The New 5x Hub (different than the standard 5Hub)

[The_Tonner]

Hi everyone, I hope this information can be helpful for others as it took me over a week and more than 20 calls to Virgin support to finally resolve the issue.

After residing at my property for over 10 years, I was thrilled to learn that Virgin Internet was now available in my area. Without hesitation, I signed up for the 1Gig plan as soon as I saw the Virgin engineers working nearby. During the sign-up process, I informed the sales representative about my struggles with weak Wi-Fi signals in certain areas of my house. They assured me that with my chosen plan, I would be eligible for free Wi-Fi booster pods.

After the broadband installation by the engineer, we tested the Wi-Fi signal and, as expected, it didn't reach the areas where I needed it the most. The engineer advised me to contact Virgin support, assuring me that they would send out the booster pods. Unfortunately, despite placing the order for the pods four times over a span of 2.5 weeks, every time I called, I was informed that there were no pod orders associated with my account.

Feeling frustrated, I decided to conduct some further research and attempted to use my own Wi-Fi extenders. To my surprise, I discovered that the 5x hub does not have a router mode, which was an essential feature for my needs.

I contacted Virgin support once again and explained the situation, mentioning that I have the 5x hub. It turns out that the technical teams have not received training on this particular hub yet and are unaware that the pods are not compatible. Each time I ordered the pods, they were automatically canceled by another department.

Here are some key details to keep in mind:
- The 5x hub is different from the 5 hub.
- The 5x hub is connected via optical cable, not coaxial.
- The new routers currently do not have a router mode (at the moment).
- Not all support team members are aware of this information when providing assistance.
- Wi-Fi extender pods are currently unavailable (at the moment), likely due to the router mode issue.
- 5x Hub not compatible with the virgin connect App
- This 5x hub is a trial hub and they are giving customer this without telling them. (Well never told me)

For now, I have placed the router in the middle of one of my rooms to ensure a signal reaches my office. I remain hopeful that Virgin can address this situation, rectify the pod availability, and enable router mode functionality. Unfortunately, switching to the standard 5 hub is not feasible for me since the cables running to my house through BT ducts are optical-only.

I find myself in a rather inconvenient situation, but I'm optimistic that Virgin will resolve these issues soon.

If any Virgin Techs read this please give me a update or a time scale???

[Roger_Gooner]

Customers with the hub 5X have no other VM options, so if they cancel they will need to find another ISP.

[legacy1]

One sure way for VM to lose customers😶 over something that should and must be in the hub from the beginning

[Tom_W1]

Hi @maxthegold thanks for your post here although we're sorry to hear of the concerns you've raised here.

How have things been since your post here, has the WiFi stabilised for you?

Many thanks

[The_Tonner]

HI @maxthegold 

Unfortunately, probably not the response you want to hear but my service has now improved. You should try the following:

- Contact - Technical team option 2 - Unity team - xgs-pon trial team (The specialise in the 5X)
- Request a technician to visit the property. My experience was the person that turned up did everything in his power to fix the issues before he left. 
- Request the extender PODs. Took a while to get them working but the work well now. (Use the connect app. If its not working clear the app cache)
- Access to modem mode is available through http://192.168.0.1/?page=modemmode.

As i said probably not the message you want to hear. 
Unfortunately like me if you want 1gig speeds this is your only option at the moment.  As you can see i waited months for this to be sorted but am now experiencing livable speed in my office and 1Gig + in my living room. 

[Adduxi]

I keep seeing this "- Access to modem mode is available through http://192.168.0.1/?page=modemmode."  BUT has anyone got this working on the new 5X yet?  Maybe I've missed a post somewhere?

[Client62]

The link takes the Hub 5x into an inoperable state from where a factory reset is required to restore operation in Router mode.

[maxthegold]

Hi @Tom_W1   

No, it is what it is. But that is the least of my problems. With the 5x hub being almost unconfigurable I will not be able to get my network the way I want it untill I can get modem mode working.

[maxthegold]

Hi @The_Tonner

Thanks for that. The specialist team you mention, is that by calling the Virgin help line up and asking for them or is that some kind of menu trail you have there.

I am not worried about the Wi-Fi service as I can fix that by putting my very expensive router into access mode and loosing 90% of it's functionality, not an ideal solution.  No it's all the other normal router configuration options that I am unable to access that is my problem.

Oh by the way how do you get that active link in the "Hi @username" at the start of your post, is it just an inserted link with the user url copied into it or is there a trick?

[Tudor]

"I can fix that by putting my very expensive router into access mode and loosing 90% of it's functionality" if you set up your router on another subnet other than 192.168.0.0 (I suggest 10.x.x.x to make it completely different) you should be able to use most of the functionality of your router. I know you will have double NAT, but it’s not that bad.

[allienet]

Is this the XGS-PON modem? If so, lucky! Though annoying they don't allow you to disable router mode, so not so lucky in that regard. I'm also unaware if Virgin Media is actually taking advantage of the main benefit of XGS-PON yet - the ability to offer symmetrical upstream? Is your plan the same as a DOCSIS plan or do you get special (faster upstream) plans?