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Hub 5: Our first ever WiFi 6 broadband router

Kei_M
Community Manager

Hub 5.jpg

Back in October we announced the launch of the new Hub 5 and we’ll be offering this to customers at no extra cost as part of a phased rollout.

Our next-generation Hub works alongside Virgin Media’s ultrafast broadband network to deliver peak WiFi performance, thanks to WiFi 6.

This latest future-proof WiFi standard, which will work with Virgin Media’s existing DOCSIS 3.1 technology, is designed to power the next-generation of connected devices – including modern smartphones, laptops, tablets and next-gen games consoles.

With this latest technology and even more WiFi antennae than its predecessor, the Hub 5 will be able to support more devices, connecting at the same time, while expanding coverage and stability which improves WiFi performance.

It means the new Hub 5 boasts increased WiFi speeds, lower latency and can help reduce interference from neighbouring hubs and devices.

The Hub 5 has been designed to support multi-gigabit speeds and comes with a 2.5Gbps ethernet port alongside three additional 1Gbps ports.

FAQ

How can I get a Hub 5? / I’m on Gig1 Fibre and need the Hub 5 to maximise my service

We've started to offer the Hub 5 as standard to new Gig1 customers as well as existing customers without a Hub 4 who upgrade to Gig1. Currently there is no other way to get a Hub 5.

Temporarily, due to stock levels at the end of last year and the start of this year. Some Gig1 customers expecting a Hub 5 may have received a Hub 4 instead. We'll be contacting these Gig1 customers to offer them a Hub 5 via email.

What are the specs?

-Broadband – DOCSIS3.1/3.0 Broadcom 3390S

-WiFi:

    • 5xAntennae
    • 4x4 MiMo 5Ghz Broadcom 6715
    • 3x3 MiMo 2.4Ghz Broadcom 6710
    • WiFi 6 (802.11ax)

-Ethernet:

    • 1x2.5Gbps Broadcom 54991EL
    • 3x1Gbps Broadcom 3390S
marekthomasx1
On our wavelength

To the people who are unhappy with the rollout, they are making it STABLE first with ALL services. 

known facts:

Hub 5 Doesn’t work properly (as it should do) with Telco packages on 21CV (aka phone-plug-in-router)

Hub 5 for Gig1 is not as stable as it needs to be YET (hence given to customers on M50,100 and 200 first.)

IF you’re one of the people who subscribe to the stream box, it’s sometimes unstable too. 

 

TL;DR, the router is GREAT. the backend of how VM ties it in with the rest of their services for stability and performance needs to happen FIRST.

patience is a virtue.

JAMCT
Dialled in

HUB 5 is extremely unstable when using a 2017 Samsung Galaxy A6 SM-T580 making it virtually unusable.  See my post #18 on the Thread titled HUB 5 PROBLEMS by robjon on 25-12-2021.

midnighttuck
On our wavelength

@marekthomasx1

 

I'd hardly call it GREAT when all android phones in the house drop on and off it every time every several minutes, when 5ghz is enabled(!).  Almost always replicable just simply by reenabling it

 

Note however, laptop and other smart devices doesn't appear to have the issue, so this Hub 5 is firing something out that isn't liked.

 

Here's hoping they can actually fix it though

drcref
Joining in

McKenize333

Can you please let me know what options you chose in the whatsapp bot to get to someone who can order the Hub 5.0 for you?

I recently upgraded to Gig1 and they sent me a Hub 4.0 instead of the 5.0. I was looking to get the 5.0 for the 2.5G port, will be using it in modem mode.

marekthomasx1
On our wavelength

@drcref and anyone else looking to order hub 5's.

ad-hoc ordering is NOT available through normal lines. As a colleague for vm, we have no process as of yet of how to order hub 5's for customers. if i knew, i would have myself one already. back office teams send them out, and even then @McKenize333 's case might have been someone asking high up in the chain. but i can say that i havent seen the ability to order a hub 5 at all directly. if this becomes available and theres public comms to do so, you guys will be the first to know. as far as im aware for the trial stages the prerequesites are:

No Talk pack (Landline)
No Intelligent Wifi+
No TV Stream (Stream Trial Service)

I havent heard anything about Gig1 and Hub5, just because if something goes wrong, its an issue for the users who need it most, and thats why its on its way to customers who have broadband speeds like m50-m200. its a big boat. realistically it takes time. youll be the first to know.

marekthomasx1
On our wavelength

@midnightluck

following my previous post, id love to see these issues. genuinely. i'm sorry youre having them, and my wording was off, the specs etc are great, especially over the hub 5. i'm running my hub 4 in modem mode with a plume superpod with wifi 6 for mesh, and it works a charm. genuinely feeling no need for hub 5 at the minute but i'll love to give a helping hand. as i said in one of my previous posts, keep an eye on the firmware version on the about tab in Hub 5's settings. i have a feeling it's vm's main priority to meet customer demand for such things right now.

trust me, i'd love a hub 5, more commonly for downloading cod updates at 2.5gbps and i'd be done in 2 mins lol but it's by the by and these things take time to iron out kinks. 

midnighttuck
On our wavelength

@Marekthomasx1

 

Thanks for the reminder, kept meaning to note down the version.

