Forum Discussion

Cmhood's avatar
Cmhood
Just joined
7 months ago

WiFi Pods and connect App

Hello I have moved to virgin from BT where I had two discs to provide whole house connectivity.

with virgin I have areas of no connectivity and when I download the connect app it tells me it can’t connect to the hub although I am connected. 
due to this I have called customer services who have requested £25 to book an engineer to come and move my router from where their engineer installed it!!

when I challenged this I have been told to uninstall the app and reset my hub and monitor the situation for a week before contacting customer services again and maybe not have as many devices connected. I have 13 devices if all on at the same time the same I had with BT but never more than 5 working at once.. I have uninstalled the connect app and logged in and out more times than the Hokey Cokey and I reset the router every few weeks anyway. 
I can’t believe how hard it is to get truly great WiFi.. with BT I could just order a disc! 
from reading the forums I’m clearly not alone with this issue if anyone can help me..

 

many thanks

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta

    I'd ignore the troublesome VM Pods and buy a Wi-Fi Mesh that you own and can quickly configure as needed.

  • jbrennand's avatar
    jbrennand
    Very Insightful Person

    See this old post of mine...

    _______________________

    Do you know if its a wifi only issue (are ethernet connected devices ok?), if it is - then On a Hub3/4/5, you could first try separating the SSID's of the 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi bands by renaming them in the settings At the same time switch off "channel optimisation/Smart wifi” and “ apply and save the settings. All wifi devices will now need reconnecting to the best SSID at each location. Also use a wifi scanning App or Apple Airport Utility) to find the best wifi channels to use (just select and use channels 1,6,11 on 2.4GHz) - this often helps Hub users get better wifi performance - so its worth trying - but its still no substitute for getting better kit 🙂

    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 day or two 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.

    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.

    See the post from “newapollo” in this thread for a guide to scanning and ordering Pods….
    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Impossible-to-request-a-POD-via-VM-Connect/td-p/5493273

     

  • Hey Cmhood, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community I am so sorry to hear about this.

    This may sound like you need need a WIFI pod from us.

    They are free if you have 1GB or a volt customer.

    You can also order a pod from the connect app here 

    Let us know if you need any help with this.