# Virgin Media Broadband/Landline Router help



## craigleese123 (Sep 28, 2020)

Hi 

I have a virgin media 3.0 hub which i wanted to change the mode from router to modem and invest in new router however i also have a landline telephone which connects directly into the virgin media hub 3.0. 

I have tried to find a router which would be compatible for my landline telephone aswell as the broadband. From my understanding the router would need a WAN connection for the broadband and an ADSL connecting for the telephone. 

Initially i thought a converter ADSL to Ethernet so i could stick it in the LAN ports in the rear of the router, but i'm not sure that would work ? 

Apologies if this is a confusing post! 

thanks
Craig


----------



## phill (Sep 28, 2020)

If you're on Virgin, I'd have guessed you'd be on fibre to the premises??    Would what they supply you be any good or is it really that bad??


----------



## silentbogo (Sep 28, 2020)

Hub3 seems like a decent modem(at least on paper). 
If you have some serious performance degradation, you may want to call your provider and replace it. As far as I remember there were some issues with cable modems based on Intel Puma chipsets, and this thing is likely on the list of affected devices.

But if your wired speeds are still fine, and you only need to bump your WiFi speeds and coverage, then you can go about it several ways without resorting to "modem" mode:
1) Buy a decent wireless access point instead
2) Switch your new router to AP mode
3) Just plug in WAN of your new router to one of Hub3 LAN ports and go from there (set it up as-is, and you'll have a subnet separate from Hub3's network)
4) Plug in LAN to LAN, disable DHCP server on your new router. Pretty much the same thing as AP mode, but with more flexibility.

The choice of wireless router doesn't really matter - all decent ones support all of the above. Just get whatever fits your bill, or your spec.
Got me a TP-Link AX10 router about a month ago, and so far I'm really happy with it. It's the cheapest WiFi6 router, but so far it outperforms my previous "temporary" D-Link DIR-842(aka AC1200), and beats the crap out of my old ASUS RT-AC1300.



craigleese123 said:


> Initially i thought a converter ADSL to Ethernet so i could stick it in the LAN ports in the rear of the router, but i'm not sure that would work ?


That's your modem's job, and it's already doing it. And when it comes to DOCSIS modems, ARRIS is basically the only game in town (your Hub 3 is based on TG2492s). 
You can try and get a newer DOCSIS 3.1 modem, but to be honest - it's not worth it. Basically your only option is SBG8300, which costs nearly $300 and may not be available in UK.
There are some alternatives from Netgear and TP-Link, but they are as rare as pink unicorns.


----------



## animal007uk (Sep 28, 2020)

Why do you want to split things?

Even if you can put the virgin box into modem mode then i would guess a new router would still have to pluged into the old box so more info is needed on what your plan is by getting a seperate router.

@phill virgin have some of the best speeds in the uk if your lucky enough to be in an area they will supply it and in most places i believe the main cable virgin use that comes into many houses is a chuncky coax cable rather than pure fibre to the home, (still 100 times better than BT's firbe to the cab crap).

The UK is messed up with all it's diff companys and fiber to cab or fiber to the home or coax cables and what ever crap we have lol


----------



## craigleese123 (Sep 29, 2020)

Morning guys, thanks v.much for the replies. 



phill said:


> If you're on Virgin, I'd have guessed you'd be on fibre to the premises??    Would what they supply you be any good or is it really that bad??



Yes it's fibre optic @ 100mbps. The virgin hub 3.0 is the issue from the other forums which i've read and youtube. I have random wifi disconnections throughout the day to my devices, especially to the household mobile phones. We have extremely poor mobile phone signal in the house therefore we constantly rely on the wifi to make incoming/outcoming calls. 



silentbogo said:


> Hub3 seems like a decent modem(at least on paper).
> If you have some serious performance degradation, you may want to call your provider and replace it. As far as I remember there were some issues with cable modems based on Intel Puma chipsets, and this thing is likely on the list of affected devices.
> 
> But if your wired speeds are still fine, and you only need to bump your WiFi speeds and coverage, then you can go about it several ways without resorting to "modem" mode:
> ...



I'm going to try the Access Point mode and see if the cures the problem and leave the telephone cable connected the virgin hub and connect everything else to the Access Point. Seems the easiest step to try first - thanks. 



animal007uk said:


> Why do you want to split things?
> 
> Even if you can put the virgin box into modem mode then i would guess a new router would still have to pluged into the old box so more info is needed on what your plan is by getting a seperate router.
> 
> ...



Purely from the connection drop outs i'm getting on the devices. I cannot get another fibre optic broadband provider in my area so i need to stick with virgin media unfortunately. It doesn't help the customer support @ virgin medial is poor. 

Thanks
Craig


----------



## silentbogo (Sep 29, 2020)

craigleese123 said:


> Purely from the connection drop outs i'm getting on the devices. I cannot get another fibre optic broadband provider in my area so i need to stick with virgin media unfortunately. It doesn't help the customer support @ virgin medial is poor.


Just call the support again and demand to change your hub to a newer model. With these symptoms it probably is that problem I mentioned earlier (defective SoCs, also a subject of class-action lawsuit in US).


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 29, 2020)

craigleese123 said:


> I have random wifi disconnections throughout the day to my devices, especially to the household mobile phones. We have extremely poor mobile phone signal in the house therefore we constantly rely on the wifi to make incoming/outcoming calls.



sounds more like you're suffering from channel congestion interference maybe select a different channel for your wifi to use manually as auto never seems to work properly you'll always end up on an congested channel or as it has been said you just have a duff modem/router in which case ring Virgin and demand a newer one


----------

