They were basically fine, but they are hardcoded to your Virgin Media service so can't be used for anything else. I eventually swapped to a different router and they became useless. Virgin refuse to collect them (despite repeatedly promising to) so I decided to crack one open.

I was hoping there would be a reset pin or something in there - but I can't find any easy way to jailbreak them. Anyway, here are the photos.

A spludger around the edges was enough to pop off the plastic cover.

There's a huge heat-sink and a small fan. The plastic casing comes away easily.

The fan is easy to unscrew and the power connector pops off.

Once that's off, the heatsink can be removed by unscrewing it and prising it off.

Splodges of pink gunk - which I assume is thermal paste rather than reconstituted meat - is present. Pulling the main circuit board out shows the power board.

That's tough to remove without damaging the live and neutral contacts. Once done, you can see the capacitors.

There you go. Nothing stunningly interesting or useful for debugging.

In amongst all the other offers, they asked whether I would be interested in paying more for symmetric Internet speeds!

Here are some of the offerings they proposed. I must not that these are from a market research exercise. Whether they'll ever launch, and whether the prices are accurate, is something we'll have to wait to see.

As I've mentioned before, I like my 500Mbps down - but the 50Mbps upload is a bit of a drag. So I eagerly answered "yes" to anything that looked like faster upload bandwidth.

I've no idea if this will actually materialise. And I can only hope those prices are realistic.

If you're interested in joining Virgin Media, you can get £50 if you join with my link.

Well… I'm about to find out! Despite my well-publicised annoyance with Virgin Media, they are the only fibre provider in my area. They've also recently merged with O2 - my old employer⁰ - and are offering a free speed boost to any joint customers.

I had an old pre-pay O2 SIM, so spoke to Virgin and cheekily asked for a free speed boost. They said yes! Wye, shy bairns get nowt!

A few days later, Virgin sent me an upgraded VM SuperHub 4 (my current "3" can't go up to 1Gbps, and I didn't get on to the trial for the "5").

I'd already been sent some of their Plume Mesh Network pods, and they didn't need any extra configuration - more on that later.

Let's dive into the important stuff!

Speed Tests

Virgin's offer is 1130Mbps average download speed and 52Mbps average upload speed. What's that in the real world?

With a direct Ethernet connection: 942Mbps down, 52Mbps up, 10ms ping.

For contrast, my old system got 550Mbps down, 37Mbps up, and 9ms ping on a wired connection.

5GHz WiFi sat next to the router: 591Mbps down, 52Mbps up, 11ms ping.

And, of course, that's part of the problem with "Gigabit speed"! Great if you're wired in with some CAT6. But you're never going to hit the limits on a single WiFi device. My PS4 - wired in - can only get about 350Mbps from Sony's servers.

Of course, if you have multiple devices all streaming at once, that's when you'll notice the difference.

Thoughts on upload speed

I'm annoyed that the upload speed is still so low. The Internet is an inherently "sucky" medium; people download far more than they upload. But with competitors like Hyperoptic offering symmetrical speeds, it's a little disappointing. Frankly, I would rather have doubled my upload speed than download speed. The Virgin gigabit network is DOCSIS 3.1 which is theoretically capable of gigabit upload speeds.

But it looks like it doesn't use DOCSIS 3.1 for upload, which is weird. For general use, 50Mbps is fine. But when uploading a video to YouTube or sending large files to friends, it is a bit of a barrier.

Installation & specs

It was a self installation. Literally just unscrew the coax cable from the old unit and screw it into this one. Then wait a few minutes as it booted up and connected to the network. It uses a different power connector to the old version, which is slightly annoying - and the power cable is slightly shorter. But the overall design is much nicer - it's smaller and has a thermal vent at the top.

One irritating thing is the light on the device. The old 3 model had a small LED which could easily be covered. The 4 has a light bar which stretches around the the top and requires a long bit of tape if you don't want to dazzle yourself. Thankfully, there's a manual control so you can dim it, or turn it off: The SuperHub 4 is an 802.11ac device. If you want WiFi 6 (802.11ax) you'll need the SuperHub 5. I don't have any AX devices, so it doesn't bother me.

There are 4 Gbps Ethernet ports. If you choose to use your own router and place the hub in "Modem Mode", then only one of them will work.

Weirdly, there are 2 telephone ports. That's for a landline VoIP service. Frankly, I think they're useless. Would have been better to replace them with USB ports for printer / file sharing.

There's a WPS button for "easy" WiFi sharing. And a plastic card containing the default username and password.

