Failing to login into Hitron Business Router admin login

[plumbygirl]

Hi All,

I had my superhub 3 modem switched to a Hitron one as I moved over to the business platform.

I managed to get into the router setup page (192.168.0.1) and noticed that the time was incorrect (had it down as GMT+1) so I changed that and it said it would have to do a restart which I allowed it to do.

However, once it restarted I can no longer get into the setup page. It just hangs. I did a hard reset returning everything to its defaults (held the reset pin at back of router for 20 seconds) and tried again, no joy!

Strange thing is that I can get on the internet, I can still receive and send emails, but just cant login to the router setup. I tried both wired and wireless connection with the same result.

Am I missing something here or is there a problem?

Many thanks

[Groovins8n]

So I report on here that the subject of the thread is still not fixed. The forum team then sends to reply’s to an unrelated reply, (because they have said they are leaving) and ignore the actual subject of the thread??

@finalboss86 at least you got a response, 

@ForumTeam well done for ignoring the actual problem, your poor technology has now caused me to spend £175 on a decent router that actually works and actually does the job. I cannot believe that you have awarded my reply a solution!!??!! Really. Putting it in modem mode and buying a replacement router is the solution? Meh 

[rodmunch]

Hi folks,

I'd like to share my experience with this exact issue, hopefully it'll help someone out and also it will record the problem for reference by VM techs.

A bit of background - our company switched to VM from BT because of the unreliable service,  We had service dropouts for hours at a time that BT could never resolve, even with engineers being on site 5 times.  Rather than risk a new ISP on the same physical cabling, getting VM seemed logical as they are on a different infrastructure altogether and would provide new cabling from street to premises.  Luckily one of our suppliers though sends content to a media server they own (in our rack), and this data comes over a separate BT Broadband line - this is really handy as we can use this as a backup Internet connection.

Anyway voom was installed at the turn of the year. We have since had 2 major interruptions to service (one of which is current).  My interpretation is that both were as a direct consequence of small admin changes I've made on the Hitron router.  When saving these changes the router froze and needed rebooting.  Subsequently the admin login via 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.100.1 would not load, and both wired/wireless Internet connectivity was mostly down, occasional ok (for a minute or 2), or so slow it was unusable.

The changes made were straightforward, just basic port forwarding and DHCP reservations. Nothing complex.

I first raised this on 12th March, and incident was "resolved" on 3rd April. Factory resets on the router didnt resolve but did bring back the admin functionality, eventually the device was replaced.  I was also switched to a static IP address (which probably added to the confusion), and the correct number of upstream channels were assigned (from 8 to 24, which is what it should be to give the claimed 350Mbps downlaod speeds).

The second outage happened last week, again the router froze when saving a config update.  When I reported this to VM they rep advised they could see errors that an engineer would have to deal with at the local exchange, so we wouldn't need a site visit. (to be fair, I did see a VM cabinet nearby that appeared to have been vandalised, and Virgin engineers were working on this subsequently. I don't know if this is our local exchange or indeed if its related to our issues). He also rejected the suggestion that the connectivity issues were caused by the config save.

The service was still flaky yesterday, so last night I did a full hard reset of the router (remove ethernet cables, hold reset button for 30+ seconds, wait 15 mins). Wired and wireless connections are now working great (Ookla speed test recording 355Mbps download and 15Mbps upload on the wired connection).  I'm going to set static IPs on some devices istead of DHCP reservations though, but have re-introduced the port forwarding rules and saved the config.

So my observations are

1. The Hitron Router is unreliable and unstable wrt making admin config changes - this really isn't good enough for a business grade service.  A hard reset and reload of the router config seems to have resolved my current issue.

2. I've found the Virgin service desk reps and engineers to generally be really helpful, but there are issues with communications (both calling or using on-line chat, and subsequently getting updates on progress). I get the impression there are resourcing problems at Virgin.

3. Having the BT line as a backup has been invaluable

4. Going forward, I'll need to consider if putting the router into modem mode and using another router for admin and wifi is a viable option

5. I've spent far too much time troubleshooting and resolving these issues than I want to, this has been a real distraction form my other tasks

6. I'd like to see some more feedback from Virgin re this particular subject in this thread

7. I'd also like to to be able to track incident tickets on-line, including adding comments. Some visibility of what is being done to resolve our issues and when it is being undertaking would really enhance the service.

