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Edb123's avatar
Edb123
Joining in
2 months ago
Solved

WiFi Pod slow flashing white light.

I have a single wifi pod set up with a Super Hub 3. The pod is on the landing at the top of the stairs approx. 10/15m away from the hub in the living room. 

every couple of days the pod drops its connection to the hub and no amount of switching off and on again re-pairs the pod to the hub. The only way to reconnect is to switch the hub off and on then the pod does re-sync. The lasts about 3 or 4 days and then it’s back to a slow blinking white light on the pod and it’s offline again…the pod also gets pretty hot. 

anyone got a fix other than switching to Sky/BT? 

thanks 

  • Robert_P's avatar
    Robert_P
    31 days ago

    Keep us up to date with this after you get the new Hub.

19 Replies

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  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    2 months ago

    Hi Edb123 

    You haven't said which particular pod you have, however you should be able to select the type and follow the troubleshooting tips for it from the following page

    https://www.virginmedia.com/help/how-to/broadband/wifi-pods

  • Edb123's avatar
    Edb123
    Joining in
    2 months ago

    It’s the white one. The trouble shooting guide is no good to me unfortunately, firstly because the connect app doesn’t work. Secondly, selecting any of the options within the trouble shooting guide doesn’t work. Thirdly, I suspect the advice the troubleshooting guide will provide is either A) moving the pod closer to the hub. If I don’t that it will be pretty pointless having the pod as it will be in the same room as the hub. B) reset the hub and the pod. The doesn’t solve my problem as I have to keep resetting every couple of days. 
    Thanks all the same @newapollo, think I’m just going to chuck the pod in the bin. 

  • Edb123's avatar
    Edb123
    Joining in
    2 months ago

    UPDATE. 
    I decided to contact tech support (as I mentioned I cannot get the connect app to work and the online troubleshooting guide will not allow me to select the online support option from my mobile phone for some reason). Tech support ran a number of tests and concluded that I “need to upgrade to a faster broadband speed because it appears there is an issue with the distance the extender is from the router”…

    • Kath_P's avatar
      Kath_P
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      2 months ago

      Hi Edb123, 

      Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

      We're sorry to hear you're having an issue with your connection through WiFi. It does sound like the pod is a little bit too far away from the hub so it's losing the connection. The first thing you should do is move the pod closer to the hub. Realistically, the pod should be placed around half way between the pod and the problem area. 

      Once the pod is moved, it can take around a week to fully optimise in the new area but you should notice an improvement in the connection. 

      In terms of the Connect App, what issues are you having when trying to access this? Let us know so we can help with resolving this. 

      Many thanks,

  • Edb123's avatar
    Edb123
    Joining in
    2 months ago

    Thanks for the reply Kath. I have measured the distance from the Hub on the ground floor to the WiFi pod position on the first floor landing. They are 6m apart (9m if you take into account ceiling height) 

    I’ve done a speed test using the SamKnows website (as recommended by VM). It’s 260Mbps approx at the hub and 100Mbsp at the WiFi pod position i.e. approx half way between the hub and the WiFi dark spot. 
    I’ve had the WiFi Pod for a while and initially had no problems with distance between them hub and the pod. This issue has developed in the last few weeks. As I said in my initial post the connection is fine for a number of days and then it will disconnect and can only be reconnected by fully resetting the hub. This only lasts for a few days before the pod disconnects again. 

    VM customer support initially told me that I needed to upgrade to a faster speed which I’m fairly sure will not solve the issue of poor wifi signal? 
    I have been sent a replacement pod as VM tech support later confirmed that the problem was with the pod. The new pod has exactly the same issue. 

    • Adduxi's avatar
      Adduxi
      Very Insightful Person
      2 months ago

      Upgrading to a faster speed will not fix any WiFi issues.  If the Pods are not suitable for your property, look to getting your own solution.  A Mesh system perhaps. 

      • Client62's avatar
        Client62
        Alessandro Volta
        2 months ago

        If the new VM Pod does not work when it is close to the VM Hub the Pod may not be paired to your VM Hub.  VM would have to fix that at their end.

        The other possibility is manual changes made to the Wi-Fi of the VM Hub can prevent the VM Pods from working, E.g. disabling Smart Wi-Fi or using different SSID/Passwords on the 2.4 & 5GHz bands.

  • Edb123's avatar
    Edb123
    Joining in
    2 months ago

    UPDATE 

    it’s almost a month now since reporting this issue with the WiFi Pod. Having been told there was no fault with the pod and that I needed to up grade the VM package speed to resolve a WiFi signal strengthen issue, I have since been sent a new pod which has exactly the same issue. I’ve done multiple speed tests to establish that that pod is not positioned to far from the router but still been told multiple times by VM that this is what the problem is. VM have now decided to send out a new Hub 3 in an effort to solve the issue. I’m told if that doesn’t work they will need to send out another 3 hubs before they can honour the WiFi max guarantee. 
    I was also contacted by VM on this forum to try and resolve the issue but when trying to respond the the security check questions the “reply” button in the table doesn’t work…anyone else with that problem when using a mobile browser? 

    • Robert_P's avatar
      Robert_P
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      2 months ago

      We aren't aware of any issues replying to messages, is it the same when using a different device? A laptop or PC maybe?

      • Edb123's avatar
        Edb123
        Joining in
        2 months ago

        The issue I had was on a mobile when trying to include an email address in the reply box. Having typed out a message when clicked the “reply” button in response to a private message nothing happens. I’ve had the same issue when trying to enter info in the web chat / robot tech support on the Virgin Media website. 

    • Adduxi's avatar
      Adduxi
      Very Insightful Person
      2 months ago

      I know it's not a solution, but if you move the Pod as a test, does it stay connected?  Just curious about the range of the Hub. 

      I don't use any VM Wifi kit btw, I've always used my own Router and separate Wifi kit and run the Hubs in modem mode.

      • Edb123's avatar
        Edb123
        Joining in
        2 months ago

        I’ve moved the pod immediately adjacent the hub and it doesn’t reconnect with resetting the hub.

        I’m going to wait and see if the new hub solves the problem.