Replacing Netgear VMDG280 Router/Modem

Hi all!

Just joined the Virgin Media crew for the first time last week, and signed up for the 20mb cable package.

The router I got was a Virgin branded Netgear jobby, the VMDG280. I'm not going to beat around the bush, it's pretty naff. Seems to buckle under too many connections and the wireless leaves a little to be desired.

Anyway, I was just looking at what my options are really. I'm guessing flashing this router with a modified firmware isn't an option unless anyone knows different? Is there any way I could get Virgin to swap it for a standard modem so I could buy my own router?

I'm presuming you can't just buy a new router/modem (or just modem) because of the disrepancy with the Virgin-side MAC address. Or am I wrong?

Any assistance much appreciated

Edited by deleted (Tue 12-Oct-10 14:20:06)

First off, you simply wont be able to get your hands on a legit modem - any being sold on Ebay and such like are property of VM and you could end up in a spot of bother if you buy it and then VM brick / block it.

You might be able to get them to swap it for an AMBIT 256 modem if you ask them.

I'm assuming the VMDG280 is the new media hub thingy. If so, you can apparently disable the routing functions and turn it into a plain modem so you can plug your own router in but I can't find any info on that at the moment.

Edited by deleted (Tue 12-Oct-10 16:31:40)

I don't think there are many fans of this new "Hub"

As said below I think you can turn off the routing function on it and connect up your own router, it won't be advertised on the Virgin help pages but you will need to go into the advanced settings:-

http://help.virginmedia.com/system/selfservice.contr...

From there you should be able to work it out, turn off DHCP and if possible turn off NAT as well. You'll probably have to hunt around the various options but you should be able to work it out.

Not much success here, and usually find things...

Problem seems to be the dg280 designation is unique to VM.

Yeah I don't think you'll find a manual for it, like you say its a custom job.

Thanks for all the replies people. I subscribed to this topic but didn't get an e-mail so I presumed it never got a reply!

So yeah, this new router is utter [censored]. I've worked in IT for many years so like a lot of people here I've seen it all and this one definitely smacks of having a 512 byte routing table or something stupid =P

Anyway, having scoured this piece of [censored] there's no option to turn into a standalone modem. The closest is a DMZ, but then it's still using NAT so effectively a router.

Would Virgin Media issue me a cable modem if I asked them to? Is it even worth it? Has anyone else had experience of trying this with VM?

Any help mucho appreciated.

Hi all,

Looks like this thread went stale. Well, I rang VM anyway to see if they would provide me with a standard modem (allowing me to use my own router) and they were absolutely happy to provide me with one, no questions asked.

Said it would take around 3/4 working days to arrive.

Just thought I'd let anyone who's looking to do the same thing know that VM are pretty accomodating in this regard. Yay!

In reply to a post by PJBonoVox:

Hi all,

Looks like this thread went stale. Well, I rang VM anyway to see if they would provide me with a standard modem (allowing me to use my own router) and they were absolutely happy to provide me with one, no questions asked.

Said it would take around 3/4 working days to arrive.

Just thought I'd let anyone who's looking to do the same thing know that VM are pretty accomodating in this regard. Yay!

Great news! I can imagine once word gets out they might get a few more returned

Well, that's the real twist-- I asked them whether they want me to return the VMDG modem/router and they told me not to bother!

Perhaps an indicator of how bad these pieces of hardware actually are?

A plain router I understand, but not wanting that back is asking for trouble

Hi All

Been with VM for 3wks now on their 10mb service with no issues (yet!). Wanted to find out what the padlock button on the VMDG280 Hub does & couldn't find any manuals generally or on the Netgear site. However, the nearest thing is a CG3300G & the link is below.

Netgear CG3300D setup info

Hope this helps.

I've just had VM Broadband L (10meg) installed literally a few hours ago. Gutted that I can't use my own router.