Configuration

I'm really not sure how I feel about this... Virgin know my SSID and the passwords. They used them to preconfigure my Intelligent WiFi Plus Pods. So why isn't it the same here? Once the hub was plugged in, I expected it to start broadcasting my old WiFi name so all my old devices could connect to it automatically.

I manually set everything up, and my old devices connected just fine.

It's pleasing to note that the software has been updated to allow Emoji SSIDs! That means you can follow my tutorial: "HOWTO: Make a Doctor Who "Bells of St John" Style WiFi Name".

UI

It's well known that ISP supplied kit is a bit crap. It's usually mass market junk with a UI that barely works and few scheduled security updates. The SuperHub 4 is has the same poor interface as the older model.

There are a few welcome improvements. It doesn't need to reboot when you change the SSID, and the whole interface is a lot faster. Hopefully you won't need to spend too much time with it. Setting up port forwarding and fixed IPs is a bit of a chore. And there's no local domain name resolution. You can set up some rudimentary MAC filters, to keep devices on a specific SSID if you need.

But, in general, it's a bit of a horror-show.

IPv6?

LOL Nope! Customers have been asking for this for 11 years. Although there are signs that IPv6 is being worked on.

Final Thoughts

There's no need for Gigabit speeds… yet! Even on my "slow" 500Mbps connection I was able to stream 4K HDR Surround Sound Netflix. Downloading gigabytes of games is limited by the console providers' infrastructure. My wife and I could make simultaneous video calls with a tenth of the speed we have now.

But tomorrow… Will VR/Metaverse require stupid-fast speeds? Will hundreds of IoT gadgets want to burn through my bandwidth? Probably not, no. But I'm a geek and I crave the newest, shiniest, fastest tech that I can get my hands on.

If you live in a Virgin area, and can live with the slower upload speeds, and you don't mind the SuperHub's half-baked interface - this is a cracking service. Especially given the free speed upgrades available if you're also an O2 customer.

Promotion

We both get £50 if you sign up to Virgin media using this link. Enjoy!

Background

Virgin have a spammy DNS hijacking service. If you accidentally misspell a domain - for example example.coom - Virgin will pretend that the domain exists and serve you up an advertising page.

Yahoo powered! Yeuch! This means my data is sent to these advertisers without consent.

For the technically minded, the Virgin Media DNS should return NXDOMAIN instead it fraudulently returns NOERROR and redirects the user to the spam site.

Don't worry, there's a link to switch off the service.

But it is broken. It always says "the advanced network error search is already switched off."

Lots of people report having this problem but Virgin don't have an official fix for it. It is possible to change your devices' DNS servers - but it is impossible to change the DNS on the SuperHub. But, frankly, you shouldn't have to. Virgin should provide a proper DNS service.

So, here's how I got them to fix it. I hope this works for you too.

Raise a complaint

I raised an issue in the community forums. That's generally the best way to get in touch with the UK-based support team.

Eventually someone contacted me there and I was able to explain the issue. They started raising it with their IT team. But were unable to fix it.

I also raised a complaint directly with Virgin's complaints team.

After two months of being ignored, lied to, and misdirected - I asked for a Deadlock Letter. That allows you to make a complaint to the dispute resolution service.

Sadly, Virgin refused to issue a Deadlock. But as it had been longer than eight weeks, I was able to complain directly vis https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/.

A couple of weeks later, I got a notification that my complaint had been accepted by CISAS. By complete coincidence I received a phone call from Virgin the exact same day offering me a solution!

Apparently the only way to change this setting was for Virgin to delete my customer account and rebuild it from scratch. Yup, their solution was to literally turn my account off then on again. Their only other option was to release me from my contract without penalty. As they're the only fibre provider near me, I let them switch me off for a couple of hours.

It didn't work.

The Data Protection Angle

I reckoned that if Virgin were sending my browsing data to a 3rd party without my consent, that was a GDPR issue. So I emailed Virgin's Data Protection team saying:

Virgin Media have forcibly enrolled my account into their "Advanced Network Error Search" service.

When I mistype a domain name, Virgin redirects me to an advertising service powered by Yahoo.

I would like to understand on what legal basis are you sharing my data with Yahoo and the advertising partners on the service. I see no mention of it in https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/the-legal-stuff/privacy-policy

As per your policy, I wish to assert the following rights:

5. The right to restrict processing

I have repeatedly asked your technical team to remove me from the Advanced Network Error Search service. They have refused. I am therefore instructing you to restrict the processing of my data for the purposes of this service.

Please let me know your response by 1st March.

I didn't hear back.

So I found their Head of Data Protection on LinkedIn and politely asked him to take a look into it for me. He told me to email a generic address. I explained that I had already done so but received no reply, so he gave me his direct address. I forwarded him the above, and got a swift reply saying they'd look into it.

