Will R36 fix the shocking wireless on the Superhub???

[premiump]

Since moving house, I have spent the last ten months on a 10mb connection, using my VMDG280 as a modem with an old D-Link DIR 615 servicing my wireless needs. I had to do this as the VMDG280's wireless was poor. All was good.

Then I get the free upgrade from 10mb to 30mb (it was advertised as double !?!?) last week. The VM lady on the phone neglected to tell me that I'd need a Superhub to get the 30mb and a further phone call the next day sent an engineer winging my way AFTER the weekend. No problem, I can live without BB for a few days.

Engineer turns up, courteous and friendly. Fits the new Superhub, checks my power levels, gets it all working wired, blistering wired connection; we then connect up a laptop wirelessly ... it works. Me happy.

Fast forward a few hours (after I'd swapped all my wireless devices over) ... and the wireless just grinds to a halt. I'd read all the horror stories on here about the Superhub's wireless (un)capabilities, so played with it for another hour before admitting defeat. DIR 615 pressed back into action.

Then I read with interest last night about the R36 firmware. It looks as though it will fix a number of issues. notably the constant reboots that a lot of people experience. Will it fix the wireless issues though? I think I'm right in thinking that if it gets good results with the Pilot group of VM users, it'll be rolled out to everyone in the next few weeks?

How do paying customers put up with this terrible hardware?

[Gordy1965]

Doubt it will solve the wireless issue, it seems to be more a hardware problem. Only solution if you are having wireless issues is to run the supehub in modem mode with a separate router.

[liamcrayden]

Gordy1965 is correct, the R36 firmware will do nothing for you other than give you a different web interface and fix issues with multi-threaded downloads. The main wireless issues, random rebooting, resets etc are still all present.

Virgin claim that they have had a "successful BETA test that could not have been rolled out without the help of the forum community members". This is lies - they have not listened to a single word that any member on here has said, and have not implemented any further fixes.

I can't say that there have not been ANY improvements as the newer firmware is certainly better, but non-R36 trial members will all know that R36 is not the answer to the superhubs problems.

Here is the latest screenshot from the hidden R36 forum, accessible only to BETA testers. Make your own opinion on it's effectiveness: http://www.crayden-group.co.uk/r36-screenshot.png

The only way to do it is modem mode + your own wireless router, as Gordy has said. Sorry everyone, this is the way that it will always be with the not-so-super hub.

[Quarantine]

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liamcrayden wrote:

Gordy1965 is correct, the R36 firmware will do nothing for you other than give you a different web interface and fix issues with multi-threaded downloads. The main wireless issues, random rebooting, resets etc are still all present.

Virgin claim that they have had a "successful BETA test that could not have been rolled out without the help of the forum community members". This is lies - they have not listened to a single word that any member on here has said, and have not implemented any further fixes.

I can't say that there have not been ANY improvements as the newer firmware is certainly better, but non-R36 trial members will all know that R36 is not the answer to the superhubs problems.

Here is the latest screenshot from the hidden R36 forum, accessible only to BETA testers. Make your own opinion on it's effectiveness: http://www.crayden-group.co.uk/r36-screenshot.png

The only way to do it is modem mode + your own wireless router, as Gordy has said. Sorry everyone, this is the way that it will always be with the not-so-super hub.

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Spoiler

That looks promising .....Virgin, at its best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[premiump]

liamcrayden wrote:

The only way to do it is modem mode + your own wireless router, as Gordy has said. Sorry everyone, this is the way that it will always be with the not-so-super hub.

Thats just what I expected to be honest Liam. For several years with NTL/Virgin. it seems the only way to get decent all-round internet is to use two devices.

Over on the CF forum, a lot of the R36 beta testers have commented that the new firmware reduces latency and jitter by quite a bit. Even in modem mode, this will be a big improvement if true (my xbox'ing teenager will certainly appreciate that).

Back on-topic, I have now decided to "retire" my trusty old DIR 615, bite-the-bullet,  and replace it with an ASUS RT-N56U from Amazon. The excellent spec and reviews from satisfied customers is good enough for me to invest.

It'll come next week, I'll let you know how I get on.

[jas123]

By the sounds of it, its a step in the right direction but at this rate it could take several years before most of the bugs are fixed. They really should work harder on releasing new firmware updates quicker!

[mrdjamk2]

Those "in the know" as regards this sort of thing i.e. it workers, networkers, seem to think that R36 will make the hub more stable and not drop signal as much but it won't make the signal strength any better which is a hardware issue not software.

[premiump]

Agreed, which is why I have ordered a new wireless router.

[Gordy1965]

Great stuff there.......I wonder if they had spent as much time and money on decent hardware to give home customers a wireless product that worked well instead of those poor London souls that need wifi on the underground........

Mind you, given VM's track record (sorry about the pun there) it probably won't work......

[greenbadger]

No it wont. My experience for R36 was that yes it improved my wireless speed, HOWEVER whereas on previous versions my devices would drop wireless once every few days on R36 my connection would drop once every few hours (or more)

For some reason VM didn't consider this to be a major showstopping bug despite many testers reporting it and have proceded to roll the firmware out

I've reverted to modem mode and my own router