Wireless Internet Hubs

[BlueMoonMole]

[Apologies if this is not in the right section - Admin, can you please place me elsewhere if this is the case]

I have just signed up to Virgin Media on a 10mb Broadband package, which I am yet to have installed, but am happy with.

My question is:
Is the router that comes with it any good?

And if not, what would be my best option with regards to buying my own?

Current usage = XBOX Live/PS3 network, Occasional iPAD/Netbook usage & some downloading, although mainly YouTube & iTunes

I believe 10mb is enough, but I don't want to be interupted whilst slaying people on my beloved CallofDuty or losing my natural cat-like-reflexes whilst educating my peers on Fifa12...

Thanks for your help, in advance, guys&girls...

 

[ChrisFrost]

Wireless isn't the best way to preserve the broadband speed you're paying for when connecting to a games console.

No matter how fast the promised wireless speed, wireless routers rarely achieve much more than 20%-40% of their quoted speed on a consistent basis. They're also prone to drop out from interference. That's not much of a problem if you're surfing the web or sending a few emails, but it's a P.I.T.A. if you're trying to stream a TV feed or storming a bunker in an online game.

If you have the option to run a bit of network cable then you'll notice your gaming experience runs much smoother. Alternatively, go for Home Plugs which use the house mains sockets to send internet around your home.

 

[turanafon]

i take it they will be supplying the SUPERHUB to you.??

i would wait and give it a try, any problems or help with questions can be found somewhere here
http://community.virginmedia.com/

You can turn the SUPERHUB into Modem only mode and attatch another router like the Dir 615, which apparently has better wireless range

 

[BlueMoonMole]

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm awaiting them to come and install everything, and in the meantime have networked my entire house in CAT6 cable!

I've ran a feed to every room from where I will be having the Virgin enter the property.

and I'm looking at manual routers... is this correct?

 

[ChrisFrost]

Normally the way we would do it is to use a Network Switch. This takes all the network cables from your rooms and acts as a junction so that the various devices can talk to each other. Add a connection from the VM Router to the Switch and now you have internet access everywhere too.

Switches come on two types: unmanaged and managed. For simplicity you want unmanaged.

They come in various sizes depending on how many sockets you need.

Finally there's the speed. Fast Ethernet (10/100) or Gigabit (10/100/1000). A 24 port Gigabit unmanaged switch can be had for less than £150. Smaller switches are less.

 

[timtheenchanter]

depending on how many rooms you need connecting together, my VMhub has 4 gigabit ports on the back, so acts as a switch anyway, if needed you can connect one of these ports to another switch to multiply the connections.

I have the original VMhub, and the wireless seems to be less reliable than my old sky router, the wifes laptop and my phone keep dropping off, despite me being on a differing channel to other wireless APs in the vicinity.

 

[stuartturbo]

I'm on VM 10mg with there netgear router
And get better connection speeds when wireless ie 9.5mg down and 1 up but go wired the upload stays the same but down drops to about 2.3mg

 

[ChrisFrost]

How odd. The speed of the Up/Down service from the Internet Service Provider should be completely independent of the speed of the home network connected behind the router.

My service speed doesn't change whether I hook up Gigabit devices or just Fast Ethernet gear, and I haven't seen a change in any of my customer's connection speeds either as I have migrated them to Gigabit either.

 

[Sam Gangee]

To avoid confusion with other units of measurement, Mega bits per second (data throughput speed) is normally written "Mb/s" and has nothing to do with "mb" (millibits) or "mg" milligrammes.