Using your own router

I believe I have read somewhere that placing the Virgin router in modem mode to enable use of your own router can be an absolute disaster. Can someone enlighten me what the issues are please.

I just simply want to VPN into a remote network connected to Virgin.

I don't know what you read, but my own experience has been that the Supehub's 1 & 2 were fine with any router I used, but the Hub 3 seems to have problems with some Asus kit.

It would lose the internet connection every half hour or so when set in modem mode whilst connected to my Asus RT N66U router. I also remember somebody else in the VM forums reporting issues using it with an Asus dongle of some kind.

Since I switched to a Netgear router I've had no issues using it in modem mode. That other person with a problem also fixed theirs by switching kit.

I use the 3 as a stand alone and it works fine - but my best experience always was putting the SH1/2 into modem mode and using something else. I used a TP-Link load balancer and it worked fantastically

I also use hub 3 in modem only mode feeding into an Archer VR900 modem Router but bypassing the modem bit. Works well and allowed me to maintain my network naming and setttings for the house network.

As others have said with Netgear kit it seems to be fine - I'm using an R7800 with the SH3 and also have just got the BT wholehome WiFi setup - works very well together.

This is interesting. I was thinking of getting an Asus router - on Amazon the reviews are good for replacing the Hub 3 so it makes me wonder when you say that the Asus sometimes have a problem with the Hub 3.
I'm looking at these Asus models: RT-AC68U, AC87U, AC86U, and AC3200.
Interestingly, the October issue of PC Pro magazine does not include any Asus routers in its comparison. The winner was the Linksys EA9500. The article does not reflect Virgin Media at all so it is hard to come to a conclusion.
The Netgear R9000 is a crazy price - over £300.
Any advice on Netgear routers specifically for Virgin Media would be very helpful. Also Linksys and TP-Link Archer.

I'm using the AC5300 and have no issues with it in pair with the Hub 3 in modem mode, other than the main problem itself, Virgin Media.

I have the tri-band Linksys EA9500 (v2 with the quadcore cpu) and it is indeed a brilliant router. Great if you've got a ton of wifi clients which you can spread out over its 3 bands.

Otherwise if you don't want to spend too much but still want a top class router, then I would highly recommend the Netgear R7800. It was 130 notes on Amazon a few days ago but price has crept to 150+ again. Well worth keeping an eye on this as Amazon regularly drop the price to around 130 notes.

Edited by deleted (Tue 04-Sep-18 14:47:23)

Using the SH3 (with latest 608 firmware) on an Asus RT-AC3200 - working very nicely, and we have many devices. Vivid 350

In case you haven't made up your mind I came to the conclusion the Hub 3 only has a problem with older Asus kit, My router was several years old (although they were very good at updating the firmware regularly) and the kit the other guy was using was also quite old.

The reason I went with the Netgear router was I had an immediate need for a stable connection and it was on sale at a decent discount in a local store.