RT-AC86U and Virgin SuperHub 3 - Issues with Speed

[Rich Saunders]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie to the forum but hoping someone can give me some advice. I'm by no means a novice as I'm in IT myself but also not an expert in networking.

A bit of background - Had the Superhub3 only and the wireless was woeful - very slow - live in a modern house with paperthin walls (4 bed) but I would often get drop outs on my Surface on one side of the house where I work from.

I purchased the Asus RT-AC86U and put the Superhub 3 in Modem mode and just ran the Asus on default settings.

Whilst wireless signal has improved, the speed I get via wireless - OR wired literally change with the wind! Therefore I feel the issue is NOT related to wireless.

My virgin connection is a 300mb line - I'm getting a consistant 38mb on upload which is all fine (i believe) but my download will change from 5-6mb, to 30mb, to 340mb......or somewhere in between, whether I'm sat next to the router - in the room above it or I'm directly connected.

I've plugged directly to the router, disconnected anything else connected to it (bar the hub of course) and still only get a max of 105mb or maybe only 80mb or sometimes only 40mb.

I've seperated out the Wireless channels to 2.4 and 5ghz and that's made no difference - as I believe the issue lies not in the wireless at all due to the results from the wired connection.

My ping rates on wireless are variable - from 2ms and then up to 18ms ping - I'm sat next to the router now and I'm getting mainly 15-20ms ping - but on some random pings it's 2ms or a lot higher!

Everything just feels really random from a speed perspective. The Router and Hub are near a TV - which I've tried to move them away from as far as I can.

I'm at a loss really - are there any settings on the Hub i need to be checking? I thought it was just put it in Modem mode and that's it.

I really am at a loss! Any help appreciated - I just feel I'm not getting the maximum of my 300mb broadband!

Rich

 

[Trip]

Download and flash Merlin for the 86U, then factory reset and reconfigure your network from scratch. Then re-test wireless and wired throughput and let us know if that helps to smooth out your connection.

EDIT: Also, see if you can get Virgin to give you a plain-Jane cable modem. All too often, these ISP combo modem+router units are a complete flake show, even in bridge mode. If they won't give you one, go out and buy one that's compatible. That should go a long way to eliminating that area as a point of question.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Put your Hub 3.0 back into router mode and disconnect everything apart from one Ethernet cable to a PC/laptop. Then test your speed again. If you still aren't getting the proper speeds consistently you need to phone Virgin Media and log it as a fault.

If you want to you can go to the router's main login page at 192.168.0.1 (or 192.168.100.1 in modem mode) and click on "Check router status". Look for recent errors in the Network Log and check Downstream for Post RS Errors.

 

[ColinTaylor]

EDIT: Also, see if you can get Virgin to give you a plain-Jane cable modem. All too often, these ISP combo modem+router units are a complete flake show, even in bridge mode. If they won't give you one, go out and buy one that's compatible. That should go a long way to eliminating that area as a point of question.

Unfortunately that is not an option with Virgin Media in the UK. Unlike places such as the US, you can only use the modem/router VM supply you with.

 

[JemTheWire]

Put your Hub 3.0 back into router mode and disconnect everything apart from one Ethernet cable to a PC/laptop. Then test your speed again. If you still aren't getting the proper speeds consistently you need to phone Virgin Media and log it as a fault.

If you want to you can go to the router's main login page at 192.168.0.1 (or 192.168.100.1 in modem mode) and click on "Check router status". Look for recent errors in the Network Log and check Downstream for Post RS Errors.

Excellent advice. In fact if you call VM to report a suspected fault they will ask you to do this anyway. So it’s best you have things to hand and are familiar with things before you call.

I have VM 200 service. I get quite a few T3 timeouts due to noise on my upstream channels. Occasionally I have so many the SH aborts and I have to power cycle the hub.

FYI I have a SH 2ac in MODEM mode with an Asus AX88U as my main router with an AC88U as an AiMesh slave.

 

[System Error Message]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie to the forum but hoping someone can give me some advice. I'm by no means a novice as I'm in IT myself but also not an expert in networking.

A bit of background - Had the Superhub3 only and the wireless was woeful - very slow - live in a modern house with paperthin walls (4 bed) but I would often get drop outs on my Surface on one side of the house where I work from.

I purchased the Asus RT-AC86U and put the Superhub 3 in Modem mode and just ran the Asus on default settings.

Whilst wireless signal has improved, the speed I get via wireless - OR wired literally change with the wind! Therefore I feel the issue is NOT related to wireless.

