I'm a Virgin Get Me Out Of Here.....

[jamesyboyjim]

I've had virmin 100mb for a while now and it's been great, I too have a superhub and its rebooted itself a few times but its been fine otherwise, it has been running in modem mode hidden away and as a router has been replaced with http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002YETVTQ/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1365169685&sr=8-29&pi=SL75

Which is flashable with ddwrt (it's what I've done)

That way the superhub can be hidden away somewhere and you can wallmount the router.

I'm sure you'll find it cheaper elsewhere, pretty sure I only paid 25 quid for mine

 

[Manse]

i got a superhub coming Tuesday as well, but by courier, they wanted £45 just to send it me but got it free with a lovely Scottish lass on phone, i'm not sending the router back because ive heard so many problems with the SH but my moms had hers about 6months without a hitch.
thinking about running a cat 5 cable up stairs to the older dlink router and having it to extend wireless/wired upstairs.

 

[Exos]

I hope mine comes free with a lovely Scottish lass.

I assume the engineer will bring it with him then given mine isn't being couriered.

 

[CoolHandLuke]

Scottish accent is fine on a lady like, I would have kept her talking for ages :SSEXY:

 

[Exos]

So more digging today, and I think I have a solution to my "cosmetic" woes.

I can get a DOCSIS 3.0 modem for anything between £15 and £40 which is smaller than the SH and wall mountable. I can then get something like above or another DD-WRT router such as the Buffalo Airstation or TP Link.

Ok it is still two devices, but it's still a lot neater and manageable.

 

[oneman]

So more digging today, and I think I have a solution to my "cosmetic" woes.

I can get a DOCSIS 3.0 modem for anything between £15 and £40 which is smaller than the SH and wall mountable. I can then get something like above or another DD-WRT router such as the Buffalo Airstation or TP Link.

Ok it is still two devices, but it's still a lot neater and manageable.

AFAIK, they won't activate any modem which they don't supply.

 

[Exos]

AFAIK, they won't activate any modem which they don't supply.

Thanks. Just saw that too on their forum. Stupid really as all they have to do is meet the DOCSIS standard. You supply the mac address and that's it.

 

[oneman]

Thanks. Just saw that too on their forum. Stupid really as all they have to do is meet the DOCSIS standard. You supply the mac address and that's it.

If it is one they supplied like the black oval one that I have, it runs at 120mb fine. You could say that it was left there by somebody else and try blagging it. But if it a non-VM one then its unlikely as they install a custom firmware when it boots up I think.

 

[jamesyboyjim]

Could you even just put a small shelve up (a corner shelf maybe?) if you really want the SH off the ground, IMO it isnt a bad looking bit of kit and wont give you any problems in modem mode, I think (hope) you'll be pleasantly surprised mate

But yeah, the engineer will have one in his van, ask him for a wireless usb dongle aswell as they have them in there aswell and wasnt going to give me one until I asked.

 

[Exos]

Could you even just put a small shelve up (a corner shelf maybe?) if you really want the SH off the ground, IMO it isnt a bad looking bit of kit and wont give you any problems in modem mode, I think (hope) you'll be pleasantly surprised mate

But yeah, the engineer will have one in his van, ask him for a wireless usb dongle aswell as they have them in there aswell and wasnt going to give me one until I asked.

I may ask him to move it further to the center of the room and place it on the cabinet, then route the cable back to the entry point. I just know though that I will never hear the last of it if I do.

 

[jamesyboyjim]

lol, make sure the missus authorises any decisions :Laugh::Laugh:

 

[Exos]

lol, make sure the missus authorises any decisions :Laugh::Laugh:

You're right she has to (as always) and anything just to keep the peace, but I can be a tad OCD also. Main thing is I spent quite some time getting that room to scratch, last thing I need is vermin subby to come in and smack a 15mm hole through the wall where I don't want it, just because it's convenient for him.

 

[jamesyboyjim]

You're right she has to (as always) and anything just to keep the peace, but I can be a tad OCD also. Main thing is I spent quite some time getting that room to scratch, last thing I need is vermin subby to come in and smack a 15mm hole through the wall where I don't want it, just because it's convenient for him.

As long as you lay down the law and say where it has to go, no ifs or buts Hopefully you won't have any issues

 

[danforth]

AFAIK, they won't activate any modem which they don't supply.

This is one of the many areas I know very little about, but they will activate the "free" superhub.
The mac address of this is written on the back, and accessible anyway via the admin menu, as far as I remember.
I've heard of mac address cloning, and assumed this would override the rom mac address.
So, could the superhub be removed after activation, and replaced with a substitute, "cloned" to the original superhub address.

