Virgin 1Gb now available.

quokula

So after a few hiccups they got me switched over to IPV4 and I switched the hub to modem mode. About 30 minutes later I lost internet and had to reset the modem again, which made me think it may have fixed nothing.

But it's been two days since then, and there have been no more issues. I'm going to keep an eye on it, if it's solid for the next week I'll stick with it, any more issues and I'll see about cancelling.

The speed is good when it's working, for download at least. I got 920Mbps down in a speed test, along with 50Mbps up.

FrankGrimes

I'm currently on VM 240Mb Limitless broadband and Horizon TV Max. I use a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite and Unifi Access Points around the house - these are great and generally solid vs the previous dire wifi of the VM gear (mysterious 5Ghz interference issues in recent weeks aside).

We hate the Horizon TV with a passion and were looking at going with the 360 TV.Currently out of contract and would be open to committing to contract of 12mths if I knew broadband would be solid and TV would be an improvement.

But reading this thread has me worried - 4th kid just arrived and I don't have the hours I once did to drain on investigating networking issues, I need something that just works. Is 1Gb where the technology infrastructure transitions to the new (and by the sounds of this thread, not quite ready) network? i.e. if I go for 500Mb will that be more likely to be solid?

S.E.A.L.s

FrankGrimes wrote: »

I'm currently on VM 240Mb Limitless broadband and Horizon TV Max. I use a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite and Unifi Access Points around the house - these are great and generally solid vs the previous dire wifi of the VM gear (mysterious 5Ghz interference issues in recent weeks aside).

We hate the Horizon TV with a passion and were looking at going with the 360 TV.Currently out of contract and would be open to committing to contract of 12mths if I knew broadband would be solid and TV would be an improvement.

But reading this thread has me worried - 4th kid just arrived and I don't have the hours I once did to drain on investigating networking issues, I need something that just works. Is 1Gb where the technology infrastructure transitions to the new (and by the sounds of this thread, not quite ready) network? i.e. if I go for 500Mb will that be more likely to be solid?

Fellow parent of multiple animals, worked from home years in IT and have heavy usage requirements as well as on a 3rd party router in bridged mode from the Hub (IPv4) because who relies on default ISP equipment alone...

Anyway, we've been on the 500 service since inception and it's been rock solid in our area about 97% of the time as per monitoring

Also, while we don't have the TV package, everyone we know and family who had Horizon TV hated it as well, so, anything else is better

(it's worth mentioning we hate the f***ing price hikes and jig that Chorus NTL/Liberty Global-UPC/Virgin Media seem to do more frequently than other ISP's, as if we're privileged to be allowed a reliable, stable and fast service, so, should embrace the latest and greatest, but we've decided to remain on the middle tier for the time being)

bk

I've a theory (no proof) on why the 1gig service could face reliability problems.

So the 1gig service uses DOCSIS 3.1, while the lower services * use DOCSIS 3.0.

The .1 difference might not sound much, but it is actually a massive upgrade over 3.0. Calling it 3.1 was a marketing move, it really should have been 4.0 or even DOCSIS Next gen, the changes are so significant.

At 3.1 they are handling more channels, a lot more data, high QAM and OFDM. All of these can lead to far greater processing requirements, which if you now pair with an underpowered Puma processor could potentially lead to poorer reliability and issues versus the old 3.0 services.

Basically if you try and do more with an underpowered processor, you can be in for a bad time.

All just a theory on my part, but I thought worth thinking about.

* BTW I'm not sure if the 500 service is on D3.0 or D3.1. I think it is D3.0, but some 500 users have gotten the new D3.1 modems. Also eventually I'd say they will move everyone including folks on the 250/500 service to newer D3.1 modems. In order to take the full advantage of the bandwidth of D3.1, you need to transition everyone over to it.

I really hope they resolve their hardware issues before moving 250 folks to D3.1.

As a father who works from home and is in IT too, I'm sticking to the 250 service. Frankly reliability is more important IMO then headline speeds. Even heavy users will rarely see benefit from a 1gig service IMO. But unreliability are crippling for your work process for things like VPN's, ssh, video calling, etc.