A week later, I got a weird email saying my Web Safe Parental Controls had been changed.

I hadn't changed them. But, obviously someone at Virgin had monkeyed around with my account - because the accursed Advanced Network Error Search had gone!!

They phoned me shortly afterwards and confirmed that the issue had finally been resolved.

And all it took was three-months of complaining...

Compensation

Virgin offered a one month bill refund - £48 - by way of an apology.

In light of the months of arguing back-and-forth and the amount of time I wasted trying to get this fixed, I asked for £300 of compensation. Which they paid. (!!!!!!)

They separately also gave me bill credit for the delay in processing the case.

What Have We Learned?

Virgin media have shitty customer service. Their backend systems are antiquated and unreliable. But they have fastest speeds in my area and low(ish) prices, so I'm stuck with them.

But, more importantly, the threat of GDPR is an excellent way to force companies to behave!

Join Virgin Media and get £50 bill credit

If you fancy putting up with this sort of nonsense, join Virgin Media and we both get £50.

If you have a big home, put a pod in every room and you'll have fast WiFi broadcast everywhere. Well, that's the theory.

Limitations

The big limitation is that both your 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi SSIDs need to have the same name and password. I usually split the names so that I always know which network I'm connected to. Virgin will remotely log in to your SuperHub and forcibly rename your 5GHz network to be the same as your 2.4GHz one. That means you will need to manually reconnect things which used the old name.

I kinda get why they do this - better to connect to a slow but stable 2.4GHz than a flaky but fast 5GHz - but it is annoying for those of us who rely on segregated names. Some of my IoT kit gets really confused by this. You may find that some equipment roams onto the 2.4GHz network because it is marginally stronger and never connects to the faster 5GHz network.

It is a Mesh system. The way it works is simple - the VM supplied SuperHub broadcasts 5GHz and 2.4GHz WiFi. This pod plugs into a power socket and listens for WiFi signals from the hub. It then rebroadcasts them - using the same name and password. So your phone or laptop will seamlessly connect to one network without you having to fiddle around with anything. But, of course, if the pod doesn't have a great connection back to the hub, it won't be able to give you a decent connection.

There are double Ethernet sockets on the Pod. They connect back through the WiFi; there's no PowerLine functionality. Additionally, there's no plug pass-through, so this will take up a socket in your home. It's also quite large - and might block the plug next to it.

The pod can get warm, there is a fan on the back of it which makes a light whirring noise. Nothing too loud, but you probably don't want to place it near where you sit.

Despite being rebranded Plume devices (see below) you cannot use the Plume app to manage them.

Speed Test

If I plug an Ethernet cable directly into the SuperHub, my laptop gets these speeds. I pay for 500Mbps and I get it. Nice!

If I'm next door to the Hub, and on 5GHz WiFi, I get these speeds: Pretty good!

At the bottom of my garden, without the pod, this is what I get on 5GHz: And on 2.4GHz

Pretty crappy! The 5GHz barely connects and the 2.4GHz is a bit wobbly.

So, the big test! When I plug the pod in halfway between the garden and the hub, this is the speed I get at the bottom of my garden:

Finally, plugged into the pod's Ethernet:

Initial thoughts

As a basic WiFi extender, they work. Naturally, the speed is limited to whatever the pod can negotiate with the hub. If you can get / afford multiple pods, they should form a mesh network to create a higher throughput backhaul.

But it does seem to come with a cost. Some of my gadgets get confused when there are multiple networks with the same name. They'll stick to a stronger 2.4GHz network rather than the faster 5GHz one. A couple of devices kept losing connectivity completely. And, because the networks insists on putting all the SSIDs on the same frequency - I've noticed an overall slowdown in my WiFi speeds.

Whereas before my top speed was over 500Mbps on WiFi, it has now dropped to about 480Mbps.

WiFi and Internet speeds are fickle beasts. I ran each test a few times at the same time of day. My maximum speed has dropped, but that's a fair sacrifice for vastly improved speeds elsewhere.

Tech Specs

These are rebranded Plume SuperPods.

WiFi INTERFACES

• 4×4 MIMO 802.11a/n/ac 5GHz
• 2×2 MIMO 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz
• Dual-band, dual-concurrent radio operation
• 5GHz MU-MIMO with Beamforming

CHANNEL BANDWIDTH

• 5GHz 20/40/80 MHz
• 2.4GHz 20/40MHz

CHANNELS

• 5GHz 36 to 48, 149 to 161
• 2.4GHz 1 to 13

DFS CHANNELS

52 to 64, 100 to 144, Region Dependent

ETHERNET

Dual 100/1000Base-T Ethernet with autosense WAN or LAN configuration

IoT RADIOS

Bluetooth Low Energy

Other Features

They're also meant to come with ad-blocking and speed-testing. But those features are unavailable. Similarly, I couldn't find a way to access the BLE functionality.