Phoned them up straight away (after reading this thread) and was told that, as of the past couple of weeks, they no longer send out standalone modems and that this is the only device they will provide.

If anyone asks - and successfully receives - a modem in replacement for this Netgear piece of junk please let me know so that I can ring VM back and call them liars.

Cheers.

I'm on XL (20Mb) and VM sent me a new Ambit 256 about a month ago (to replace an old Webstar they say will be useless early next year).

Draw your own conclusions...

They aren't installing any stand-alone modems. If you're on 10Mbps or higher you get the standard hub, 20Mbps or higher you get the DOCSIS 3 Superhub.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

They aren't installing any stand-alone modems. If you're on 10Mbps or higher you get the standard hub, 20Mbps or higher you get the DOCSIS 3 Superhub.

They might well not be installing them but they *are* still (as was previously asked) "sending them out".

While I can appreciate the need to standardise on kit, aren't VM going to hang on to just one bog-standard modem for the awkward squad (like myself) who'd much prefer to specify and purchase their own routers?

In reply to a post by ceedee:

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

They aren't installing any stand-alone modems. If you're on 10Mbps or higher you get the standard hub, 20Mbps or higher you get the DOCSIS 3 Superhub.

They might well not be installing them but they *are* still (as was previously asked) "sending them out".

While I can appreciate the need to standardise on kit, aren't VM going to hang on to just one bog-standard modem for the awkward squad (like myself) who'd much prefer to specify and purchase their own routers?

No - once the firmware is done the hubs will be able to function as modem only and you can use your own router from there.

Whether you can get a standalone modem if you complain enough or not depends on stock levels. When they're gone, they're gone.

I'm very relieved that I've got this new one then!

Thanks, as always, for explaining what's going on.

In reply to a post by ceedee:

I'm very relieved that I've got this new one then!

Thanks, as always, for explaining what's going on.

No worries.

Once Netgear have shfited their rear end and gotten the firmware in place so that the hubs can be used as bridges only, turning them into extra pretty cable modems, it'll become a non-issue. Little point in Virgin holding stocks of modems once this happens as the Netgear cable modems will be just fine, it's the router part by all accounts that sucks.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

No - once the firmware is done the hubs will be able to function as modem only and you can use your own router from there.

That would suite me down to the ground! If that was the case then why can't Virgin Media just tell me that this is in the pipeline?

All I want is to disable NAT with a big tick-box that says "Disable all router facilities and function as a cable modem (well, bridge) only" and I'll be happy with that. Why isn't this already a feature? It's annoying that my £150 router is currently being used as a paperweight.

Why rush out untested hardware with countless problems and issues? Looks like I'm lucky and have received one of these boxes a few firmware revisions down the line but it's still not great.

Do you have an evidence you can point me towards to suggest that there'll be a firmware upgrade allowing you to put the VMDG280 into 'bridge only' mode please?

In this thread - http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Up-to-50Mb-broad... - a VM staff member says that they don't have a date when bridge mode support will be available.

Thanks for the link. I wonder if this firmware update will apply to the standard hub as well as the super hub?

They'll need to I suppose as the standard hub is reckoned to be a real crock.

I upgraded to 50Mbps and got the superhub. It has sufficient basic functions for me but there are no "nice" ones like SNMP, QOS, DynDNS support, DNS override, telnet interface etc. etc. I once had to reboot it for my mobile to be able to connect but that seems to have been a one off. After rebooting it I also have to reboot my VOIP ATA box for some reason (to force a renewal of the DHCP lease would be my guess). This was never needed with my old setup. The N wireless seems to be weaker with my HTC Desire (G only) than my previous router was but it still connects well enough and everything else is wired.

The biggest failing is that to avoid packet loss within the router you have to turn off the SPI firewall. I've seen reports that SYN flood detection causes problems too so I've turned that off along with UPnP which I always do as a matter of course.

Since the upgrade I've had one short (minutes) outage and seen the odd T3 reported none of which happened before to my knowledge but this is all probably just coincidence.

