Forum Discussion

Subroda's avatar
Subroda
Settling in
3 days ago

Seriously no modem mode for the 5x

I’m really hoping that there are some recent updates as if not it’ll mean Virgin Media are not only incompetent but are outright liars.

I have just taken out their gig2 plan and I categorically asked the sales rep (who I will name if I’m allowed) whether I could run the router in modem mode. This is critical because I’m using a Firewalla Gold Pro which controls the other network from EE including failover which then leads into the eero max 7 mesh network. This means access point mode isn’t an option as I’d have to turn the Firewalla dumb which at over £750 is not something I’m willing to do especially when EE works flawlessly and as of now pretty much match virgin speeds as well.

Can a virgin media engineer as a matter of urgency please provide me an update as to whether this is happening? Yes I read other posts, no I don’t care that it’s the same topic, I think it’s important to highlight that you’ll lose another new customer during the cool off period if the answer I get here is anything other than yes it’s possible or yes it’s coming imminently. Not to mention some serious complaints against the sales person who will have lied twice instead of just the one lie I’ve already caught him out on.

It’s utterly ridiculous that modem mode isn’t available and even worse that Virgin continue to lie saying it is.

Here is hoping there is a work around that doesn’t completely kill the benefits of my Firewalla gold pro. 

I was able to put the router into modem mode easily enough which is why I don’t understand why it won’t work. I have an IP address from the router and it’s connected to the 10gb port (and worked) yet all of a sudden the DNS and ping tests just totally fail. Can anyone please advise? Switching to the port 1 does nothing to fix it either

hub 5x
modem mode

8 Replies

  • fronty's avatar
    fronty
    Tuning in
    23 hours ago

    Hub5x works fine in modem mode, I know because I'm doing it. Looking at your screenshot you've been allocated IP address of 192.168.0.223, that is a private IP indicating 5x is running in router mode, if it's running in modem mode you'll be allocated a public IPv4 address. Please do a search, there are plenty of posts explaining how to do this, there's also some lengthy posts on reddit.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    The section Obtain IP Address shows an IP of 192.168.0.223 and a Gateway of 192.168.0.1, these values are typical of a DHCP response from a VM Hub in Router mode.

    Could it be the Hub 5x drops out of Modem mode and reverts to Router mode ?

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    There isn't going to be modem mode for the hub 5X but I think it highly likely that VM will offer the ONT which VM must have developed for Giffgaff to enable customers to use their own routers. However this won't be happening soon in which case choose another ISP. 

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    3 days ago

    You might the following thread <here>  interesting for a current workaround,  however it isn't an authorised method supported by VM.

    GiffGaff currently have 500 customers running a Full Fibre trial on VM's Nextfibre. See <here>
    In terms of the internal kit, most customers seem to be receiving an Optical Network Terminal (ONT / ONU) from Arcadyan Technology (PB6802B-LG) and one of Amazon’s Eero 6+ routers (UI features giffgaff’s branding). But there have been some mixed messages on whether giffgaff will allow customers to use a third-party router, although it looks like it may be possible.


    Since they are using a different ONT to VM's own full fibre customer network and the Eero router instead of the hub 5x it's very possible that this may be the way forward for any other ISP's signing up for Nextfibre, and a possible pointer that VM may follow this route themselves after the trial?

    • Subroda's avatar
      Subroda
      Settling in
      2 days ago

      I saw this on a Reddit post and was looking in to it. It’s definitely beyond my own knowledge but I want to look into it as having it in router mode with DMZ setup whilst working fine isn’t ideal. (The firewalla surprisingly excellent at managing the double NAT)

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    If VM was a driving licence and your new driving licence they give you shows you must now driver a automation when you driver a manual and don't want a automation...you can see the middle finger where this is going if the UK was to force everyone to drive a automation for real but VM thinks they are allowed to do this for the internet is disgusting with a POS router mode.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    Here's a thread from three years ago, asking the same question. Do you really think the answer will change now? 

    https://community.virginmedia.com/discussions/Wireless/hub5x-modem-mode/5350404

  • Subroda's avatar
    Subroda
    Settling in
    3 days ago

    As you can see I CAN get the IP address assigned I just cannot seem to solve the DNS lookup. I can also see that some data is getting through to the Firewalla as well.