Haven't retried for a few days now, but as of today, version showing on info page is LG-RDK_2.23.11-2106.14 

UDP issues (seem to be) resolved, though I haven't done any extensive testing on that front, but doesn't just kill the network like could easy replicate on the SH3 even in modem mode...just wish they'd sort the issue with these mobiles dropping off every few minutes.....oh and the speed, speedtest, whether on 2.4 or 5ghz while connected only giving me circa 30-40mbps, whereas SH3  on its own or paired with Asus Tuf AX5400 router was giving me multiples of that (non wifi6 mobile hardware)

marekthomasx1
On our wavelength

Hey @midnighttuck

Glad to hear the UDP issues are getting better. what i would say is monitor your connections. see when you have your router’s connection status? check your download speed to your router AND per device. god knows if samknows is up and running yet, try realspeed and and see what it is. if it doesn’t show up don’t worry. 

Every time an engineer comes to put in new equipment/make adjustments to your network etc, your levels may be WAY off with all of your equipment intertwining. remember how your hub5 is supposed to be a powerhouse, and probably designed to take speeds of (in the future) gig2 (don’t take it from me, just me thinking with the trial tests that are public). you might find that it will take some time to amend, but you might just have to bare with it for now, engineers as well as you are new to hub 5 and it’s capabilities, and to be honest an engineer might just tell you to go back to the hub 3 to alleviate all of your issues as engineers usually don’t have hub 5’s on the van, and also 9/10 it’s a software issue. after all, it has entirely different hardware and a whole new wifi standard. it’s the first hub since the 2ac to have a new standard. 

it’s a trial for a reason, and from what i’ve seen from @Kei_M and many others, it’s gotta be fixed by this year, and by then once there’s a full hub swap or upgrade launch, we’ll have as MUCH info as we can to support you. but i’m sure if you post within the hub5 issues page you’ll get a lot more support than this one. 

midnighttuck
On our wavelength

Wired is fine, getting the full 200mb speed package I have - I haven't actually ran a speedtest from my work laptop itself, though I know its running at least 80mbps upstairs but that was over a VPN so will likely be faster than that.....just something about these chipsets on the phones it just doesn't seem to like maybe and gimps

marekthomasx1
On our wavelength

that was my theory, especially for wired it’s easy to put up with. VM have moved over to the broadcom chipset INSTEAD of the puma one everyone hated so much. i’ll tell you now, it will be intermittent and hopefully a lot better over the next couple months. worth raising an issue with the hub 5 issues page OR the direct support links through vm. but as previously mentioned, we don’t have enough documentation as of yet as we’re working our hardest to iron out kinks and support you as they come. 

Paddy3626
Joining in

I literally just upgraded to 1gb broadband in the last week. Yet was sent a hub4? Surely it would have been more sensible to send me a hub5? 

donmaca
Tuning in

How would it be more 'sensible' to send a Hub 5 which people are complaining about and is still going through testing?

jamilayz
Dialled in

Received an email invite asking me to upgrade my Hub but the link wasn't working.

Explain the situation to VM as spoke with someone in technical team and he said that his manager will pass this onto the correct team and I will be getting contacted shortly but that was over two weeks ago.

Can someone from VM explain that what is going on and check my account as I am extremely disappointed.

 

Kei_M
Community Manager

We'll be sending some email invites to a small number of customers who have 21CV / home phone via hub ahead of offering this more widely to this cohort of customers shortly. We'll share a further update when we have some more news.

jamilayz
Dialled in

@ Kei_M

Can you please contact me directly as just need to find out that what's happening with my Hub 5 ?

Anonymous
Not applicable

I trust that these customers will be explicitly told that they are trialling an as yet unproven device on behalf of VM and are given dedicated contact details of the VM Hub 5 trial team mentioned in passing by the VM forum team in other threads and will not be expected to call the dire and clueless offshored VM CS line. 

sl1m_tc
On our wavelength

CCD85D62-328F-4138-B574-5F0D3F3F4485.png

dmason197
Fibre optic

Will I finally get an invite?

Kind regards 

 Dean

BMWCHUBB
Up to speed

Are you sending them out to ng19 area?

dmason197
Fibre optic

I'm in PO8 would be willing too participate?

Kind regards 

 Dean