Forum Discussion

jacob9hawkes's avatar
jacob9hawkes
On our wavelength
11 months ago

Ordering Wi-Fi pods for Hub 5x

Hi,

Can someone provide the phone number for Hub 5x team. Chat support just gives the general number and refuse to assist further with ordering Wi-Fi Max hubs.

Have a Volt Package and getting less than 30Mb/s in our kitchen

  • fibreking's avatar
    fibreking
    11 months ago

    A few corrections or updates to posts on this forum (in general not this thread specifically). Some of the info below is widely known but until I go my first pod I had assumed from reading stuff here that ethernet backhaul was to be problematic. Not so in my experience.

    White Pods - Plume PowerPod and Plume SuperPod

    Specifications

    I have a PowerPod PP01-VM v1.1 with a single RJ45 linked with Ethernet backhaul to a Hub 5x working fine. No magic tinkering needed. It works as a mesh node without the network cable too.  Maybe a version/firmware update, who knows, but it works. The PowerPod with the single RJ45 can auto-sense the mode:

    “Ethernet Port * Single 100Mb/1Gb Ethernet port operating as WAN or LAN * Auto-detection of WAN or LAN functionality”.

     

    Black WiFi Pod - VM branded Sagemcom Fast 266  (WiFi 6)

    Specification – WiFi 6

     

    OpenSync Mesh

    All three pods, white and black use OpenSync to connect to the VM Hub 5x.

    https://www.opensync.io/cpe/plume/plume-powerpod/

    https://www.opensync.io/cpe/plume/plume-superpod/

    https://www.opensync.io/cpe/sagemcom/sagemcom-fast266v2/

    The white pods actually running a newer version of OpenSync than the black.

    Summary

    Sooooo..... the pods all work with the Hub 5x. They are not all the same specification but below M500 they pretty much all do the same job. Ethernet cable backhaul if you can (so you don't lose half your bandwidth straight off).

    Ordering? Painful as it seems: Skip the app. Skip WhatsApp. I would call. Or try and see if a mod on here will help.

  • tonyp82's avatar
    tonyp82
    Tuning in
    11 months ago

    Following as I’m in exactly the same boat. 

    Was previously warned about the legendarily poor VM customer service, starting to feel like the warnings were correct. 

  • jacob9hawkes's avatar
    jacob9hawkes
    On our wavelength
    11 months ago

    So it seems like there is no number for the 5x team, as they're essentially second line support. Just have to contact the normal number and get passed through to them.

    Just spent 30 mins on the phone to be told by the 5x team that they cannot run the required diagnostic tests to organise a Pod order, despite me already running the VM Connect tests... Wondering what the point of that app is, really?

    • jbrennand's avatar
      jbrennand
      Very Insightful Person
      11 months ago

      AFAIUI ... the Pods are not working on the Hub5x yet - waiting on a firmware update I think.

      A VM person can update on that when they respond on here in a day or two

      • jacob9hawkes's avatar
        jacob9hawkes
        On our wavelength
        11 months ago

        The Hub 5x team didn’t suggest anything like that and I have spoken to other users in new XGS-PON areas with the 5x that have working Pods. So they seem to work from what I can tell, it’s just a nightmare getting them ordered in the first place. I’ve been told to call back in 48 hours and try again

  • morak's avatar
    morak
    Joining in
    11 months ago

    I have just got my first pod (a Black one) up and running with a 5x today. I called retentions and they put me through to the second line team for the 5x, who first of all couldn't order a pod because of some "account issue" but managed to on the second try. I then had to call VM again today after I received the pod for them to provision it (again having to go to the 5x second line team) which they sorted pretty quickly. Took about an hour to show up on the VM Connect app though.

  • fibreking's avatar
    fibreking
    On our wavelength
    11 months ago

    A few corrections or updates to posts on this forum (in general not this thread specifically). Some of the info below is widely known but until I go my first pod I had assumed from reading stuff here that ethernet backhaul was to be problematic. Not so in my experience.

    White Pods - Plume PowerPod and Plume SuperPod

    Specifications

    I have a PowerPod PP01-VM v1.1 with a single RJ45 linked with Ethernet backhaul to a Hub 5x working fine. No magic tinkering needed. It works as a mesh node without the network cable too.  Maybe a version/firmware update, who knows, but it works. The PowerPod with the single RJ45 can auto-sense the mode:

    “Ethernet Port * Single 100Mb/1Gb Ethernet port operating as WAN or LAN * Auto-detection of WAN or LAN functionality”.

     

    Black WiFi Pod - VM branded Sagemcom Fast 266  (WiFi 6)

    Specification – WiFi 6

     

    OpenSync Mesh

    All three pods, white and black use OpenSync to connect to the VM Hub 5x.

    https://www.opensync.io/cpe/plume/plume-powerpod/

    https://www.opensync.io/cpe/plume/plume-superpod/

    https://www.opensync.io/cpe/sagemcom/sagemcom-fast266v2/

    The white pods actually running a newer version of OpenSync than the black.

    Summary

    Sooooo..... the pods all work with the Hub 5x. They are not all the same specification but below M500 they pretty much all do the same job. Ethernet cable backhaul if you can (so you don't lose half your bandwidth straight off).

    Ordering? Painful as it seems: Skip the app. Skip WhatsApp. I would call. Or try and see if a mod on here will help.

    • jacob9hawkes's avatar
      jacob9hawkes
      On our wavelength
      11 months ago

      Brilliant summary, thank you! White Pod now arrived and I'm happy to hear it will work (not set up yet). From what I can see it's an automated system so you cannot request a certain colour. They only send Black Pods out for customer on Gig1 or higher packages (maybe M500, not 100% sure).

      Also agree on calling, just be persistent and attempt to call in quite times. I found Sunday morning around 10am to be a very quick answer.