You can read about how the Plume adaptive WiFi works in their whitepaper.

Hackability

Basically none. They are paired with the Virgin SuperHub. They don't seem to work with other ISPs, and there's no management interface to factory reset them.

Virgin send the pods out preconfigured. Which means they log into your SuperHub, and copy your SSID and password to the pod. Hope you didn't use the password for anything sensitive!

Port 53 is open on the device - but doesn't seem to respond to anything.

Verdict

They work! But, I'll be honest, I think Virgin are a bit cheeky to charge extra for these. If they sourced a decent hub with external antenna - rather than the crappy Arris product they use - their customers would have better WiFi without the need to pay for more gadgets.

They're going to be £5 per month for up to 3 pods. That's £60 per year. At which point, it may be more cost effective to buy a decent router or your own mesh system.

I'm also not sold on the mesh concept. The domestic airwaves are already saturated with WiFi signals from your neighbours. Is adding yet another broadcast to the mix such a great idea?

Powerline networking is great - but I get that it struggles to reach the speeds offered by cable modems.

The dual Ethernet means that they can be wired in directly to your cable modem. So run a patch cable down to your shed, plug it into the Pod and you have a WiFi extender.

But, yeah, if you need WiFi in your attic or shed, they'll do. Obviously, if your walls block WiFi, there's a limit to what the pods can do. But the basic tech works.

Join Virgin Media and get £50 bill credit

Here's my referral link

This allows anyone with a Virgin Media account to connect to your WiFi! Virgin have been moderately sensible with their design of this - users get a separate IP address, so their activity cannot be commingled with yours. But what about your bandwidth?

Here, Virgin have been clever / annoying. If you're paying for the 350Mbps service (as I am) your cable modem is actually provisioned for a faster speed! But you can't access it.

My router's download speed shows: Max Traffic Rate 402,500,089

And upload speed shows: Max Traffic Rate 38,500,089

I get about 350Mbps down and 30Mbps up. So how to get access to the "reserved" bandwidth Virgin uses for their hotspot? Normally, you'd need access to their app - but there's a sneaky way around it.

EAP

You can login directly to the hotspot network! But it uses the EAP login protocol, which is a little more complicated.

Your computer or phone's login screen is going to look different to mine, so here's the basic details that you need:

• Identity is vmedwifi/you@example.com - use the email address you use to log in to my.virginmedia.com.
  • You must put the vmedwifi/ at the start.
• Password is the same as you use for my.virginmedia.com
• EAP method is TTLS
• Phase 2 Authentication is MSCHAPV2
• No certificate is needed

I've successfully connected via a Linux laptop and an Android phone.

My download speed on the segregated network was 40Mbps and my upload was 4.6Mbps. That's about 10% of my normal speeds

Limitations

You cannot connect to two WiFi networks at once. So if you want to use the full 400Mbps on one machine, you'll need to connect via both ethernet and WiFi, and bridge the network.

But if you have some 4K streaming happening on a couple of TVs, and a PS5 downloading an update, and a partner on a video call, while your your machine struggles to get any throughput - then you can connect your laptop to this "bonus" network and enjoy congestion free surfing.

Thanks to Dave for the tip.

I decided to sign a new contract with Virgin Mobile. After a brief chat with customer services, I agreed a contract for two new pay monthly SIMs and negotiated a handy discount.

I was told the SIMs would be sent out, and I could expect them in 3-5 days! That's the first mistake. We live in a world where people can buy the cheapest, most trivial items from Amazon and have them delivered the same day.

Indeed, if I go on to Amazon right now, there are a bunch of cheap SIMs I can order which will be in my sweaty hands before the sun sets.

Even 3 days... Are they sending these out by 2nd class post? Am I a 2nd class customer? I want to give them money - I'm not expecting them to personally courier it to me. But next-day delivery is the minimum acceptable standard for most customers.

Two days after I placed the order - and with no sign of the SIMs - I received an email from Virgin.

It was my bill. For a service which I had not received.

What message does that send your customers? "Sorry we haven't delivered you anything. Please give us money!"

To make matters worse, the bill was dated from when I placed the order. Not from when my SIMs were expected to arrive. That means I'm paying for 5 days of service I simply can't use!

The kicker? The bill was wrong! It made no mention of the discount that I'd negotiated.

Is this the experience that you want your customers to have?