To turn the wireless feature off on the Netgear VMDG280,
you have to press and hold the Wifi button in for 10 seconds,
release and it and the green light will go out, making it a modem only.
Setup yr existing/new router, connect the ethernet cable from
your existing/new router to no.1 ethernet port on the Netgear VMDG280,
and turn it on.

That's what i did and haven't had a problem with connection at all.

Hope this helps

Hi Hellooboyo, Just to confirm that whilst your instructions may switch the wireless off, it does not turn the netgear into a modem. It remains a router with NAT on all 4 wired ports.

After 14 years of nynex/C&W/NTL/Virgin my old modem died (the PSU went over voltage) had an engineer come out and plug in this VMDG280 and said he would now set up Internet Explorer on my computer. I told him in no uncertain terms he was not setting up my computers and I just connected a router not a PC to the broadband. Anyway I use mostly Linux, he wouldn't have had a clue.

As we know this piece of [censored] disabled access to my security webcams, DDNS and several VPN's to universities. Simply put because it had no bridge mode, no QoS (I know this is not much use with VirginMedia variable bandwidth throttling [censored], but I throttle the 2Mb to 600K so I run less risk of hitting any throttle - ironic isn't it).

Anyway got on the phone to 150 and after being swapped 5 times between operators rejecting my problem have been promised a plain modem in a few days. I wait in anticipation that I can go back to what I called to them Internet access rather than filtered Internet. I also told them that if they didn't issue a plain modem for Internet access as I signed up for 14 years ago and was my contract, they have downgraded me because of their equipment going faulty. I also pointed out that as such I would go to trading standards/ASA and deal with the matter under the sales of goods act as they were in fact making my Internet filtered and as such should be banned from using the term ISP in all documentation without prefixing it filtered-ISP.

Needless to say I will proceed to BT line if I can't get back to Internet access without NAT filtering in the Netgear, which results in a double NAT if you connect your own router, which Netgear describe as:

"Double NAT (as the phrase is used by NETGEAR) means connecting one router directly behind another for the purpose of having multiple LANs. Double NAT may cause problems with VPN and visiting secure sites with SSL."

If Virgin were to release a bridge mode firmware then we could all be happy, but I doubt it will happen, they seem to think this is a premium service reading other threads. 600K is fine for what I need, I don't need 50Mb just to get direct Internet access.

To be clear I am not creating public web servers or using great bandwidth. I use VPN to access my home to observe IP cameras, when I recieve an autodial from the burglar alarm and since I am the only one using that and on very rare occasions, it places no real load on the network. VirginMedia are really crippling basic users and promoting abuse with 50Mb broadband. They need to really think about the fact that a single 50Mb broadband hammers 25 other contracts in bandwidth use. Or in laymans terms making the motorways only available to drivers who drive at 250mph. RIP Virginmedia.

Will post update when/if plain modem arrives.

A quick word of thanks to helloboyo for the post at 19:32:32 on Tue 04-Jan-11.

Today, 18July2011, VirginMedia replaced the failed NTL modem on my 10mbps cable service with a Netgear VMDG280. Its wi-fi was on, which I regard as a security risk. Thanks to helloboyo, I was able to switch it off.

The VirginMedia engineer was happy to plug the WAN cable from my Draytek Vigor 2900G router into one of the Netgear VMDG280's LAN ports, and everything seems to be operating as before.

Just got my new Netgear Super Hub.
If you go to the 'Super Hub Settings' which is http://192.168.0.1/superhub_settings.asp
There's a modem mode option there which removes all router functionality. You then need to connect your own router to the port closest the cable connection.

Mine is software version R36 and Hardware version 2.00

Hope ths helps someone out there!

When this thread was actually live over a year ago modem mode didn't exist on the Superhub and still isn't available on the plain old VMDG280 which this thread was about nor ever will be as it is no longer issued by VM.