ED E

bk wrote: »

I really hope they resolve their hardware issues before moving 250 folks to D3.1.

Dont see it.

They bought the PUMA6. It was trash. Then they went ahead and bought PUMA7. If they gave a rats they'd have used something based on the BCM3390 (Netgear have the CM1000, CGA4233 from technicolour, Arris TG9442).


If I had the choice between 1Gb from Virgin and 80Mb from an xDSL, I'd choose xDSL. Right now its 1G vs 35ish Mb so its not worth moving.They're in bed with the PUMA7 for now, Ireland gets very infrequent hw updates, HUB4 will be the only option until 2024.

Roll on IFN.

kave2

Just rang VM. Upgraded to 500mbit package from 250mbit. 9 months half price. Great deal and it works already. Getting 500mbit on my phone.

CoBo55

kave2 wrote: »

Just rang VM. Upgraded to 500mbit package from 250mbit. 9 months half price. Great deal and it works already. Getting 500mbit on my phone.

How much?

kave2

CoBo55 wrote: »

How much?

9x35e, 3x70e

CoBo55

kave2 wrote: »

9x35e, 3x70e

BB only? Sorry I should have asked you earlier. I'm on 6 months half price 360 BB and phone. She couldn't remove the phone from the package the system wouldn't let her. Had she removed the phone I would have bumped up to 500.

kave2

CoBo55 wrote: »

BB only? Sorry I should have asked you earlier. I'm on 6 months half price 360 BB and phone. She couldn't remove the phone from the package the system wouldn't let her. Had she removed the phone I would have bumped up to 500.

I think phone is included however I don't think I ever used it. I was on 240 broadband before.

kave2

Does the 500mbit BB comes with different router? I got the white one with 240mbit. I'm getting 500mbit speeds with white one too. Any reason to ask for it?
I'm using my own router Asus router.

CoBo55

kave2 wrote: »

Does the 500mbit BB comes with different router? I got the white one with 240mbit. I'm getting 500mbit speeds with white one too. Any reason to ask for it?
I'm using my own router Asus router.

Stay with what you have, if it ain't broke...

65535

kave2 wrote: »

Does the 500mbit BB comes with different router? I got the white one with 240mbit. I'm getting 500mbit speeds with white one too. Any reason to ask for it?
I'm using my own router Asus router.

You keep the white one for up to 500
If you go for the 1 Gig it's a black vertical one.

KOR101

kave2 wrote: »

Just rang VM. Upgraded to 500mbit package from 250mbit. 9 months half price. Great deal and it works already. Getting 500mbit on my phone.

Which phone number?

kave2

KOR101 wrote: »

Which phone number?

1980 and sales department. I was actually surprised how quickly it went. I just ask for the deal and she said ok.

quokula

After being reliable for a few weeks since I switched to IPV4 / modem mode, it started acting up again this weekend. I think I had to restart the hub 4 or 5 times over two days. I think it might be down to usage patterns as I'd a few big downloads on the go at the time.

Hopefully it will be stable again now that they've finished. It's still not acceptable though, surely if this is common among their 1GB customers they will have to change the hardware they're using?

allanroche

quokula wrote: »

After being reliable for a few weeks since I switched to IPV4 / modem mode, it started acting up again this weekend. I think I had to restart the hub 4 or 5 times over two days. I think it might be down to usage patterns as I'd a few big downloads on the go at the time.

Hopefully it will be stable again now that they've finished. It's still not acceptable though, surely if this is common among their 1GB customers they will have to change the hardware they're using?

I have started the habit of restarting the Hub every morning when I get up so by the time I log in to WFH it's finished it's reboot cycle. I hate it and find it painful that I'm paying so much to have to live with a Hub on life support but it's the only way to keep it rolling and it works brilliantly for the few hours after that.


That said as soon as any other connection is available in my area I'll be gone.

CoBo55

quokula wrote: »

After being reliable for a few weeks since I switched to IPV4 / modem mode, it started acting up again this weekend. I think I had to restart the hub 4 or 5 times over two days. I think it might be down to usage patterns as I'd a few big downloads on the go at the time.

