Virgin Media Community

[Taz81]

Myself and my 9 yr old son have fairly recently got into online gaming, namely Fifa 20 and Fortnite. 

We're constantly getting lags and disconnects mid game. Judging by this forum we're not the only Virgin Media customers with this problem.

I've reset the router, checked connection and speed and it seems fine, so it must be something else.

I pay for a service which I'm not getting. Before anybody asks, I'm not a techy person, so I'm not going to be running diagnostic logs etc. I pay for internet suitable to game with and I'm not getting it. 

I play via Wifi and these lags and disconnects happen any time of day.

As an experiment we connected the Xbox to my 4G phone for Fifa Weekend League and guess what, zero disconnects and minimal lags ! Virgin internet is that inept that using my phones 4g provides me with better service than your internet !

I have contacted Virgin help and they have redirected me to these forums. If this isnt resolved, then I have every right to cancel virgin media, which I will be doing within 7 days.

[jpeg1]

If you want good performance with games, you really need to connect directly to the Hub by ethernet cable, as that is the only way your broadband is guaranteed. WiFi connections are very variable according to your domestic environment, interference from neighbours etc. You can improve the WiFi by following the various help links around this site, or by installing your own more efficient WiFi system.

[Taz81]

My son plays the same games at his mums house on Sky broadband via wifi and experiences zero issues.

I also have zero issues when connecting the xbox to my phones 4G.

So I cant be having the you need to use a hard connection advice.

[jpeg1]

Read the rest of my post. I said :

"WiFi connections are very variable according to your domestic environment, interference from neighbours etc"

It is this variability that makes WiFi unreliable. In some situations it will be entirely satisfactory, in others it will be useless, and every level in between. Additionally, WiFi always increases latency which to some gamers is a crucial factor. The way to be sure of getting maximum performance is to use an ethernet connection. 

[Taz81]

But those same factors and domestic situation, interference etc should also have an affect then when my phone is used as an internet connection instead of the virgin internet, but they dont. So in this case, that cant be an issue.

[jpeg1]

No, your phone is using an entirely different system and with vastly more power on 4g than on WiFi.