Forum Discussion

cath8888's avatar
cath8888
On our wavelength
2 years ago
Solved

Hub 5 and TP Link Deco Setup

Hi

I was advised on here last week to invest in a mesh system and put my Hub 5 in Modem mode.

I have purchased the TP-Link Deco AX3000 and a 8 port Gigabit switch, which is being delivered tomorrow.  A video I watched on YouTube had the Hub 5 linked to the first Deco which was then connected to the switch with the other 2 Deco units connect via ethernet cable from the switch.  This is the set up I would like as we have a 3 story house with brick walls.  Although the video showed how it all "fitted together" it didn't explain how to set up the Deco units. 

I know there is a link on here explaining how to put the Hub 5 in Modem mode but can anyone offer any advice on how to link them to the Hub 5 or how to set up the Deco units in the formation listed above?  I'm not at all sure what I am doing so any advice would be very welcome.

Thanks 

  • carl_pearce's avatar
    carl_pearce
    Community elder
    2 years ago
    cath8888 wrote:

    Hi

    I was advised on here last week to invest in a mesh system and put my Hub 5 in Modem mode.

    I have purchased the TP-Link Deco AX3000 and a 8 port Gigabit switch, which is being delivered tomorrow.  A video I watched on YouTube had the Hub 5 linked to the first Deco which was then connected to the switch with the other 2 Deco units connect via ethernet cable from the switch.  This is the set up I would like as we have a 3 story house with brick walls.  Although the video showed how it all "fitted together" it didn't explain how to set up the Deco units. 

    I know there is a link on here explaining how to put the Hub 5 in Modem mode but can anyone offer any advice on how to link them to the Hub 5 or how to set up the Deco units in the formation listed above?  I'm not at all sure what I am doing so any advice would be very welcome.

    Thanks 

    How did your engineer visit go?

    Note that you'll lose some of your bandwidth due to the 1Gbps Ethernet ports (around 940Mbps vs 1130Mbps).

  • cath8888's avatar
    cath8888
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    Thank you, hopefully I will be able to install the Deco following the instructions you posted and get it all set up.

    The engineer came today, changed a lot of bits on my cables and an old virgin splitter, said my signal was too high so lowered it and adding some kind of connectors to the cable.  He then experienced the same problems as we have been having i.e "connected no internet",  so he replaced the week old Hub 5 with a new Hub 5.  When he left it was working ok but half an hour later, the same issue occurred again.  I've managed to get most things connected but a little while ago I took my laptop upstairs to show something to my son, lost wifi and couldn't reconnect to the the hub until we rebooted it twice.  Also running a speed test kicks us all off 😂.

    I am so fed up of trying to fix something when I have no idea what I am doing but hope that by putting the hub into modem mode and using the Deco will fix/stabilise the issues.

     

    • Andrew-G's avatar
      Andrew-G
      Alessandro Volta
      2 years ago

      I am so fed up of trying to fix something when I have no idea what I am doing but hope that by putting the hub into modem mode and using the Deco will fix/stabilise the issues.

      I suspect that's unlikely - an unreliable connection is rarely a wifi or router problem, it's almost always the cable modem connection to VM's network.  The Deco AX3000 is a solid piece of kit, it may help with reach and coverage of the wireless signal, but I suspect there's an unresolved noise problem on your VM cable connection.  We can conclude that it isn't a hub fault because you're now on your third hub.

      What worries me is your earlier post where you mentioned being told that there was congestion on VM's network.  If true that;s really worrying because VM's record of (a) honesty, and (b) competence in fixing these types of fault is very poor.  Of course, the agent could just have been making it up (the offshore mumblers are particularly bad for that), but we still need to identify the problem because VM are failing to own and resolve the problem.

      I appreciate you're frustrated with the crap connection and crap support, but if you'll indulge me will you try this:  Setup a Broadband Quality Monitor 

      Don't get put off by the complicated sounding technical guff, just one step at a time, follow the instructions.  Once you've set that up, post a LINK here to a LIVE, SHARED graph here and we'll see what's happening.  Usually needs to run for 24 hours before we can draw reasonable conclusions, but the live graph will continuously update so you can post the link immediately.  The forum members can then take a look and offer advice on what that shows because VM aren't owning this problem.

  • cath8888's avatar
    cath8888
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    Thanks for your reply.  I felt I was being fobbed off when they told me it was network congestion because that didn't seem to make sense but I don't know enough to say otherwise - at one point yesterday although we could connect to the Hub, none of us could get internet except my son who's internet connection was fine and was happily watching YouTube.  Surely if it was congestion on the network, we'd either all have no internet connection or we all would but it would be slow. This is more like the Hub decides to only let certain devices connect when it feels like it.   