Hopefully it will be stable again now that they've finished. It's still not acceptable though, surely if this is common among their 1GB customers they will have to change the hardware they're using?

Nah, feck that for a caper I'd be rolling back to 500 with the old modem. I'm on 360 since 2016 with the VM modem in modem mode and never had to reboot it. That carry on is unacceptable this day and age.

CoBo55

allanroche wrote: »

I have started the habit of restarting the Hub every morning when I get up so by the time I log in to WFH it's finished it's reboot cycle. I hate it and find it painful that I'm paying so much to have to live with a Hub on life support but it's the only way to keep it rolling and it works brilliantly for the few hours after that.


That said as soon as any other connection is available in my area I'll be gone.

Why don't you buy a cheap socket timer and get it to reboot in the small hours. It's dreadful to have to do that but at least you know it's ready to go when you are.

allanroche

CoBo55 wrote: »

Why don't you buy a cheap socket timer and get it to reboot in the small hours. It's dreadful to have to do that but at least you know it's ready to go when you are.

This is actually genius, I never thought of that. Thank you!

CoBo55

allanroche wrote: »

This is actually genius, I never thought of that. Thank you!

No bother. I know it's kind of a curing the symptoms and not the disease approach but sometimes you'll do anything for an easy life.

PowerHouseDan

Little update here I made a new thread yesterday without going through this. I had Vm tech out today and judging by his reaction he knows about the connection issues dropping. He said that a new firmware is ready to be pushed but didn’t know when. He is going to try and find out or even better push it out to my modem to test. I don’t have a 3rd party router to put into modem mode unfortunately so that isent an option at the moment. So pretty much confirmed it’s a firmware issue. He was bang on and didn’t try to b*llsh*t me. Will post here when he calls me.

schmoo2k

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

Little update here I made a new thread yesterday without going through this. I had Vm tech out today and judging by his reaction he knows about the connection issues dropping. He said that a new firmware is ready to be pushed but didn’t know when. He is going to try and find out or even better push it out to my modem to test. I don’t have a 3rd party router to put into modem mode unfortunately so that isent an option at the moment. So pretty much confirmed it’s a firmware issue. He was bang on and didn’t try to b*llsh*t me. Will post here when he calls me.

Dubious I would expect any firmware drop to first happen with UPC before Virgin Media gets to rebrand it.

Useful link: https://community.upc.ch/t5/Connect-Box/bd-p/ConnectBoxEN

PowerHouseDan

So I’ve been ghosted with VM in relation to
This. Any suggestion on a router to use to put the Vm modem in dumb mode?

CoBo55

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

So I’ve been ghosted with VM in relation to
This. Any suggestion on a router to use to put the Vm modem in dumb mode?

I'm delighted with my Asus RT 86. I had the Tplink archer C8 before that but I think the Asus is better, the internal torrent client is so handy.

LoGiE

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

So I’ve been ghosted with VM in relation to
This. Any suggestion on a router to use to put the Vm modem in dumb mode?

As I mentioned in the early days of this thread, I'm using the Netgear Orbi. I've had no issues with the 1Gb package and have been using the VM supplied kit in modem mode for years. Hopefully putting the Hub into modem mode resolves the issue you're having.

schmoo2k

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

So I’ve been ghosted with VM in relation to
This. Any suggestion on a router to use to put the Vm modem in dumb mode?

FWIW I use an older box: https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/linksys_wrt1900ac (v2) - with Open WRT installed.

deravarra

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

So I’ve been ghosted with VM in relation to
This. Any suggestion on a router to use to put the Vm modem in dumb mode?

I have a netgear rbk53s which gives me a full 500mb wirelessly to my PC on a 500mb package. I would recommend it for anyone

CoBo55

I'm getting the full 360 wirelessly with the Asus btw.

bdmc5

deravarra wrote: »

I have a netgear rbk53s which gives me a full 500mb wirelessly to my PC on a 500mb package. I would recommend it for anyone

I’m looking an new RBK353 actually so that’s great to hear.

Im on the 1GB package So have the faster Virgin box. Just abit concerned about getting the virgin box to sync with with Orbi. Would you know anywhere on here where the steps are outlined or was it was a very simple process ?