What happened next

Eventually, the SIMs arrived. I was already a Virgin Media customer, and got a good discount because I've got their cable Internet package. Despite that, I need to set up a brand new account just to manage my phone contracts.

If you're offering a multi-play service, it's important that it is a seamless experience for the user. I don't care that you're multiple trading entities with a bewildering array of backend systems. It's not my job to make life easier for you - it's your job to make life easier for me.

The sign-up process was the typical clusterfuck that you expect from old companies who can't afford to update their systems.

Signing up required a new password.

What an annoying experience!

• Can't paste in a password.
• Maximum of 10 characters.
• No special characters.
• Must start with a letter!

What on Earth are those restrictions for? I kinda get the first three - although I disagree with them - but what system are they running which can't store a password which starts with a number?

The final icing of sick on this cake made of shit was the series of welcome emails that I got from Virgin Mobile. I have a bog standard Android running Gmail. Those emails are unreadable. This tells me that VM haven't tested their end-to-end journey. Or they tried it once on an old iPhone and it seemed to be fine.

AIBU?

I'm paying a tenner a month for two contracts. I am an extremely low-value customer.

But do I deserve to be treated like this? Should everyone be treated as though they were a precious and valued customer?

To be honest, I expect that the experience is identical for high-value customers.

Virgin Media have a long-standing problem with sending out well designed billing emails.

I'll put up with this because I'm paying an insignificant amount of money. And I'm only likely to stay until a better deal comes along. But this was an excellent exercise in how not to build brand loyalty.

The app mostly reflects the options in the web UI - but adds one piece of new functionality.

Pause Connection

It lets you, the admin, temporarily suspend the Internet access of a device. Useful! But the only way to do this is from the app.

Rather irritatingly, you can't snoop on the connection as it goes via AWS. So packet capture is out. I tried decompiling the app but got nowhere.

Virgin Wines loudly and repeatedly promise "next day delivery" on their wine cases. What they don't tell you is that this excludes orders made on Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday too. Basically, they only consider an order valid if it was placed on Monday - Thursday.

I believed their lies and ordered my wine on Friday morning - so it would arrive in time for Cheesemas. It was only after placing my order that I was made aware of Virgin's "creative" interpretation of "next day."

The Evidence

The very first page of their promotion mentions "next day delivery".

No mention of restrictions there. No asterisk and no disclaimer.

A little further on in the purchase process, and I'm again promised "next day delivery".

I'm well before the cut off time - both for regular and gift orders - and I'm reassured that there's only a 4% chance I won't get my lovely wine.

Still, best to check the terms and conditions, eh?

Express! Well! Now I know I'm getting my wine tomorrow!

It was only after I placed my order that I was explicitly told that a Friday order means a Monday delivery.

The Accusation

I've reported this to the UK's Advertising Standards Authority. They appear to agree that this is misleading and they've raised the issue with Virgin.

Am I being unreasonable?

If the adverts had said "next working day delivery", this could have been avoided. The only reason I can see for Virgin's choice of wording is that they intend to mislead their potential customers.

We live in a world of instant delivery - or close to it. If I place an Amazon Prime order on Saturday, it will get delivered on a Sunday. The concept of "working days" is an anachronism which isn't suited to the modern world.

The web is not the same as a printed brochure - it can be updated instantly. It would be easy for Virgin's website to dynamically change depending on the weekday. Once Friday rolls around, the website should let customers know that their tasty wine won't appear until after the weekend.

What's next?

The ASA have asked Virgin Wines to respond by 22nd December. We'll see if they can manage those timescales.

A brief recap:

Back in 2015, Virgin Media announced plans for a WiFi sharing network. A user's router would broadcast a separate WiFi network and other Virgin customers could roam on to it via an app. By default, all customers were opted-in to this service.

Like most of Virgin's plans, it was marred by delays and technical problems. I was on the trial for their new SuperHub3 - and it seems they were unable to get their router manufacturer to supply stable software. Faced with buggy routers and dreadful app reviews it looked like they had abandoned their plans.

Until last week - when I noticed that my hub had suddenly started to broadcast a new WiFi network without my permission.

Let me explain what's happening here. I have a main network, a guest network I've set up for demonstration purposes, and a "Virgin Media" SSID that I don't control.

Notice a pattern?

This signal is on the same channel, with the same signal strength, and a virtually identical MAC. This is coming from my router.

OK, let's try to opt-out. Oh. You can't. Virgin offer an opt-out screen at https://my.virginmedia.com/my-profile/view - but it doesn't work.

A day after opting-out, the router was still sharing my WiFi. I called customer services who admitted that the form doesn't work properly(!) but that they would manually mark my account as opted-out.

