Forum Discussion

dangerousdibs's avatar
dangerousdibs
Tuning in
18 days ago
Solved

No modem mode on 5x but told there was

Just had VM installed a few minutes ago,

Having checked online about modem mode issues I asked my sales rep to verify I could use this as virgin media is useless without this at my address...it's a pretty basic feature 😑

Have discovered straight away modem mode isn't here. Speed is great but useless if I can't connect it to my home equipment. 

Have other people had the same issue, is it just a firmware thing, is there a work around I'm missing or should I go ahead and just cancel straight away? 🤔

  • dangerousdibs's avatar
    dangerousdibs
    11 days ago

    So I've managed to fix the problem manually but at the cost of buying another device for £200 ..😔

    I don't think I can link it here but you can go to a website from a company called fibremall and buy an xps-pon adapter than will connect to an sfp port. You can then download community software by 8311 and connect directly to the VM network and do away with the virgin media hub all together which fixes the problem. It's extremely annoying I've had to go to these lengths but at least it works and unfortunately this solution is only suitable for tech savvy people who also are able/willing to spend £200 to get the service working. 

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    18 days ago

    It is around 18 months since the Hub 5x launched, VM are now so silent on the question of modem mode for the Hub 5x it may be reasonabe to doubt there will ever be progress.

    • dangerousdibs's avatar
      dangerousdibs
      Tuning in
      18 days ago

      Thanks for that info Alessandro, il speak to the sales rep to check the status of cancelling. Ive heard some people have used another device called a was-110

      If that doesn't work i think il need to go back to BT on a mere 30mbps or something like that but at least it works!

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    18 days ago

    All VM need to do is the IP passthought to pass WAN IP to your device and have the hub use the same WAN IP for data collection  

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    18 days ago

    Folks that already have a Wi-Fi Router / Mesh have switched to Access Point mode to get a supported and working solution.

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    18 days ago

    https://whatismyipaddress.com/bridge-vs-passthrough

  • dangerousdibs's avatar
    dangerousdibs
    Tuning in
    18 days ago

    Update: Ive spend 2 hours on the phone with VM, whos advisers no nothing about basic networking. Ive been passed around so many time that even if their is a work around, the fact the technical team dont understand the fundamentals of 'modem mode' is terrifying. Had the service less than 24 hours and ive had enough

    • Winelist's avatar
      Winelist
      Tuning in
      18 days ago

      Firstly, you certainly haven’t engaged with any sort of ‘technical team’, you have spoken to a number of third-party call centre workers whose ‘expertise’ is simply reading from a script presented on their screen. I’ll be slightly astonished if any of them have even seen a VM hub, let alone have any understanding of what it does and how it works.

      Not their fault, they simply aren’t trained to know any of this, they are employed solely on the basis of ability to read from and parrot-fashion a scripted set of responses in front of  them - no  more, no less! In fact, they aren’t even dedicated to VM issues, their next call could well be regarding Indesit washing machines, and the questions they are required to ask and follow will change accordingly.

      Alas, it is what it is!

      Now, modem mode on the 5x - this has been promised as ‘coming soon’ for the last 18  months at least; the golden rule here (and for any tech product) is to always assume that what it does ‘now’ is what it will ever do; never rely on ‘future upgrades’.

      So back to your original question, there is nothing stopping you from using your own equipment - you will have a double NAT problem to work around - but that usually isn’t insurmountable; annoying yes, but not a real killer. There have been some workarounds posted on here, including a ‘hidden’ URL to enable modem mode (Google it), but also posts which claim that this does work, but only for the 1 Gbit/s ports and even then it has a habit of falling over after a week (interestingly the DHCP leases on the WAN connection are 7 days), requiring a factory reset of the hub......

      If this really is a show-stopper for you, then yes, you need to cancel and look elsewhere.

      • RetiredATCO's avatar
        RetiredATCO
        Dialled in
        18 days ago

        I hope you haven't yet had your "BT at 30 mbps" disconnected yet as if you have and it was FTTC over the phone line then it may be an issue getting it reinstated if your area has been cabled for FTTP.

        Best of luck!

  • greganew's avatar
    greganew
    On our wavelength
    16 days ago

    Hey VM, looks you got another about to cancel, during cooling off, as you're not supporting Modem Mode yet!

    Join the ever growing club @dangerousdibs

    This was my experience!
    https://community.virginmedia.com/discussions/Wireless/modem-mode--hub-5x--cooling-off-period/5577972

  • dangerousdibs's avatar
    dangerousdibs
    Tuning in
    11 days ago

    So I've managed to fix the problem manually but at the cost of buying another device for £200 ..😔

    I don't think I can link it here but you can go to a website from a company called fibremall and buy an xps-pon adapter than will connect to an sfp port. You can then download community software by 8311 and connect directly to the VM network and do away with the virgin media hub all together which fixes the problem. It's extremely annoying I've had to go to these lengths but at least it works and unfortunately this solution is only suitable for tech savvy people who also are able/willing to spend £200 to get the service working. 

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    11 days ago

    How many people will it take for VM to do modem mode on hub 5x how many....

    • Adduxi's avatar
      Adduxi
      Very Insightful Person
      10 days ago

      I don't think they ever will.  As much as I am an ardent modem mode user, we are in the very small minority, and it's most likely not worth the effort. 

      I'm lucky in that I have the choice of many, many Openreach based ISP's, and with that comes the choice of using my own Router, and some ONT's now have the 2.5Gb port.  So hopefully a 10Gb SFP+ ONT option may be available in the future? 

      As for the Hub 5X, I believe the lack of modem mode is because the Hub's are on Nexfibre infrastructure?