Guide - Getting the most out of your high speed Virgin Media (UPC) 240mb/s service

CoBo55 · 24-09-2020 7:56pm

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Yeah, I did a call last week and was offered €84. I might give it one more shot before I switch. If I go Sky, I guess I'll be able to switch to Freeview /Saorview at the end of their contract period, and will never go back to Virgin - more than 25 years as loyal customer of Cablelink/NTL/UPC down the drain, because they won't give me the same deal that they'll give a new customer.

Unless you make absolutely sure you get a hybrid lnb you won't have the option of Freeview if you cancel after 12 months. I had sky BB back in the old days of ADSL and it was dreadful, the only provider I ever had trouble with, to their credit they let me move to another provider without penalty after several attempts to sort it.

garo · 24-09-2020 8:18pm

I am coming off the Virgin TV+broadband (500Mbps)+phone bundle. I paid 52 (53.75) for 6 months and 84(87.5) for 6. They increased prices midway. I am leaving because I am not a fan on the Virgin TV box and service. I will continue to get broadband with VM paying 52 for 9 months and 67 for 3.

For TV, I am switching back to Sky paying 30 for basic + netflix. The installer is coming tomorrow and changing the dish and I made sure to let him know I need a hybrid LNB. It is not hassle for them as long as you let them know in advance.

Going back to the topic and your VM speeds, as someone here suggested, connect a laptop to the Hub via ethernet and then do a speedtest. That will tell you what your connection is truly capable of. The 40-50 you are seeing could be because of your device or the signal getting weaker from your hub to your device due to walls etc. You would hope that the Sky service would give you similar speed. Of course you have 14 days to cancel Sky if you find your speed is much worse.

PS: @TheDoc I was cleaning out my PMs and saw that we did business in 2009! Pre adverts.ie days.

CoBo55 · 25-09-2020 12:07am

garo wrote: »

I am coming off the Virgin TV+broadband (500Mbps)+phone bundle. I paid 52 (53.75) for 6 months and 84(87.5) for 6. They increased prices midway. I am leaving because I am not a fan on the Virgin TV box and service. I will continue to get broadband with VM paying 52 for 9 months and 67 for 3.

For TV, I am switching back to Sky paying 30 for basic + netflix. The installer is coming tomorrow and changing the dish and I made sure to let him know I need a hybrid LNB. It is not hassle for them as long as you let them know in advance.

Going back to the topic and your VM speeds, as someone here suggested, connect a laptop to the Hub via ethernet and then do a speedtest. That will tell you what your connection is truly capable of. The 40-50 you are seeing could be because of your device or the signal getting weaker from your hub to your device due to walls etc. You would hope that the Sky service would give you similar speed. Of course you have 14 days to cancel Sky if you find your speed is much worse.

PS: @TheDoc I was cleaning out my PMs and saw that we did business in 2009! Pre adverts.ie days.

The new 360 TV box is supposed to be very good.

garo · 25-09-2020 11:25am

Thanks. Got the Sky Q box delivered today so will be waiting a year to try out the 360. Hope to have more first hand accounts by then. But I got a hybrid LNB today so I might just make the plunge to FTV.

TheDoc · 26-09-2020 12:08pm

garo wrote: »

PS: @TheDoc I was cleaning out my PMs and saw that we did business in 2009! Pre adverts.ie days.

Was I buying or selling

garo · 26-09-2020 6:27pm

I think selling. An Athlon 3000 bundle ring a bell?

TheDoc · 26-09-2020 7:14pm

garo wrote: »

I think selling. An Athlon 3000 bundle ring a bell?

Hah vaguely

Kema · 27-09-2020 5:36pm

hey all
i have Virgins 250mb in my apartment and would like to buy a 3rd party router to replace the router that was giving to me with Virgin as i do alot of Streaming/Torrents/Gaming

is there a go to router on the market for this sort of thing

garo · 27-09-2020 9:16pm

Why do you want to replace the router? What specifically is wrong with the Virgin router? Also note it is hard to replace a cable router. Most people put the Virgin hub in bridge mode and add a router to the end so the virgin hub just provides the internet connection and your own router does everything else.

CoBo55 · 29-09-2020 3:45pm

branners69 wrote: »

Would you not look into a mesh system. Very reasonably priced and were not really an option when this thread started 5 years ago?