24 hours - and several reboots - later, nothing had changed.

A few points to note.

Virgin's illegitimate WiFi uses EAP security. That's not an option which is available to customers via the hub's GUI.

There's no way I could have accidentally set up this rogue network.

Virgin's customer service on Twitter was predictably poor. They don't know about the service:

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @virginmedia@virginmedia you offer WiFi sharing - so I can roam onto other people's wifi connections. I chose to opt-out. My hub is still sharing.

---

Virgin Media ❤️

@virginmedia

Replying to @edent@edent We don't currently offer WiFi sharing, Terence. It's a feature that we have planned for the future, but isn't currently active. ^ZR

---

But still advise that it can be disabled:

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @virginmedia@virginmedia fine. Whatever. How do I stop my hub broadcasting your unauthorised SSID?

---

Virgin Media ❤️

@virginmedia

Replying to @edent@edent As advised, you should be able to opt out via your online account. If this isn't working for whatever reason, try a different...

---

Is this a useful service?

No. The UK has excellent mobile phone coverage - it is particularly good around residential areas.

Virgin's routers have fairly limited range. In order to connect to the shared signal, someone would have to be literally standing outside my front door. Creepy.

As I've discussed before, sharing your WiFi connection may have legal consequences. Are you confident that someone committing a crime via your connection wouldn't be traced back to you? Do you think the police will understand the difference between a device on your network and a device on your shared network?

If you're sensible, you'll turn off Virgin's WiFi sharing. But that seems like Virgin aren't competent enough to make that possible.

What Next

Virgin have known about the problem for over a month but refuse to fix it.

Frankly, I'd move away from them - but they're the only company in my area offering 200Mbps speeds.

If you're affected by this, I suggest three actions

1. Call up and complain to them until they fix this. The number is 0345 454 1111.
2. Disable your 2.4GHz network. You will still be sharing a connection on 5GHz, but the range is weaker and less likely to leave your home.
3. Buy a separate router. With the hub in Modem Mode, no WiFi is broadcast and you can regain complete control of your network.

Virgin Media really need to sort this out. It is unacceptable to hijack a customer's connection without consent.

After complaining on Virgin's forum, they've fixed the problem for me. I don't know how many other people are unwittingly sharing their service.

Here's the email being sent to subscribers - followed by some commentary on what this means and whether it's a good idea for you to opt-out.

Let's ignore them mispelling my name - and concentrate on the technical details. From September, you'll be able to connect to any domestic Virgin Media SuperHub in the country. You'll be able to surf the web from your phone & tablet as though you were on your home connection. All without slowing down the owner's download speeds.

So, a quick Q&A.

Will this slow down my broadband?

No. Virgin's top speed is 152Mb down/12Mb up. However, I've spotted them trialling a 322Mbps service which seems to work quite well.

What I suspect they'll be doing is adding additional download and upload channels which can only be used by other customers.

Given their woefully inadequate upload speeds, it would be nice if they upped the owner's speeds as well.

However, if you like in an area with particularly congested WiFi, it is likely that extra users will interfere with your connectivity.

Depending on how many devices try to connect, it could knock some of your devices off your network.

Will visitors get on my LAN and access my computers?

Not if they've done this correctly. Virgin already offers a "Guest Mode" WiFi option which routes all traffic onto a different subnet.

Hopefully, they're sensible enough to do the same for strangers sharing your connection.

If someone breaks the law using my connection - am I responsible?

Possibly. However, one would hope that Virgin issues a separate IP address to sharers.

Virgin should also know the details of everyone who connects via your WiFi. If someone does something naughty - it hopefully won't come back to bite you.

Will this crash my SuperHub?

Probably. I was on the SuperHub 2AC trial earlier this year. While the hardware is much improved, there are still dozens of reported software bugs which still haven't been fixed. Adding this extra functionality is unlikely to help matters.

Will this cost me more money?

Yes. Your router will be working harder, transmitting more data, and flashing its lights a little faster. That will increase your electricity consumption?

When Comcast started deploying this functionality across their US Internet customers, some people estimated an additional cost of up to $20 per year!

In reality, unless you live in an extremely popular area and have people constantly using your WiFi, the cost is likely to be below £10 per year.

Can I Opt-Out?

Yes. This is the (somewhat) sneaky part. You are opted-in by default. If you do nothing, the service will automatically go live.

To opt-out, visit virginmedia.com/myvirginmedia

How do I log in to someone else's WiFi

It looks like you'll need to use a dedicated app. Virgin's current app gets fairly bad reviews - so let's hope they improve it before launch!

An app means that you'll only be able to log on with a phone or tablet - it's unlikely to work on a laptop.

