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hammic's avatar
hammic
Up to speed
3 years ago

SuperHub 3.0 - unable to disable SSID broadcast

Today, when connecting a new device, I needed to broadcast my Wi-Fi's SSID for the new (garbage) device that I was trying to connect.  So I logged in to 192.168.0.1 and navigated to Advanced settings > Wireless > Security, only to find that WiFi Network Name (SSID) broadcast was greyed out for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

I have never seen this option greyed out before, as I was able to to disable SSID broadcasting during my setting up of the SuperHub 3.0.  During my setup, I always changed the SSID to my own, change the password to something longer and more complex and hide the SSID.  Overkill perhaps, but that's how I've had my Wi-Fi setup for about 10 years now and it's always worked for the majority of the time.

I've pinhole reset the SuperHub, contacted support (who were able to turn SSID on and off as per my requests) and tried Edge browser (I use Firefox as my main browser).

I'm at a loss now and I think that some firmware update or software change on the SH3 has caused this issue.

If anybody has any pointers, suggestions or even a solution, I'm all ears!

Spoiler
Firmware Issues
long time without resolution

67 Replies

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  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    Disabling SSID Broadcast provides a false sense of additional security to suggest other is poppycock

    • Mac01's avatar
      Mac01
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago
      Client62 wrote:

      Disabling SSID Broadcast provides a false sense of additional security 

      Respectfully disagreed. Others in this thread have also disagreed. The layman is not going to bang out Acrylic Wi-Fi Analyzer or similar - they are more interested in the footie and social media. Even if it were not a security feature as you suggest, it is a privacy feature, and a confirmed bug which makes the intended feature not available.

      Client62 wrote:

      poppycock

      +100 points for archaicism, love it

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    guess I should say normal or most... 😖

    basic in the way what they do with the hub 

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    So SSID like your door number why don't you remove your door number? 

    In any case your not going to win unless VM hate me that they give you this option but pods will not work with it.

    • Mac01's avatar
      Mac01
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago
      legacy1 wrote:

      So SSID like your door number why don't you remove your door number? 

      Not sure this is the best analogy, but yes. This is the intended optional feature which we're all after, to remove our door number from plain sight. We're aware it doesn't solve all the security/privacy considerations, and fine with that.  

       

      legacy1 wrote:

      In any case your not going to win unless VM hate me that they give you this option 

      Not too sure why this must be approached with a 'win/lose' mentality. Why must VM have to "hate" you in order to enable this entirely optional feature? Everyone's got different use-cases - you realise you're not the only VM customer, right? As mentioned before, no-one's gonna die if an intended feature is made available. It's all good if you want to relent on this point.

       

      legacy1 wrote:

      but pods will not work with it.

      I take your point, I know that the SSID must be broadcast as a prerequisite for Pods - again, this feature is intended to be purely optional, yeah? 🙂 

  • Naomihi's avatar
    Naomihi
    Tuning in
    6 months ago

    There are threads about this going on 3 years now. Mine are still greyed out. Virgin what is going on?

    • Tom_W1's avatar
      Tom_W1
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      6 months ago

      Hi Naomihi thanks for your reply here.

      So sorry about this - we've raised this to the team again to see if there's a fix in place, hopefully there is soon and if so we'll keep this thread updated.

      Many thanks

  • Mac01's avatar
    Mac01
    On our wavelength
    4 months ago

    I have raised this with the VM complaints team last May (2024), who mishandled the ticket for absolute months with no sense of end-to-end ownership or drive for resolution, before they arranged for a technician to come out, who immediately spotted about 4 separate issues relating to the firmware and told me it's known that the firmware on the Hub 3.0 is not fit for purpose outside of the broadcast SSID issue. 

    He replaced it with a Hub 5.0 free of charge. His was the best interaction from VM that I've had - informative, concise and punctual.

    This is the solution imo - but you must be prepared to graft with the complaints team for months, who have no understanding of network security or privacy concepts (despite being L1 for one of the biggest ISPs). Best advice here is to be firm and ask for a technician immediately, because none of them are prepared to go 'off-script' or handle it with any sense of diligence - the technician himself said they'll go above to prevent sending a techician out, as it's at the cost of the company.

    Frankly, if they didn't want to send out a technician, they'd not supply customers with buggy firmware which they know to be unfit for purpose. 

    • legacy1's avatar
      legacy1
      Alessandro Volta
      4 months ago

      People keep going on saying "unfit for purpose" if you people are unhappy with VM leave or use modem mode.

      • Mac01's avatar
        Mac01
        On our wavelength
        4 months ago

        This answer is not helpful, legacy1. Bear in mind other people have different use-cases for hiding SSIDs, and your proposal comes at the cost of Hub 3.0 users.

        I appreciate you defending your position as vocally as before, but it's okay to acknowledge other positions when approaching this. 

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    4 months ago

    As I noted on the other thread, IMHO it's up to Liberty Global I suspect to authorize firmware updates on their kit.  It is a European wide Company after all.  Lets face it, for the very small number of users requesting this facility, I doubt if it's high up on the priority list.  Just look at the Hub 5X modem mode request, for example.

  • Sephiroth's avatar
    Sephiroth
    Alessandro Volta
    4 months ago

    I suspect they are a lot younger than me!   That said, when at their best, those two have good technical grasp of VM broadband and associated home devices.