Hub 5

Hi Folks,
I've been on the Virgin M350 package for just under 18 months now. So in 1.5 months, my current deal is expiring and price going up.

I had a brochure through the post from BT inviting me to move to BT Full Fibre 900 which comes with a WIFI 6 router.

I phoned cancellations and they were eager to match the price and put me on the 1Gig package. On querying, I've been told that the package I've been put on comes with a Hub 4 and I was therefore wondering if that is what Virgin are putting all new customers or upgrades on these days?? Has anyone been moved to Hub 5??

The reason for asking is that the BT package comes with a Wifi6 roter whereas Hub 4 is not Wifi6 and I still have time to cancel the Virgin and move to BT. BT have also told me that are willing to pay me for the remaining Virgin contract as well!

Thanks,
Imran

In reply to a post by ImranQ:

Hi Folks,
I've been on the Virgin M350 package for just under 18 months now. So in 1.5 months, my current deal is expiring and price going up.

I had a brochure through the post from BT inviting me to move to BT Full Fibre 900 which comes with a WIFI 6 router.

I phoned cancellations and they were eager to match the price and put me on the 1Gig package. On querying, I've been told that the package I've been put on comes with a Hub 4 and I was therefore wondering if that is what Virgin are putting all new customers or upgrades on these days?? Has anyone been moved to Hub 5??

The reason for asking is that the BT package comes with a Wifi6 roter whereas Hub 4 is not Wifi6 and I still have time to cancel the Virgin and move to BT. BT have also told me that are willing to pay me for the remaining Virgin contract as well!

Thanks,
Imran

The BT package does not come with a Wi-Fi 6 router. It comes with the Smart Hub 2. They are supposed to be releasing a Wi-Fi 6 router later this year.

The Hub 5 is in, what is called "soft launch" as it's not in general release as yet. They are still working on compatibility with VoIP and Pods. It is by invite only to a select set of users.
I have one and in modem mode it works fine. However there are reports on the VM Community Forums of users downgrading to earlier Hubs, 3 & 4 as the AX protocol does not seem to work with some legacy wifi devices.
For the 1GB Tier, the Hub 4 is the standard issue at present.

Many thanks for your post. I wanted to know what the real situation was amongst VM users.

Ahh OK Thanks for the clarification. When it was described to me by the sales person, I got the impression it was possibly a WiFi6 router with the Home Complete WIFI as an option on top to extend it. Perhaps I misunderstood..

In reply to a post by ImranQ:

Ahh OK Thanks for the clarification. When it was described to me by the sales person, I got the impression it was possibly a WiFi6 router with the Home Complete WIFI as an option on top to extend it. Perhaps I misunderstood..

I will admit the FTTP option with BT would have been the one I would have gone for.
The reason is because FTTP is generally more reliable, more stable, and in this case BT has better customer service than VM.
It's also arguable that its a faster service as the upload is over double of that of gig 1 with virgin. (VM is 50UP BT uses 110 UP)

In regards to the router if your using your own and just use Virgin HUB 's in modem mode then its alright however if you use those things, well they are a lot worse than competitors. The VM hubs have a combination of bad hardware and atrocious software.

I know if I was in the position you were in I would have left, it doesn't seem logical to stay on a Cable network when newer better technologies are around.

As i clicked post on my previous message Virgin Media just rebooted the HUB for no reason.

DNS failure
Site

If you want wifi6 speeds, NOTE that *most* ISPs supply a router based on what people will pay.. ie, cheap.. I am sure if an ISP says '£200 install fee' many would say no!!

I just noticed BT does a wifi 6 hub.. but a quick search shows not so good news ?? do some research.. I would rely on a proper **brand name** wifi router myself... :/

and note that a good wifi 6 router will be £150 to £200 - and some rich gamers will but £300 to £400 for one!!!!

Edited by comnut1 (Thu 05-May-22 11:36:07)

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

As i clicked post on my previous message Virgin Media just rebooted the HUB for no reason.

Why not go into the log and see why it rebooted? Normallyl the network centre don't look at or reboot individual modems, the modem does this itself when DOCSIS signal levels fall.

Maybe you have a street fault, similar to mine, which only appears in the hot summer months, and I end up with T2, T3 , T4 errors, and the T3 and T4 errors cause the modem to reboot. I use the Hub3 in modem mode because of this, and my Asus router runs a script that monitors the Hub3 and waits for it to come back. VM customer services have sent 4 engineers, but they say its "physical plant" issues, and refer to networks. Nothing gets resolved. I'm hoping for a real FTTP competitor so I can leave this 30 year old junk.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

As i clicked post on my previous message Virgin Media just rebooted the HUB for no reason.

Why not go into the log and see why it rebooted? Normallyl the network centre don't look at or reboot individual modems, the modem does this itself when DOCSIS signal levels fall.

Maybe you have a street fault, similar to mine, which only appears in the hot summer months, and I end up with T2, T3 , T4 errors, and the T3 and T4 errors cause the modem to reboot. I use the Hub3 in modem mode because of this, and my Asus router runs a script that monitors the Hub3 and waits for it to come back. VM customer services have sent 4 engineers, but they say its "physical plant" issues, and refer to networks. Nothing gets resolved. I'm hoping for a real FTTP competitor so I can leave this 30 year old junk.

Checked the logs at the time, it happened last night aswell, once it started doing a bootloop then 5 hours later it was intensional since I upgreaded to M500
It's weird, I have requested a new HUB since my HUB 3 is buggy, the ethernet ports don't work half the time, and thats in modem mode.
Should I ask for a HUB 4 or stick to 3?
Would the extra dociss channels benifit me on such a speed tier?
I personally think that a HUB 4 might help keep speeds a bit more onsistant than the HUB 3 because of docsis 3.1.

What do you think?