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virgin media super hub and apple time capsule

Hi - I'm just about to take delivery of a virgin media super hub ( as Virgin are currently increasing our Speed) - but currently have a Time Capsule, how would this work with the new Hub? I still want to use the TC but as the new hub is both Router and Modem? Can anyone give me some "laymens" guidance please?

Many thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jun 22, 2012 9:17 AM

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12 replies

Jun 22, 2012 12:54 PM in response to malcolmfromleyland

I am a VM customer and was speaking to one of their technicians about it, since my current cable modem does not have wifi, and a replacement will have. It is possible to login to the cable modem administrator page using a browser, and turn-off the wi-fi, so that the signal is distributed only by ethernet. The TC would then be the become the wi-fi router (although you could still connect hardware to the cable modem's remaining ethernet ports if you want to (I will be doing this with a PS3).

Jun 22, 2012 2:33 PM in response to malcolmfromleyland

Instead of using the TC as the router you should just leave the routing to the cable modem.. and bridge the TC.


Go to the manual setup (use 5.6 in Lion) internet tab, down the bottom connection sharing and choose off, bridge mode.. the TC will then act as an AP and network hard disk but the routing is turned off.


Wireless you can sort in a number of ways but it will be ok to run both.. generally.. the TC since Gen 2 are dual band and the virgin router will be just 2.4ghz.. so you can pick up the TC using 5ghz. Or connect via the virgin modem..


If you need more info just ask.. wait until you get it in place and then see how it goes.

Jun 23, 2012 12:13 AM in response to LaPastenague

Hi all sorry for the thread hijack bear with me please :-)


I just received my virginmedia superhub and it is working away merrily. If I connect a laptop directly onto the superhub I get the paid for bandwidth of (nearly) 60mb.


However with my time capsule connected to the superhub and the superhub wifi set to OFF I still can connect however my speed drops to about 15-23mb.


My Time capsule is setup with the DHCP and NAT router mode set to OFF (Bridge Mode) and Radio Mode and Radio channel both in wifi Settings to AUTOMATIC.


Is this as fast as I can achieve via the tc and my iPad and iPhone or should I be getting more via the tc or have I some further config to do?

Jun 23, 2012 12:49 AM in response to georgeyoung

Actually, I've done a little more investigation here.....


Windows laptop connected wirelessly to my TC wifi or the superhub wifi gives high speeds of >50mb download.


I can therefore deduce that either it's the speedtest.net apps on my iPhone or iPad that is wrong OR my apple devices are not able to cope with this speed? Is this right?


I have also got a mac mini connected directly into one of the ports in the time capsule. The speed there is also impressive so I am left pondering the apple devices and their wifi settings.


If I put the mac mini into wifi mode and turn airport ON (and physically disconnect the cat5 cable) I get much lower speeds circa 15-25mb.


I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion here that my speed issues are apple wifi settings rather than my virgin media connection or my time capsule. Wifi is fine on my windows laptop so where does that leave me?


Wifi Config on iPad1, iPhone4, iphone4s mac mini and 2011 MacBook air (not tested this morning but will do shortly) ?

Jun 23, 2012 1:43 AM in response to georgeyoung

Sorry people, update on the mac air, it works perfectly fine wirelessly and I get speeds >50mb from speedtest.net.


So in conclusion my Virginmedia XL bb is working perfectly fine, my time capsule it appears is fine, my mac mini, works when directly connected, my laptop and my 2011 macair are working superbly well all showing acceptable speeds. Only issues left are mac mini when over wireless (using speedtest.net web site) and my iphone 4, daughters 4s and my ipad1. The mobile devices are all running the speedtest.net app....note I did try another speed checker on the ipad and it showed no tangible difference.



If it was an issue with the wifi settings I would not get >50Mb on the mac air or my works windows laptop. Is there a limitation/ setting on the iphone4, iphone 4s and ipad1 and mac mini (wireless setting) that stops me getting my the full bandwidth?


Gosh I have banged on a bit sorry.

Jun 23, 2012 4:48 AM in response to georgeyoung

Wireless in scientific terms is the voodoo end of the network spectrum.. black arts..


I recommend a few changes.


Do not use TC at default and auto.


1. Use wireless names that are short, no spaces, pure alphanumeric. And different for 5ghz to 2.4ghz.


2. Lock the wireless channels.. auto in busy areas, can result in wireless constantly hopping channels. Lock it down to the best one.. at 2.4ghz the non-overlapping are 1, 6, 11 (13 in EURO zone).


3. Use WPA2 Personal security only.. passkey 8-12 pure alphanumeric.


4. Range on the TC is not fabulous, particularly at 5ghz.. and speed on the 2.4ghz is limited by apple refusal to use dual stream. The virgin modem might work better at 2.4ghz.. just space the channels and lock them all down.


5. Then the issue is client OS and drivers.. Lion upgrade installed is much poorer than clean install. It affects wireless worse than anything.