I got this after, set it up yesterday evening, myself and the family are delighted with it. https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/networking/network-routers-and-switches/routers/asus-rt-ac86u-wifi-cable-fibre-router-ac-2900-dual-band-10172009-pdt.html

S.E.A.L.s · 29-09-2020 10:24pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

I got this after, set it up yesterday evening, myself and the family are delighted with it. https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/networking/network-routers-and-switches/routers/asus-rt-ac86u-wifi-cable-fibre-router-ac-2900-dual-band-10172009-pdt.html

Those AC86u's are deadly, I've also setup the ASUS AC87u, AX88u, and DSL-AC68u all with custom Merlin firmware running for years at multiple locations, with multiple ISP's (including NTL/UPC/Virgin) to date for friends and family.

Cannot recommend the mid to high end ASUS routers enough

Check out smallnetbuilder (snb) forums if you want to custom

CoBo55 · 30-09-2020 11:48am

S.E.A.L.s wrote: »

Those AC86u's are deadly, I've also setup the ASUS AC87u, AX88u, and DSL-AC68u all with custom Merlin firmware running for years at multiple locations, with multiple ISP's (including NTL/UPC/Virgin) to date for friends and family.

Cannot recommend the mid to high end ASUS routers enough

Check out smallnetbuilder (snb) forums if you want to custom

Noo, don't put the temptation of customisation before me:D:D. It's a brilliant router, I love that you can turn off the lights and it just sits there and does its thing, and I have my USB back which I really missed.

S.E.A.L.s · 30-09-2020 8:47pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

Noo, don't put the temptation of customisation before me:D:D. It's a brilliant router, I love that you can turn off the lights and it just sits there and does its thing, and I have my USB back which I really missed.

But router level ad blocking (Diversion) that actually stops 95% of ads for every device on the network, an enterprise level customisable firewall with controls (SkyNet, actual name, come on geezer!) and so much more via the very easy to deploy amtm package on snb

Wait, there's more!!...

TheDoc · 06-10-2020 2:34pm

Meant to check this, while troubleshooting my network I noticed my Virgin Hub is still in router mode. I had problems tail end of last year and had to reset my network to scratch and start again, and while the WiFi is disabled on the Hub, I guess I left router mode enabled.

Should I look to turn this over again to Modem mode?

I'm onto their tech support and they are saying "Does the customer know the router should be reset once a week to ensure they clear congestion and get a new IP lease" ....Sorry what?

garo · 06-10-2020 4:10pm

Yes if you have another router connected to the hub.

TheDoc · 06-10-2020 5:03pm

garo wrote: »

Yes if you have another router connected to the hub.

Yeh I do. Remember previously though moving to modem only mode absolutely borked the network and I had to do a separate(not related to last time out) factory reset on everything

Might give it a whirl shortly. Was trying to play a game there and was just shockingly laggy

TheDoc · 06-10-2020 6:10pm

Ok now I remember why I didn’t turn on modem mode. WiFi down on the house and Hub admin panel not responding. Ugh

garo · 06-10-2020 7:01pm

Hub URL changes when you enter modem mode. 192.168.100.1 IIRC.

TheDoc · 06-10-2020 7:08pm

Ok so got it sorted. When enabling modem mode my WAN needed to be DHCP protocol. Immediately picked up info and started working.

I had it set on static from the original post on this thread

CoBo55 · 06-10-2020 11:03pm

TheDoc wrote: »

Ok so got it sorted. When enabling modem mode my WAN needed to be DHCP protocol. Immediately picked up info and started working.

I had it set on static from the original post on this thread

Don't forget the address of the VM hub changes to 192.168.100.1 when its in modem mode.

Romero · 12-10-2020 11:31am

Live in Lucan area and for the last couple of weeks I've only been getting at most 88Mbps download, I've been using the 360 hub in bridge mode but even doing a full factory reset and hardwired into the hub the above is what I get. I'm wondering is their 1GB service hitting the bandwidth on the 240Mb package? I have an engineer due out on Friday although I think everything will check out ok, I don't mind paying for anything over 160Mbps but don't think I should be paying full wack for a third of the speed I'm paying for.
Btw this is the max speed I get morning evening 2am so it doesn't look like network congestion.

TheDoc · 18-10-2020 12:55am

This is what I'm seeing for ten days now, nothing but red

Going to give them a call next week to sort this out, internet is genuinely in bits. Seeing the 1GB thread, I wonder have Virgin gone and milled themselves trying to do 1GB.

Think I'm still in 14 day cooling period and for the first time in probably 15 years toying with the idea of changing, this is shcoking

CoBo55 · 18-10-2020 11:04am

TheDoc wrote: »

This is what I'm seeing for ten days now, nothing but red

Going to give them a call next week to sort this out, internet is genuinely in bits. Seeing the 1GB thread, I wonder have Virgin gone and milled themselves trying to do 1GB.

Think I'm still in 14 day cooling period and for the first time in probably 15 years toying with the idea of changing, this is shcoking

Is that the 1 Gig service?

TheDoc · 18-10-2020 11:20am

CoBo55 wrote: »

Is that the 1 Gig service?

No 500mb, resigned up to it last week as too many issues with the 1GB that I can see.

Network specialist in my department in work got it in this week(after a few weeks waiting) and he's not overly impressed with it at all. He'll be a good indicator for me about when its working and what the problems are.

We deal with Virgin for business stuff, so he's going to try sound out the account manager on it

ED E · 18-10-2020 5:10pm

TheDoc wrote: »

This is what I'm seeing for ten days now, nothing but red

Going to give them a call next week to sort this out, internet is genuinely in bits. Seeing the 1GB thread, I wonder have Virgin gone and milled themselves trying to do 1GB.

Think I'm still in 14 day cooling period and for the first time in probably 15 years toying with the idea of changing, this is shcoking

That just means you're not responding so the BQM is set wrong (old IP) or you're no longer configured to respond to ICMP.

TheDoc · 18-10-2020 5:23pm

ED E wrote: »

That just means you're not responding so the BQM is set wrong (old IP) or you're no longer configured to respond to ICMP.

Not with you on those abbreviations haha. I’ve been half concerned it was me recently setting their router into modem mode.

Any of this something I can resolve or troubleshoot or need them to sort ?

ED E · 19-10-2020 7:20pm

1. Check your IP is right on the Think BB site
2. Enable ICMP on whatever router you're briding too. Its ignoring the pings thus 100% red.

TheDoc · 28-10-2020 1:50pm

Took a while (nearly 10 days to speak to someone) but worth the wait. One of the most helpful technical support people I've met. did real meaningful troubleshooting and collated good information from me. Confirmed there appears to be an issue with a downstream channel on my router, so organising to dispatch and engineer to resolve.

Fingers crossed this should be my problems sorted.

Damien360 · 28-10-2020 11:45pm

TheDoc wrote: »

Took a while (nearly 10 days to speak to someone) but worth the wait. One of the most helpful technical support people I've met. did real meaningful troubleshooting and collated good information from me. Confirmed there appears to be an issue with a downstream channel on my router, so organising to dispatch and engineer to resolve.

Fingers crossed this should be my problems sorted.

Just to put a fudge on this. Had a similar helpful technician send out an engineer for an issue. He couldn't find anything and left. We were sent a bill for his time as they found nothing. After a few irate phone calls, a helpful technican changed something on the back end (their words), one reboot later and the problem was resolved. I was getting constant reboots every 2 hours. Engineer had stayed for 20 minutes. Wife dealt with him. I'm on 360 package.

TheDoc · 29-10-2020 8:03pm

Damien360 wrote: »

Just to put a fudge on this. Had a similar helpful technician send out an engineer for an issue. He couldn't find anything and left. We were sent a bill for his time as they found nothing. After a few irate phone calls, a helpful technican changed something on the back end (their words), one reboot later and the problem was resolved. I was getting constant reboots every 2 hours. Engineer had stayed for 20 minutes. Wife dealt with him. I'm on 360 package.

Well I won’t be taking any bill for an engineer that’s for sure. Granted I’ve never needed an engineer, **** that. I’d consider it part of their support agreement to me as a customer and even if he doesn’t find something it rules out issues.

CoBo55 · 30-10-2020 12:26am

TheDoc wrote: »

Well I won’t be taking any bill for an engineer that’s for sure. Granted I’ve never needed an engineer, **** that. I’d consider it part of their support agreement to me as a customer and even if he doesn’t find something it rules out issues.

Some of those "engineers" couldn't find the nose on their face.

S.E.A.L.s · 30-10-2020 3:53pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

Some of those "engineers" couldn't find the nose on their face.

Being an Engineer myself, I can confirm this is true for "some" of us

Renjit · 31-10-2020 5:54pm

Do I need to cancel direct debit myself when terminating Virgin Media broadband contract? Thanks

TheDoc · 04-11-2020 12:06pm

So a very helpful engineer was out today.

Identified the frequency on the Downstream channel was too low, meaning the upstream was too high (or something along those lines) so he fitted something to the cable that goes into the router. Said it will balance the frequencies.

Then refit the box on the wall, which was hanging since I first moved into the house.

Also then said there does appear to be an issue with upload speeds, but looks to be coming from outside the house. So said another set of engineers will be out to the road hopefully tomorrow maybe Friday, and they'll sort that part out.

Looking at that thinkbroadband graph, not a spike since he left. So fingers crossed, I'm all sorted

*EDIT* Think I spoke to soon

*EDIT 2* Contacted technical support as the line has even shot up into the thousands for ms latency, but maybe I heard the engineer wrong or he didn't explain it to me, but according to his note he booked another team to come out tomorrow who are actually going to deal with my line specifically. could have sworn he said on the road, but fair enough, atleast things are organised and hopefully get sorted.

TheDoc · 06-11-2020 7:45pm

Absolutely spoke too son.

Two days off work for engineer visited. Four scheduled time slots. Six phone calls to support, 8 WhatsApp messages.

Second engineer no show over two days.

Formal complaint raised today. To say I’m fuming is an understatement

TheDoc · 13-11-2020 5:01pm

WEll after 5 promised scheduled visits that didnt materialise had someone out yesterday. Line technician. Nice guy, not entirely sure if he did anything, but he said there is something on the road behind he needs to get to and a neighbour keeps blocking it with their van.

Said he'll hopefully get to it in the coming days. But I'm now into god knows how long with my line just being rubbish. Constant ping and lag spikes. New CoD out and so frustrating playing it just having this freeze and lag all the time

Hurrache · 19-11-2020 4:12pm

What are the routers like that Virgin are supplying these days for their non 1Gb products? With Sky Q I've never needed to set their router to modem mode and use my Archer, will I need to find it, and my powerlink plugs, again if I were to rejoin?

TheDoc · 22-11-2020 3:23pm

TheDoc wrote: »

WEll after 5 promised scheduled visits that didnt materialise had someone out yesterday. Line technician. Nice guy, not entirely sure if he did anything, but he said there is something on the road behind he needs to get to and a neighbour keeps blocking it with their van.

Said he'll hopefully get to it in the coming days. But I'm now into god knows how long with my line just being rubbish. Constant ping and lag spikes. New CoD out and so frustrating playing it just having this freeze and lag all the time

So latest update in my saga.

Was advised Friday to disconnect my own router and use theirs for the weekend so they can collect a period of stats and information. Promised a phonecall back Monday.

The latency I'm feeling in games is ridiculous. And then on top I've lost near 200+mbps using theirs as opposed to mine on the main gaming PC.

To add insult to injury, was advised their complaints department closed my case without any contact? Agent on phone raised another and said I should be contacted shortly.

This is all turning into a bit of a nightmare to be frank. New WoW expansion next week, literally couldn't have a worse time for my internet to **** the bed

TheDoc · 22-11-2020 3:24pm

Hurrache wrote: »

What are the routers like that Virgin are supplying these days for their non 1Gb products? With Sky Q I've never needed to set their router to modem mode and use my Archer, will I need to find it, and my powerlink plugs, again if I were to rejoin?

I'm back using theirs after years on my Archer.

Lost about 200+mbps on WiFi. And suffering this crazy packet loss but I'm sure that is just an issue with my line.

raxy · 23-11-2020 10:58am

We had the virgin 240MB broadband before & cancelled it a few months ago. We've been using a three sim in a TP Link MR600 router for the last few months but its pretty crap so going back to virgin, offers are better now anyway.
One of the reasons we cancelled is because of crap wifi, zoom calls constantly having problems, which didn't happen as much with the three sim. If I get the 250MB broadband it will come with the old router so I was wondering if I can use the TP link router I have for wifi instead of the virgin router? If not I'm thinking of getting the 500MB deal to get the better router.

The only other option we would have for internet where we are is Eir/vodafone but that will only give me about 10 mbs. Would we be crazy to get that instead (wouldn't go back to eir again but 1 of the other suppliers)? We would only be using it for netflix etc, no gaming or anything too demanding.