Is this a good deal?

You get free WiFi. In return, you are paying with...

• Your location data. Virgin know where you go and when you go there. Every time you log in to a WiFi hotspot, they learn a little more about you.
• Your device data. Virgin will know what phone and tablet you have. All the better to target you with adverts.
• Your electricity. The power bill is unlikely to cost you much - although it is a non-zero sum.
• Your bandwidth. Virgin could choose to raise your upload and download speed. Instead they're giving them away to other users.
• Your privacy. People walking by your home will know who your ISP is. That's also true if you haven't changed your default WiFi network name - but for security conscious folk, it's not sensible information to broadcast.
• Your security. Virgin and Netgear (the SuperHub manufacturer) have a chequered history when it comes to securing their WiFi routers. Will sharers be able to access your network? When you access a shared network, will the owner be able to see what you are doing?

Overall...

I'm not convinced. We'll need to see just how well they implement this. But they can't escape the fact that a typical indoor router simply doesn't have a huge range - usually 50 metres. Domestic routers, by their nature, are usually installed in residential areas.

Just how often do you need WiFi when walking past a row of houses? How comfortable do you feel lingering outside someone's home when you want to check your email?

I'll give it a go - perhaps with more hotspots in town centres, fantastic app, and rock solid security, it will be a useful addition to my connectivity options.

Do you think this is a good deal? Let me know in the comments.

Using my SamKnows monitoring box, I'm able to see regular snapshots of my broadband performance. My 152Mbps service is usually rock solid - there's very little variation in its performance. Last week, however, it shot through the roof.

(Download Speed .csv file)

Whoa!

The only fly in the ointment with Virgin's speeds is their lack of decent upload bandwidth. When I was on BT's FTTC, I was able to get 20Mbps up. Pretty decent for streaming video conferences, uploading to YouTube, etc. Virgin's best upload speed is 12Mbps. But, last week, this was boosted to 16Mbps.

Upload Speed .csv file

Because I'm a geek, I've set up a script to monitor my cable modem's power levels (no, you need a hobby. Shut up!)

Interestingly, there was no significant change in power or SNR. Additionally, the modem was still only using 2 upstream channels.

My script isn't set up to see if the modulation has changed.

The 152Mbps is a somewhat arbitrary speed limit. As far as I can tell, it was chosen to be exactly twice as fast as BT's 76Mbps service. This 322Mbps service is, presumably, a response to BT Infinity 4's speeds of 300Mbps.

Although, yet again, the upload speed is slower. If Virgin would only activate all four upload channels - rather than the current two - they could double the speed to at least 24Mbps and finally be faster than BT.

The Official Response

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Are @virginmedia testing a 300Mbps service, or is my @samknows box having a moment of wishful thinking? pic.x.com/jpe7rmgi3d

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Virgin Media ❤️

@virginmedia

Replying to @edent@edent We're just testing out some new speeds, Terence! :) Make the most of it for now! Tweet if we can help ¦ AJ

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As part of this upgrade, they sent me an email stating:

now that your broadband has been supercharged, on the house, why not put it to the test? You've got the UK's fastest widely available broadband speed which is 12x faster than Sky and BT's regular broadband^, so get your friends over with their tablets, phones and laptops to try it out.

Well, that'll be a fun evening, eh? All of us sat around pushing the fibre to its limits. But, wait! How will all my friends get on the wifi?

Luckily, Virgin has thought of that. The bottom of the email helpfully suggests...

P.S. You can even change your WiFi password so it's easier to share.

Brilliant! Virgin's suggesting is that you change your super-strong password from "@WZ*dobAv8AxCbUeTckU" to "comein" so that your mate Dave can find it a bit easier to leach your WiFi.

This means three things.

1. Your password is weaker! Making it much easier for a malicious user to guess.
2. Dave now has access to everything on your network. Your file server, printer, TV, games consoles, security cameras, etc. He has unfettered access.
3. If he is so inclined, Dave can download illegal content under the guise of your IP address. If he's smart, he'll drive round to your house, sit outside in his car and do it. Or maybe he'll just torrent Game of Thrones while the rest of you are playing MarioKart.

Virgin, however, don't see this as a problem.

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Stunning security advice there from @virginmedia... pic.x.com/uuoqkqhm1k

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Virgin Media ❤️

@virginmedia

Replying to @edent@edent It's meant for the situations like when your friends come round and try and join...not easier to hack :) |DA

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Fixing It

It turns out, Virgin already thought of a solution to this problem. The SuperHub2 cable modem they provide isn't the best bit of networking kit in the world, but it does have "guest networks".

Log in to the SuperHub2, click "Advanced" and you're presented with this screen.