That may account for some of the differences you are seeing.. but lion networking isn't as good as SL was AFAIK.

Jun 23, 2012 11:57 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thank you for taking the time to respond.


1. done

2. done, i tried all as you suggest but I am afraid it made no difference to the speeds.

3. yeps this was the case.


4. Disconnecting from the TC wireless network and reconnecting to the virgin media superhub wirelessly also made no difference to the speed, with mac air and my windows laptop both experiencing good >50mbs rates however Iphone 4, 4s and ipad all circa 8-15Mbs.


5. I have my macmini running Snow Leopard it is ok when hard wired (i have seen >60Mb!!) but over wireless the speed on this too similarly drops to the 8-15mb range.


The mac air and my works laptop are blisteringly fast over wifi, only tried the air on both 2.4 and 5Ghz networks but again they totally rock.


Not quite sure where this leaves me, on the face of it and I can accept that apple mobile devices are not as powerful as computers...yes however, if anyone is still alive and following this, then why does the macmini speed drop to the levels of the iphones and ipad when on wifi. :-/ If I can solve this then I will just accept that phones and tablets are (shock horror) not as powerful as computers. I will do some digging around there and leave it at that.


Finally, it cant be the 2.4Ghz link or capabilities as the air and my works laptop certainly works at the higher speeds on that network.


Thank you for your help.

Jun 24, 2012 6:15 AM in response to georgeyoung

I am still following the thread! I am very interested to read your findings, since I am running an old-style non-wifi 20mb ntlworld cable modem and a newly acquired TC and I have been wondering if the TC was up to the job of distributing the data flow on a 100 mbps line (which I thinking of upgrading to).


I know that in practice the Virgin service can only serve data as quickly as the websites/game sites you are connected to, but I wonder if the TC will be a 'throttle' on the Virgin network. If so, maybe it's best to operate 2 separate home networks, on different channels: (1) Virgin router and (2) TC. What do you think is the best way to handle this issue?


On my home wifi network, we currently use 2 macbook pros, 1 macbook that can only use 802.11g at best, 3 ipads and 2 PS3s. The PS3s are the most connection speed-sensitive (gaming) but any of the others might be used for streaming video at any time.

Jun 24, 2012 2:55 PM in response to cgparfitt

I am still following the thread! I am very interested to read your findings, since I am running an old-style non-wifi 20mb ntlworld cable modem and a newly acquired TC and I have been wondering if the TC was up to the job of distributing the data flow on a 100 mbps line (which I thinking of upgrading to).


In theory the TC is well up to the speed required.. wan to lan throughput of the latest gen or previous one should be same as the 5th generation AEBS which is tested around 430mbps..


See http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/31564-apple-airport-ext reme-gen-5-reviewed


They use the same processor and basic functions. 1.2ghz processor should be well up to the speed.


In reality lots of people are reporting problems.. there is some issue that needs fixing with firmware or OS upgrade. It doesn't hit everyone, but the TC has enough reports of issues to be wary.



I know that in practice the Virgin service can only serve data as quickly as the websites/game sites you are connected to, but I wonder if the TC will be a 'throttle' on the Virgin network. If so, maybe it's best to operate 2 separate home networks, on different channels: (1) Virgin router and (2) TC. What do you think is the best way to handle this issue?


On my home wifi network, we currently use 2 macbook pros, 1 macbook that can only use 802.11g at best, 3 ipads and 2 PS3s. The PS3s are the most connection speed-sensitive (gaming) but any of the others might be used for streaming video at any time.

You can setup two networks.. just bridge the TC.. and set its wireless to a fixed channel different from the virgin router. There is no problem with doing that, and you are not double NATting doing it. Try to avoid double NAT as that would really give you two networks and the one will be hidden from the other.

Jun 24, 2012 5:17 PM in response to georgeyoung

georgeyoung wrote:


i have my virgin seperhub wireless set to OFF, however I do not have the virgin super hub set to modem mode.


The virgin has to be the modem.. but I think by modem mode you mean bridge out the router so it is modem only.




If I go into the superhub and set it to modem mode my TC is unrecognised. Do I have to then set the TC up to do DHCP or NAT?


I have switched my vm wireless to off and not to broadcast the ssid.

Ok,, if you set it to modem only then the TC has to be the router.. And you have to reboot both the modem and the TC to get the TC to capture the public IP that was previously allocated to the WAN of the Virgin modem.. I am not sure how long your cable service requires for a reset.. some are a few seconds.. some 15min and some can take ages.. Try short first and then longer and longer periods.. eventually ring the ISP support and get them to help you.

Oct 15, 2012 2:42 AM in response to malcolmfromleyland

Set the super hub to modem mode and treat it like your old modem. Simple as that.


I've got the super hub in router mode with 5GHz radio for the 300mbs to stuff that can get a signal which is the same room in practice. The TC is in bridge mode serving the connection via 2.4 ghz for the rest of the house. TC is available via both wireless signals.

virgin media super hub and apple time capsule

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