit connection up in the bedroom but now I can get 40mbit. This is the wifi connection sync speed of course but it's a lot better than what it was.

gigeorge · 12 May 2012 at 09:50

Bang it into modem mode and buy a new, proper router.

IndexRated · 12 May 2012 at 10:06

Speed increase will only be going up to 30Mbit (hopefully I might catch the double speed increase to 60Mbit in the Summer, and sounds like the WRT54G will have run it's course by then.)

All desktops are wired, speed isn't an issue for my phone. I'm just fretting around the range.

Thanks for the information. Knowing I can do the basic way if I need to as a stop-gap is great, and then I'll get around to researching it up proper.

I've heard good things about the Asus too from the searches I've done on the hub.

Dist · 12 May 2012 at 10:26

If it is just wifi coverage that is the issue (which superhub is rubbish at) then you can just use the WRT54G as an access point, and maybe move it into an area of the house that has poor reception and just run a wire from it to the superhub(which is in router mode, not modem mode).

Diddyman · 13 May 2012 at 22:22

Will keep it short..

Superhub in normal mode utter pants, but in modem mode with WRT54G great, but the WAN side of the WRT54G is limted to just over 30mbit/sec, so when I went to 60mbit/sec it was maxing out the WRT54G.

Got a ASUS RT-N56U and put this into my Superhub in modem mode and all great !

Also kept my WRT54G and connected this to the ASUS RT-N56U so I still could keep all the Tomato/DD-WRT features on the existing devices connecting wirelessly.

No superhub crashes/reset and no issues with either router !

Up time about 30+ days on everything without a hitch !

Diddy