My virgin connection is a 300mb line - I'm getting a consistant 38mb on upload which is all fine (i believe) but my download will change from 5-6mb, to 30mb, to 340mb......or somewhere in between, whether I'm sat next to the router - in the room above it or I'm directly connected.

I've plugged directly to the router, disconnected anything else connected to it (bar the hub of course) and still only get a max of 105mb or maybe only 80mb or sometimes only 40mb.

I've seperated out the Wireless channels to 2.4 and 5ghz and that's made no difference - as I believe the issue lies not in the wireless at all due to the results from the wired connection.

My ping rates on wireless are variable - from 2ms and then up to 18ms ping - I'm sat next to the router now and I'm getting mainly 15-20ms ping - but on some random pings it's 2ms or a lot higher!

Everything just feels really random from a speed perspective. The Router and Hub are near a TV - which I've tried to move them away from as far as I can.

I'm at a loss really - are there any settings on the Hub i need to be checking? I thought it was just put it in Modem mode and that's it.

I really am at a loss! Any help appreciated - I just feel I'm not getting the maximum of my 300mb broadband!

Rich

anything with the virgin brand on it sucks. I booked my seat on a virgin train and didnt get to sit at it, so had to stand. virgin media advertises a high speed but does not give it, and the upload speeds you get with them are also terrible.

You managed to get 300Mb/s as peaks, so its not the router, its the service.

 

[JoeBee]

Got some thoughts here but its not confirmed 100% but SH 3.0s apparently is semi-bridge while in modem only mode, its not a true full bridge/modem only mode, this was mentioned on netgate forums by a another VM customer.

Also the super hub 3.0 is using the flakey intel puma chipset which is notorious for lags, drops and overworked cpu issues, there was firmware updatesend of 2018 which was suppose to help but not sure if it did fully.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.p...-flaw-that-hit-virgin-media-hub-3-router.html

I am not a network guy but others maybe able to work it out better, I too am on VM but I don't bother with the router in router mode I leave my sh 2.0 in modem only mode since its capped badly with connections and speed when in router mode. I have instead an ubiquiti wireless access point installed half way between downstairs and upstairs and this gives me 4-5 (5max) signal bars on my tablets and phones and no issues when surfing or streaming, I don't game though.

Virgin media do throttle naturally between peak times I think its 4-5sih to 11-12pm so naturally you will get slow downs then.

I would suggest ubiquiti gear or if you can go wired if your devices can handle it and run long flat Ethernet cables, cable them under carpet or via trunking on the ceilings or skirting boards, I do everything possible to avoid wireless since its not as stable or fast as wired connection.

Since your on 300mb line I don't think you can be downgraded back to SH 2.0 but its worth perhaps trying with virgin help desk or finding out at least, you do have to really insist on it or threaten you will have to leave the service otherwise though.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Also the super hub 3.0 is using the flakey intel puma chipset which is notorious for lags, drops and overworked cpu issues, there was firmware updatesend of 2018 which was suppose to help but not sure if it did fully.

I'm also on VM's 350/35 service with a Hub 3.0. When I first got the Hub 3.0 I experienced for myself the problems with the Puma chipset. Fortunately it was only a few weeks later that they released the updated firmware which fixed (or more accurately "worked around") the problems. My son plays all sorts of online multiplayer games and has never experienced any issues since the firmware update.

Virgin media do throttle naturally between peak times I think its 4-5sih to 11-12pm so naturally you will get slow downs then.

I'm not sure what you mean by "naturally". VM used to have specific traffic management policies that throttled some speeds during peak times, but they don't do that anymore. So if you experience slowdowns at peak times it's probably due to congestion/oversubscription, which you should complain to VM about.

 

[JoeBee]

I'm also on VM's 350/35 service with a Hub 3.0. When I first got the Hub 3.0 I experienced for myself the problems with the Puma chipset. Fortunately it was only a few weeks later that they released the updated firmware which fixed (or more accurately "worked around") the problems. My son plays all sorts of online multiplayer games and has never experienced any issues since the firmware update.

I'm not sure what you mean by "naturally". VM used to have specific traffic management policies that throttled some speeds during peak times, but they don't do that anymore. So if you experience slowdowns at peak times it's probably due to congestion/oversubscription, which you should complain to VM about.

oh that is good news with virgin not throttling anymore, I never knew they updated it that is very unlike Virgin, maybe an extra £3.00 price increase on top of the bill !

That is interesting about the hub 3.0, have you got on modem only mode ?

 

[ColinTaylor]

... have you got on modem only mode ?

Yes, I always use "modem mode".