    Anyway. the Deco not arriving until tonight so there no chance of me setting it up today.  I've followed your advice and hopefully this is the link to the Broadband Quality Monitor

    https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/fdb5bd1f0eede322d5d32b765e3416be8eb26ff3 

    • Andrew-G's avatar
      Andrew-G
      Alessandro Volta
      2 years ago

      Well done!  That's working as intended.  When there's 24 hours we'll be able to see what's going on (if anything).

      If you can wait until this time tomorrow before playing with the new router that would be good, because the BQM relies on your IP address (the set of numbers that act as the "digital postal address" for any device connected to the internet), but when you switch between your hub's normal router mode and modem mode the IP address changes, and such a change would interrupt the BQM working unless you edit for a changed IP address.  

      If you can't wait to try the new toy, then simply delete the existing BQM, and as soon as the new router's up and working with the hub in modem mode then repeat what you just did, and a new BQM will pick up the new IP address and start tracking.  If I'd bought a new router I wouldn't wait!

      Surely if it was congestion on the network, we'd either all have no internet connection or we all would but it would be slow. This is more like the Hub decides to only let certain devices connect when it feels like it.   

      Actually VM network congestion is usually associated with erratic response times and poor latency (ie gaming, video calls and Teams/Zoom freezes), but I was just wondering about this because you mentioned staff had suggested this might be the problem.  That and certain other things would be apparent from a 24 hour BQM trace, but there are other possible causes that wouldn't show up.   Possibly it's just a wireless coverage issue, and if that's the case a mesh system should improve things.

    • jbrennand's avatar
      jbrennand
      Very Insightful Person
      2 years ago
      Note that when you go into modem mode with the Deco doing the routing, then your i.p.. address will change and the BQM will become a "red wall".

      You will need to swap in the new ip address into the BQM settings
    • Adduxi's avatar
      Adduxi
      Very Insightful Person
      2 years ago

      That shared graph is showing packet loss at the moment (red fringing at the top)  Looks like you have problems on the circuit and these should be resolved before going to modem mode and the mesh.  VM will ask you to use the Hub as a Router anyway when they are checking faults, and will not work with any 3rd party hardware.

  • cath8888's avatar
    cath8888
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    Brilliant, thank you for your help.

    I'll leave it monitoring for the full 24 hours, to be honest I'm dreading setting up the Deco anyway so happy to wait !!

     

    • Andrew-G's avatar
      Andrew-G
      Alessandro Volta
      2 years ago

      Initial results from your BQM are very promising for a good VM connection.  If there were a congestion problem then by this time of the evening (7pm) that small yellow fringe on the chart would be spiking up across most of the chart height.  if the connection were dropping out, then there would either be sudden yellow or red lines appearing at random from top to bottom of the chart. 

      Leave it running until tomorrow, but it is seeming as though the finger points to a wifi coverage issue. 

  • hastron's avatar
    hastron
    Joining in
    2 years ago

    I've been using a Deco E4 mesh wifi system for over a year and it has mostly been very good and provided better, more reliable wifi than the previous virgin Hub (in modem mode). I recently upgraded to the Hub 5 and set it up in modem mode, as per the previous model. It took some messing around but evnentually I got it work and it has been ok for a few months.

    However, a few days ago I noticedsome lagging when my son was on his XBox and I was on a Teams call. I did a speedtest.net and it came back at ~80mbs rather than the usual 800+ on my wired connection. I called Virgin and, after waiting 10 mins to speak to someone, I had a frustrating 90 minute phone call where I was asked the same question repeatedly, had to wait o hold for several minutes (often without explanation so I wondered if the operator was coming back), and ultimatley was told that the router was receiving over 1000mbs so the problem was my end. I complained and was put through to the manager but then had to answer all the same questions and was told the same things. I eventually had to hang up as I needed to go into a meeting.

    I used this forum and followed all the advice on things to try, partiularly from jbrennand on the order to bring your equipment up. Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. I then followed the advice that I should be using Cat6 cables instead of my Cat5e cables. I bought a couple for £10 on Amazon and they arrived yesterday. They solved the problem and I immediatley have speeds back to normal on all my devices.

    I still don't know what changed for me to have to replace the cables but I'm glad it worked. It would have been helpful if Virgin had brought this up