New Virgin Media 1300Mbps WiFi SuperHub 2AC Router Leaking Out

Back in June 2014 we revealed that Virgin Media were preparing to introduce a new generation of SuperHub cable broadband router (here) and recently we’ve learnt that some customers have already started to receive the kit, which looks almost identical to their existing SuperHub 2 router (VMDG485 pictured) except for the addition of Gigabit WiFi (802.11ac).

As reported before the new SuperHub (VMDG490) appears to be based off a modified version of NetGear’s own kit (C6250 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Gateway), complete with Virgin’s custom styling and firmware etc. But rather than describe this as the SuperHub 3, as we initially did, it’s probably more accurate to call it a SuperHub 2AC, since the addition of 1000Mbps+ capable 802.11ac WiFi appears to be the main difference.

Virgin’s business division already has a document for what seems to be a virtually identical router (here), although officially the top kit for Virgin Media’s residential focused division is still their vanilla SuperHub 2 that sports the last generation of 802.11n WiFi technology at 2.4GHz (Qualcom Atheros AR9344 – up to 300Mbps) and 5GHz (Qualcomm Atheros AR9580 – up to 450Mbps).

Virgin Media have already confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk, in July 2014, that “small group of Virgin Media triallists are trying out a piece of equipment that features 802.11ac WiFi technology“. Since then we know that the trial has expanded and quite a few customers appear to have gotten their hands on the kit, with most reporting improved WiFi performance (though some have had the opposite experience).

Recently several customers have also reported receiving the new SuperHub 2AC as a replacement, usually after reporting a fault with their existing kit. This marks the first time that the devices have been distributed outside of a trial environment to home users, which suggests that Virgin Media has a high degree of confidence in the kit and so the final release may not be far off.

Naturally we queried this quite specifically with Virgin Media and a spokesperson for the ISP responded to say, in more general terms, “We can confirm we have on occasion replaced some Super Hubs with a newer model, depending on the requirements of the service each customer has.” Meanwhile the trial is on-going and apparently “more information will be available in due course“.

In the meantime Virgin’s rivals, including BT, TalkTalk and EE, already have 802.11ac capable WiFi routers. However Sky Broadband seems to be the ISP furthest behind on the technology front, their top SR102 Sky Hub kit can’t even do 5GHz WiFi let alone 802.11ac and the lack of Gigabit Ethernet ports doesn’t help. Some Sky customers tell us that this is the reason they’ve held off upgrading to FTTC because they don’t want slow kit.