Forum Discussion

romcgrath's avatar
romcgrath
On our wavelength
20 days ago

Online meetings and TV dropping out

We are experiencing continued problems with our wifi connection dropping out during online meetings and while watching TV on our VM box. I had to abandon an online lesson recently as the connection kept dropping out so often. the student's video would freeze, then I would get a red banner appear saying 'You're offline, reconnecting'. It would then take several minutes to reconnect. After this happened 4 times I had to abandon the lesson.

We have recently replaced our router Hub after I contacted VM about this problem, but that doesn't seem to have helped.

8 Replies

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    16 days ago

    Irrespective of where you were sitting, the Wifi may have moved bands or channels.  That one of the reasons users manually set the Wifi and don't use the Connect app.  If you are so close to the Hub, try a Cat 6 cable (with USB adapter if needed) on the laptop, I suspect it will not drop out?

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    18 days ago

    Yes a cabled connection is always preferred.  However it may be the incoming circuit is not as it should be?  Please post the power levels and network log from the Hub for comment 

  • jbrennand's avatar
    jbrennand
    Very Insightful Person
    20 days ago

    I would never connect on wifi for an important meeting.  You will get a perfect connection if you connect the device directly to the Hub on a Cat6a ethernet cable.

    The same is true for the TV and tv box (which one do you have?).

    Alternatively, you could try to improve the wifi stability as per this old post of mine....

    ________________________________

    To address the wifi issues, VM now supply “wifi Pods” (no longer doing cheap and cheerless and poor value “boosters”).    However, their Pods are only free to customers  on the 1GB, Volt (or old Ultimate Oomph) packages - is that you?  If so they are worth trying - they should work for you. VM Wifi is now “guaranteed” to 30 Mbps/room it’s now called… Wifi Max 
    See if anything in here helps….

    https://www.virginmedia.com/wifi-max

    You call 0800 064 3850 to order the first one after scanning for blackspots using the connect App.- or just wait here for a VM person to respond in a few days and they will sort the first one for you.  If you do call dont get fobbed off by the offshore CS agents' saying you aren’t eligible - if you are - it is clearly stated on the webpage.

    You can also text VM on 0753 305 1809 include account name/number and what the issue is,  there is also a “Chat” option on their website - but note that replies usually take longer.  Or you can speak to the team on WhatsApp by logging into your online account via a mobile handset and there will be a link to speak to VM by Whats App (the number is 0780 3089 684   ) - you can use the same number for their other social media platforms too (TwitX/Fbook. etc) - so try them all.

    If not free to you… you will be charged £8/month for up to 3 pods.   It’s a simple solution and should work for you.  However, you would soon pay off that cost by buying your own wireless solution that will be yours to own and use forever,  although the VM Pods should be a simpler option.  If you do want to invest in better equipment, you would need to get either a…  (1) Mesh System, (2) Wireless router, (3) Wireless access point(s), (4) a pair of good quality Wifi Powerline Adaptors, or a combination of (2&3). £40-100 (that’s ~4->12 months of Max Pod rental) should sort it for most customers with an average property and usage. Spend more for additional advanced“features” - if required.

    • romcgrath's avatar
      romcgrath
      On our wavelength
      18 days ago

      Thanks.

      I was right next to the hub in the office. Would an ethernet cable still make a difference?

      We've got a 360 TV box which is connected by a cable that comes into the house.

       

      • jbrennand's avatar
        jbrennand
        Very Insightful Person
        16 days ago

        As adduxi says... if its still playing up when connected on ethernet, post up the Hub stats as per this old post..

        ____________________________

         In your browser’s URL type in 192.168.0.1  if in router mode or 192.168.100.1 if in modem mode.     No need to log in - just click on the “Router Status” icon/text at bottom-middle (Hub3/4/5) or top/right (SH’s) - of the Login page.

             Then… Navigate to these “data pages” and just copy/paste the normal  “Formatted Text” (not images) 3 FULL sets of data onto here – 2 tables in the Downstream tab, the 2 in the Upstream tab, &  the Network Logs pages.  Don't worry too much about the formatting it can be easily read & DON’T include personal data or MAC addresses - blank them out - if you copy/paste the data, the board software will do this for you (you may need to click the "submit" button again). If character limits are “exceeded” - just do two posts

        Also, If you haven’t already, set up a free, secure and “offlsite”  - “Broadband Quality Monitor” to continually monitor the state of your connection and record any true network dropouts , latency issues, packet drops, etc - it will thus allow you to differentiate between those and simple wifi dropouts.  It does it 24/7/365 and it keeps a visual record of any/all of your network disconnections, useful data to have to match to the Network logs (in your Hub settings) and also in discussions with VM - note it will take a few hours to start seeing a sensible picture - post up the “link” to the “share live graph”.  Click the lower link (Share Live Graph) then, click generate. Copy the text in the Direct Link box, beware, there may be more text than you can see.  On here click the Link icon (2 links chain to the left of the camera icon) In the URL box paste the link you copied and then click OK
         https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality