Virgin Media SuperHub

[dawkz123]

I AM SICK WITH THIS ROUTER.

Every 20 mins or so, the wi-fi cuts out on it. It's fine for downstairs, where I'm connected with ethernet, but upstairs on my other PC, it's incredibly annoying. Does anyone have a fix for this?
It's one of the virgin media superhubs, (the first gen)
I don't really want to have to go to the bother of having to call round an engineer.

[wasabi]

Have you tried changing your wifi channel number? Problem might be interference from another wireless point.

[deejayburnout]

They are pants for use as a wifi router.

I had one of the new gen ones and it was still bad. Wifi range of a cats fart. Totally useless.

I ended up getting a new gear wireless router and setting the Super hub in modem mode. It worked a lot better and had no drop outs or poor wifi signal.

You can try and phone VM and ask them for a new gen hub and tell them your issues and they might be nice to you.

[j1979]

I have a super hub, and it's crap but all free routers are. the superhub is a netgear under the hood.

1. lay it sideways if you need a signal upstairs. routers broadcast horizontally very well (as intended) a lot further than they do vertically.

2. avoid channels 1 and possibly 13 as they are not great because the (receiving or transmitting) can be slightly off key.
channel 1 is supposed to broadcast at 2.412GHz but many wifi cards are cheap and don't pick up a good signal that low.

3. the best fixes are low tech. routers broadcast omni-directional, you can boost the signal 50 - 80% simply by reflecting the signal to a more focused broadcast. Just use some aluminum foil to reflect the signal. if your router is downstairs and you want a better signal upstairs, try laying the router flat, with aluminum foil underneath. Test your signal, and if it improves (it will).. then consider using something more permanent like a mirror or aluminum sheet.

4. all routers from ISP's are entry level, if you want a top of the range Cisco then unfortunately you will have to cough up some Darwins!

5. use http://www.inssider.com/ (inssider) to scan other wireless networks in the area. See what channels they broadcast on and what strength the signal. this will help you choose the best channel for your router. the super hub login /IP addres for the router is 192.168.0.1 type this in the address bar of your browser. the username is admin and the password is : changeme

6. the super hub can be used in modem mode allowing you to use a 3rd party router if you wish.

[Dareos]

2. avoid channels 1 and possibly 13 as they are not great because the (receiving or transmitting) can be slightly off key.
channel 1 is supposed to broadcast at 2.412GHz but many wifi cards are cheap and don't pick up a good signal that low.

umm, I've had best results on channel 1 with the Shub, tested a couple of thousand times.. at least, so try channel 1, first.

[j1979]

umm, I've had best results on channel 1 with the Shub, tested a couple of thousand times.. at least, so try channel 1, first.

don't get me wrong, if channel 1 works great, sure try it, but if you have multiple users then you may get a wifi card in a device that is cheap and can't see channel 1.

[Kumagoro]

I have had problems with often disconnects which were down to the drivers. And don't be thinking that upgrading to newer ones is the solution.

My problem one is a real tek one and I found that the newer drivers were causing the problem and some older ones were rock solid. SO I would get hold of all the versions you can and see which work best.

[Jonatron]

They are pants for use as a wifi router.
I ended up getting a new gear wireless router and setting the Super hub in modem mode. It worked a lot better and had no drop outs or poor wifi signal.

This is the only real solution if you want stable wifi in my opinion.

[GreenPiggy]

+1 for sticking it in modem mode and connecting it to a proper router.
It's not only the wireless that is terrible, i've had far fewer network farts in general since my switch.

[Dareos]

my Draytek has stopped recognising it, need to try and get some time to troubleshoot my own gear instead of everyone elses lol