Is it more than just the isp registering that particular mac, or is something else written to the superhub that can't be copied ?

Am I making any sense at all ?

 

[Exos]

This is one of the many areas I know very little about, but they will activate the "free" superhub.
The mac address of this is written on the back, and accessible anyway via the admin menu, as far as I remember.
I've heard of mac address cloning, and assumed this would override the rom mac address.
So, could the superhub be removed after activation, and replaced with a substitute, "cloned" to the original superhub address.

Is it more than just the isp registering that particular mac, or is something else written to the superhub that can't be copied ?

Am I making any sense at all ?

I doubt it's a technical limitation but rather training and support. Standards like DOCSIS exist so that devices can be compatible across services, exactly the same as with ADSL2. Essentially they support that device so would have to remote into it, gather stats etc if there was a problem, so they have to be familiar with the interface etc. Imagine a few hundred thousand customers with their own device (although the range would be somewhat limited).

Take BE as an example. They insist you use their own issued router, many don't and have their own routers but generally if there is a line problem they will ask you to put your issued modem/router back.

The argument here I suppose is why can't Virmin do the same....

Mac address "spoofing" can be done, but with this you would have to do it on the modem, if it was to be swapped out, which is pretty much a no go as the mac is hard coded.

 

[danforth]

I doubt it's a technical limitation but rather training and support. Standards like DOCSIS exist so that devices can be compatible across services, exactly the same as with ADSL2. Essentially they support that device so would have to remote into it, gather stats etc if there was a problem, so they have to be familiar with the interface etc. Imagine a few hundred thousand customers with their own device (although the range would be somewhat limited).

Take BE as an example. They insist you use their own issued router, many don't and have their own routers but generally if there is a line problem they will ask you to put your issued modem/router back.

The argument here I suppose is why can't Virmin do the same....

Mac address "spoofing" can be done, but with this you would have to do it on the modem, if it was to be swapped out, which is pretty much a no go as the mac is hard coded.

I thought the "spoofing" sat between the isp and the hard coded rom, so that VM only saw the original superhub address.

However, you obviously know a lot more about it than I do, so I accept it can't be done. Just curiosity really.

 

[Him Her]

The issue is usually so they can keep track more easily. Using reservations in DHCP helps the muppets run the system. Just use a device that allows MAC address changes i.e. a Draytek.

 

[Exos]

The issue is usually so they can keep track more easily. Using reservations in DHCP helps the muppets run the system. Just use a device that allows MAC address changes i.e. a Draytek.

This is the issue HH. You can do that on a router such as Draytek, but not on a modem, The way virgin works is via their propriety co-ax cable connection, so you have two choices (well one technically). Use their Superhub, turn it into modem only mode and buy a second router.... or use their SuperHub..

I thought I could jut buy another smaller modem, use my own router of choice and we are all good. But apparently Virmin have to activate the modem mac address on their system.

 

[Him Her]

This is the issue HH. You can do that on a router such as Draytek, but not on a modem, The way virgin works is via their propriety co-ax cable connection, so you have two choices (well one technically). Use their Superhub, turn it into modem only mode and buy a second router.... or use their SuperHub..

I thought I could jut buy another smaller modem, use my own router of choice and we are all good. But apparently Virmin have to activate the modem mac address on their system.

Ah, I'd forgotten it was Docsis...

:doh:

For anyone interested, that means that the modem is a bit cleverer than, say, an ADSL modem. It's not the cable connection that's proprietary, it's the firmware. VM uses certificates to establish an encrypted connection.

 

[Exos]

So got my welcome pack this morning....

£5 off for 3 Months. £49.95 Installation....

Nothing like what was agreed.

Just spent the last 45 minutes on the phone basically being fed a load of horse shit by their customer services team. Talk about completely mis-informed. I actually got to the point of putting the phone down on him. Wouldn't even pass me to his supervisor.

Apparently they can't authorise 2 Months Free, because it doesn't exist. The most they can do is free installation and offer a "goodwill gesture" credit to the account. I tried to explain to him his goodwill gesture was less than what I actually agreed as a package...on paper.

I also explained to him that I had a copy of the agreement, with written confirmation of the deal, and he still persisted in saying he can't offer it. When I suggested they spoke to their sales team to confirm it, because I had their contact details, and this is the best yet. He told me he couldn't talk to them because of "security"

Have to be honest here, I'm already seething with them and I'm not even a fully fledged customer yet.

Just left a VM for the guy from the show.