A Guest Network has a different SSID (Network Name) and, more importantly, is completely separate from your main network. Your friends will still have Internet access, but they won't be able to pilfer your files, control your telly, or switch your Internet Connected Fridge off.

I suggested this to Virgin, but they seem to think their customers are too thick:

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @virginmedia.@virginmedia then why not advise people to set up a secondary network on a different subnet? The SuperHub2 supports it.

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Virgin Media ❤️

@virginmedia

Replying to @edent@edent Its not a feasible option for everyone as not all our customers are that technical. |DA

---

Really, it's about as hard as changing the password on your main WiFi page.

If your friends can't bear your company without the pacifier of free WiFi, I strongly suggest that you set up a guest network. Add a password which is easy enough to type on a phone's keyboard, and let them run wild. Just remember - although they'll be unable to access your computers, you have no control over what sites they visit and which files they download...

Plausible Deniability

Perhaps that is Virgin's plan all along. As an ISP, the last thing you want is your customers getting sued for copyright infringement. You want the customer to enjoy all the delights that the Internet has to offer without constantly being worried that the cops are going to bust down their door.

Plausible deniability is a term coined by the CIA in the early 1960s to describe the withholding of information from senior officials in order to protect them from repercussions in the event that illegal or unpopular activities by the CIA became public knowledge.

"Who? Me officer? Why no! I certainly did not download those files. My IP address you say? Well, Virgin encouraged me to share my WiFi password with all my friends. I suppose it could have been any one of them. What? No, I don't know which of my mates likes Game of Thrones, I've never seen the show myself...."

Samsung Galaxy S

The Galaxy S is Samsung's latest Android handset.  There are so many Android phones out there that you need a really great advertising campaign (or a really great product) to stand out from the competition.

Let's take a look at the Samsung campaign.

Small Isn't Beautiful

Advert for GalaxyS on Guardian Mobile site

The advert is disproportionately small compared to the rest of the site.  The Android phone I'm viewing on has a screen width of 480 pixels - the advert looks tiny and pathetic.

At first I thought it was the Guardian mangling the advert - but a look at the URL http://images.mpression.net/image/11251/galaxy_banner168x28_v2.gif shows that 4th Screen have decided to serve up a 168*28 image.

Tiny Banner Ad

Worse than that, they've blindly resized the image rather than rework it.  Take a look zoomed in - the text is illegible.

Tiny Banner Ad

The Micro-Site

The site behind the advert isn't too bad.  But there's nothing exciting about it.  Just a series of static pages.  You can visit it at galaxys.co.uk/

What Do You Want Your Customers To Do?

With every mobile advertising campaign, you need to think about what it is you want to accomplish.  This campaign is, presumably, designed to encourage people to buy the Samsung Galaxy S phone.  So, it would make sense if people could buy the phone from the site. No?

Try to buy the phone from this page

There are three glaring mistakes on this page.  Can you spot them?

1. No mention of price. Is this pre-pay or contract? Is this a premium product or a cheap and cheerful device?
2. No click-to-call.  Those phone numbers should be clickable and should take the customer straight through to the dedicated Galaxy S representatives.
3. Those images of the phone company logos are clickable - yet there's nothing to suggest they are.

Still, clicking on those logos will let me buy the phone through a mobile-friendly shop. Right?

Mobile Companies Who Don't Do Mobile

eTailing is hard.  Getting a web based shop up, running and profitable is tricky.  Getting a mobile version of that site can be even harder.  But if there were ever a company to do it well, you would expect them to be a mobile company.  Sadly, that's not the case.

Vodafone's non-mobile website

Virgin's non-mobile site

So, our hapless user can't use her phone to make a call to buy the handset, she can't use the web browser to buy the handset.  Is she supposed to wander down to her local store to buy one? Way to make use of the mobile medium...

How To Fix It

All is not lost.  There are several easy steps which can be taken to fix this disaster.

• Serve up adverts which are correctly sized for the screen requesting them.
• Don't resize adverts - create a unique advert for each screen size you're targeting.
• Make you micro-site interesting. Add mobile YouTube videos.  Add wallpapers, ringtones, or competitions.  Give people a reason to visit the site and share it with their friends.
• Click To Call.  I don't know how often I have to say this, but if your potential customers can't place an order from your site - you will never convert them into a paying customer.
• Let the user know which parts of your site are clickable.
• Never redirect a user to a non-mobile website.  The user may have to pay the data charges and will get a site which they can't use.
• Mobile e-tailing.  Three huge names in mobile - yet I can't order this phone from my mobile. That's just embarrassing. Either make a mobile friendly site, or give customers directions to their nearest store.