Super Hub 3 slow in modem mode

[LPJA]

I have had my broadband upgraded to vivid 350 and the router to super hub 3, since then I have had poor speeds (something I am not used to with virgin).

If the SH3 is in router mode I am getting around 350mbps wired connection, as soon as I put it in modem mode and connect my Asus n66u the speeds drop to 120mbps.

Why???

I did not have any issues with my SH2 and this is the only thing that has changed.

I am getting quite frustrated with VM as when I spoke to there support team, they insinuated it was my home network and not there SH3.

I beg to differ! 

[mpitts]

I've stumbled on this post after finding I was "getting" 370 Mbps + in Router mode but only 220 Mbps in Modem mode (via TP-Link Archer C7).

Having run lots of different tests I think there is more to this than meets the eye, and if I'm right it could have pretty major repercussions for Virgin.

I noticed in an earlier post that a Virgin rep recommended running the speed tester on speedtest.net and I suspect many of the people on this post also use that. Sure enough speedtest.net shows 384 Mbps when in router mode. However no other speedtester gets anywhere like this rate. Most of the others were averaging around 240 Mbps - which is actually what speedtest.net shows for my setup when running in Modem mode.

It seems that something in the Virgin setup knows when a router is connected to speedtest.net and running a speed test and gets faster speeds as a result. This implies that the 370 Mbps is not representative of real world download speeds at all. It all smacks of the VW emissions scandal and massaging test results to look good. Depending on how they are achieving the apparently faster results it could also have implications for "Net Neutrality".

FWIW Below are what are the results I got.

Router Mode:                                Down                             Up                         Ping

Speedtest.net                                   384 Mbps                            26Mbps                8ms

Google’s speed test                        249 Mbps                            21 Mbps

broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk     269 Mbps                            21 Mbps              24ms

thinkbroadband.com/speedtest     246 Mbps                           21 Mbps

testmy.net                                         244 Mbps                            16 Mbps

broadband.co.uk                             215 Mbps                            21 Mbps              33ms

Modem Mode:

Speedtest.net                                   245 Mbps                            21 Mbps              8ms

Google’s speed test                        149 Mbps                            20 Mbps

broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk 286 Mbps                            21 Mbps              32ms

thinkbroadband.com/speedtest 215 Mbps                           21 Mbps              23ms

testmy.net                                         192 Mbps                            16 Mbps

broadband.co.uk                             202 Mbps                            22 Mbps              25ms

Would be interested in anyone else's thoughts on this.

[ktakodra]

same issue here others report differently but speedtest.net reports an amazing 380. I’m guessing that server is sitting/hosted  right off the virgin infrastructure 

[mpitts]

If it was just that then I would have thought it would also show the faster speed when the Hub is in Modem mode.

[Blueyonderer]

I just ran a few speed tests in modem mode to see how my connection is performing: SH3, CAT6 Network, Asus RT-AC5300 router, intel Gb NIC onboard 8 year-old Core i7 PC, wired connection.

Here are my results (all taken between 9.15pm and 9.35pm tonight):

https://broadbandtest.which.co.uk/

http://www.speedtest.net (direct from website)

Speedtest.net Windows 10 app:

Google speed test:

thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

[larzoapso]

Yes, I am experiencing this right now.  My Netgear router was perfectly happy working alongside the SH3 until very recently.  Just in the last two weeks though I have noticed my speed reduce from 50Mbps to 9Mbps !

That is a hell of a drop.  I did the normal diagnostics to no avail.  Today I thought I would put the SH3 back to Router mode and disconnect my Netgear router.  Guess what, speed back up to 50 !  (I tried a few different speedtest sites also and they all said the same).  You can tell anyway !

So, I put the config back to using my Netgear and the SH3 in modem mode and lo and behold - back to 9MBPS !!!

Virgin CLEARLY don't want you to use your own router !

[Finalboss86]

The superhub is not actually a modem. It only acts as one through software. I would suggest a modem is a modem through hardware not software. 

[legacy1]

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@larzoapso wrote:

Yes, I am experiencing this right now.  My Netgear router was perfectly happy working alongside the SH3 until very recently.  Just in the last two weeks though I have noticed my speed reduce from 50Mbps to 9Mbps !

That is a hell of a drop.  I did the normal diagnostics to no avail.  Today I thought I would put the SH3 back to Router mode and disconnect my Netgear router.  Guess what, speed back up to 50 !  (I tried a few different speedtest sites also and they all said the same).  You can tell anyway !

So, I put the config back to using my Netgear and the SH3 in modem mode and lo and behold - back to 9MBPS !!!

Virgin CLEARLY don't want you to use your own router !

---

Connect a PC to the modem mode port in modem mode and test your speed like that.

[Roger_Gooner]

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@Finalboss86 wrote:

The superhub is not actually a modem. It only acts as one through software. I would suggest a modem is a modem through hardware not software. 

---

I think you'll find that the Intel Puma 6 chipset is hardware not software.

[radial]

I am now sure this is a problem with the SH3 Firmware... I was upgraded from Gamer 200 a couple of weeks ago, now before the update I was acheiving pretty much maximium speeds via my SH3 in Modem Mode connected to my Netgate SG-1100 (Dedicated PFSense router).

I noticed almost immediately after the upgrade that I had a real dip in speed, speed tests will not go over ~94 Mb/s but I didn't have any time to investigate.

I've been working on it today (for HOURS!) and the conclusion I've come to is Firmware 9.1.1802.610 on the SH3 in Modem Mode is broken, my reasoning is thus...

The WAN port of my SG-1100 will no longer negotiate with the SH3 at more than 100BASE-TX, if I try and manually set the interface speed it drops the connection until I set it back to Auto, then it just renegotiates at 100 Mb/s. I've also hooked up a custom build PFSense box that I have used in the past with no issues, this also is unable to negotiate past 100BASE-TX. I've just plugged up my trusty little GL-iNet GL-AR750S portable router that is capable of Gigabit connectivity over both LAN and WAN interfaces, and you guessed it, 100 Mb negotiation.

If I put the SH3 in to Router Mode BAM full speed on all ports!

Virgin, your firmware is broken in Modem Mode... Please investigate and fix! Failing that please roll my SH3 back to previous firmware and stick me back on the Gamer 200 as that worked absolutely fine with the hardware above!

[Roger_Gooner]

Other people get full speeds from their router with the hub in modem mode, you can't blame VM for your problem. I suggest that you also ask for help from a Netgate forum.