[Shazbat1]

Have to agree, the Hitron Router is a disaster. I've the same problem as everyone else here. I can't login at all. It just hangs. This is nuts! Yes, I have internet, but the d/l according to speedtest is 164.26 mbps -- a far cry from the 350 mbps promised -- and my smart devices can't find the wifi. It has the slowest reboot I've ever encountered -- my old router was up and running again in under two minutes, this thing takes nearly half an hour. I'm partially disabled and the router isn't in the most accessible of spots, so getting at it and resetting it is tough. Fine once a year, but not every week. This isn't the service I expect from Virgin. I've an NTLworld email address, so that tells you how long I've been with them, and this is far and away the worst experience I've had in all those years. I had my old router for years and years and NEVER had a problem with it. The Hitron has been nothing BUT problems. Please, Virgin, dump this piece of rubbish and get decent routers that WORK PROPERLY! Deliver the speed you promise or stop advertising it (as you're in violation of the advertising standards) and respond to the cries of your customers who are becoming increasingly frustrated!

[scalyback]

Been at this a week now, dropped out in Sunday night at midnight reported the issue engineer turned up on site, and plugged his laptop into the router stated to my wife "mine works" and that was that, here I am at 5AM on a Saturday morning having travelled back from Belgium last night still trying to get things to work, WiFi constantly drops out, ethernet connections are not working, nothing can connect to the WiFi, I can't connect to the router to see if it is in modem mode, reset time if that doesn't work, throughing the damn router in the bin.

Working away from home and trying to get my internet connection to work is a constant battle, my wife scans documents for me to deal with while abroad but I cannot get to them because the damn internet connection is not working

[louis-m]

I'm not sure how you have the Hitron router configured?

I have VMB Voom 3 and haven't had an issue with it. I simply don't go into the router to configure anything on it. It's a plain old modem to me that does a GRE tunnel and supplies me with 5 static IP's. All of those IP's are entered into my virtual router/firewall although most would use a hardware appliance to do the same.

I can't see any config on mine for wireless etc. I think you might be running it as residential (even though you may be paying for business) because AFAIK, Voom business requires GRE to run and give you a true static IP. If you are dynamic, you will be on the usual residential which also might explain why you are getting the full 350mb down as there are a lot of users on here (including me) using business who never get the full 350mb using GRE.

I've not had any issues since the install although that's not to say you might not. Personally, I'd use the Hitron as above (and not in residential modem mode) and use a router & access point behind it to give you a better experience.

You might not get the full 350mb but I do find it reliable getting 200-270mb down and a constant 20mb up.

[scalyback]

Engineer came round yesterday and I had lost the PPP? settings doing a reset, wifi is up and running but only one ethernet port works, so I have a choice to have my upstairs cabled stuff working or have the connection downstairs for my Sky Q to work as the WiFi drops if more than one ethernet port is connected.

So I can fork out for a Linksys or Netgear Wireless router or I bin Virgin altogether and go to something slower but alot cheaper.

[louis-m]

Are you using the GRE side of things? Do you have a static IP or IP's?

I'd imagine that if you pressed reset on the Hitron to put it into modem mode, you would have lost the authentication for the GRE and therefore reverted to residential and a dynamic IP.

I'm looking at mine now and there is nowhere on any menu for wireless so I can only assume that you are using it in a different mode to myself??

[Farrow1]

Unfortunately this is still a problem. I'm using another Hitron box from VMB now and it's the same as the last one - you can't login after its been on a few hours unless you reset it. I've given up messing with it now and I'm using it in modem-only mode, and using an Asus router that is vastly superior in terms of what it lets me configure - and it actually works consistently. 

Virgin support just don't care either. I can't blame the folks on the phone though, there's nothing they can do about the terrible firmware.

[Shazbat1]

I haven't been able to get into my router for months. I power off and power on again when it fails completely and otherwise (things like fine tuning) I've given up. It's not worth it because it'll fail again and I'll have to repeat the process and honestly, I can't be bothered any more. It's a real shame. In every other way bar one, I'm very happy with Virgin, but this lousy router and the fact they obviously don't read this board or, if they do, they can't be bothered to do anything about it, means when I get my Which? feedback forms asking about my broadband experience I have to mark Virgin down. Clearly (given where they stand on the Which? forums) I'm not the only one. Such simple things to fix that would undoubtedly improve their standing. SHOW SOME PRESENCE ON THE FORUMS AND GET DECENT ROUTERS. Yes, the latter would bite a little bit into their bottom line, but isn't it worth it when it's getting Virgin such lousy reports?

[jbrennand]

Equipment/hardware upgrade/changes are out of VM control. They are decided upon by their masters in the marketing department of at Liberty Global.
Just do as Farrow1 did and get your own wifi router.