CoBo55 · 23-11-2020 2:08pm

raxy wrote: »

We had the virgin 240MB broadband before & cancelled it a few months ago. We've been using a three sim in a TP Link MR600 router for the last few months but its pretty crap so going back to virgin, offers are better now anyway.
One of the reasons we cancelled is because of crap wifi, zoom calls constantly having problems, which didn't happen as much with the three sim. If I get the 250MB broadband it will come with the old router so I was wondering if I can use the TP link router I have for wifi instead of the virgin router? If not I'm thinking of getting the 500MB deal to get the better router.

The only other option we would have for internet where we are is Eir/vodafone but that will only give me about 10 mbs. Would we be crazy to get that instead (wouldn't go back to eir again but 1 of the other suppliers)? We would only be using it for netflix etc, no gaming or anything too demanding.

You won't get the new router with the 500 meg package I don't think the new 1 gig service is up to a lot tbh. I googled your SIM router but unfortunately it doesn't have a wan port to connect to the VM hub. I used a Tplink archer C8 for 3 years with the hub in modem mode until it went belly up. I'm using an Asus RT 86 now and it blows the archer out of the water. It's definitely worth the money and the service is rock solid, I'm on 360 BB and phone just starting a half price for 6 months deal.

raxy · 23-11-2020 2:19pm

CoBo55 wrote: »

You won't get the new router with the 500 meg package I don't think the new 1 gig service is up to a lot tbh. I googled your SIM router but unfortunately it doesn't have a wan port to connect to the VM hub. I used a Tplink archer C8 for 3 years with the hub in modem mode until it went belly up. I'm using an Asus RT 86 now and it blows the archer out of the water. It's definitely worth the money and the service is rock solid, I'm on 360 BB and phone just starting a half price for 6 months deal.

Their website shows the new router with the 500MB package, maybe a mistake.
The MR600 does have a WAN port, its 1 of the reasons I picked it thinking I would be able to use it with fixed broadband as well as mobile.
I might give the 250MB deal a go & if my router doesn't work I'll get the 1 you mentioned.
Thanks.

CoBo55 · 23-11-2020 2:27pm

raxy wrote: »

Their website shows the new router with the 500MB package, maybe a mistake.
The MR600 does have a WAN port, its 1 of the reasons I picked it thinking I would be able to use it with fixed broadband as well as mobile.
I might give the 250MB deal a go & if my router doesn't work I'll get the 1 you mentioned.
Thanks.

That would be perfect. The one that turned up in my search didn't have a dedicated wan port, can you change one of the ethernet ports? I'm on the phone atm I'll post a link to the Asus just in case you need to buy it.

30-11-2020 2:42pm

Hello can someone help me there I have 500mb virgin media internet and my speed lees dropping.

When I am downloading rarely I get 50mb a second the full speed but mostly nor I only get between 20mb - 25mb on my internet 5ghz would I be best to try an Ethernet connection instead?

Techole USB 3.0 Hub Aluminum USB Ethernet Adapter Splitter with RJ45 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Network LAN Port - 3 Ports USB 3.0 HUB -Type C Adapter for Windows 7/8/10, Linux,Mac,ChromeBook,PC etc https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0792S3SMB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabt1_dlC_wzpXFb9CNWCNA?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Would this work for Amazon and now I’m just confused about cat cables which one I need I have 50b internet but I’d like something that supports up to 1 gigabit if I upgrade in the future.

Hurrache · 30-11-2020 3:04pm

How far away are you from your router? It may be well down to distance or the device you're using.

30-11-2020 6:41pm

Hurrache wrote: »

How far away are you from your router? It may be well down to distance or the device you're using.

I’m in the sitting room right next to the box

Hurrache · 30-11-2020 8:30pm

And what do you get via ethernet?

01-12-2020 2:46am

Hurrache wrote: »

And what do you get visa ethernet?

get 50mb a second the full speed but mostly nor I only get between 20mb - 25mb

garo · 01-12-2020 8:35am

If you have a 500Mbps connection 50 isn’t the full speed.

S.E.A.L.s · 01-12-2020 10:48pm

garo wrote: »

If you have a 500Mbps connection 50 isn’t the full speed.

OP means actual download speed of the data which is always 1/10 of the connection speed, so, they are getting around 500 as expected.

Guide - Getting the most out of your high speed Virgin Media (UPC) 240mb/s service

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