2.4GHz WiFi grinds to a halt / unusable

[philnumbers]

Hello

I have an issue where my 2.4GHz WiFi connections grind to a halt and become unusable.

Ethernet and 5GHz are fine, speedy in fact and have no issues.

As far as I can tell the issue arises when our phones (iPhone 13 and 13 Pro) switch over to a 2.4 connection. Doesn't seem to happen to my Mac Book but maybe that is better at keeping the 5GHz connection?

I have a Hub 3 and have 2.4 & 5 both switched on with everything set to Auto / Enable Channel Optimization - I believe it has to be set like this for my plug in Virgin issued WiFi booster to work properly.

The greyed out channel on 2.4 shows Channel 6, I assume this is the channel it's using even though I can't manually change it. I have a Sonos system with various speakers, that is set to Channel 1.

Is poor 2.4 speed a known issue with Hub 3 and anything I can do to help fix it? I'm trying to get VM on the case but need to try again tomorrow on their chat so thought I'd ask here in the meantime. And I'm talking very slow, like a single simple page will take minutes to load, videos in YT / FB etc won't load.

Cheers

[legacy1]

VM don't give you a good wifi connection you can ask for a new hub or get your own router with 1Gb ports with better wifi support and have hub in modem mode

[Client62]

Do remember that a the 2.4GHz band is typically going to show a max of 50Mb/s on a direct connection to the VM Hub with a VM Pod in the process ( Hub 3 >>> VM Pod >>> iPhone ) the speed is halved to about 25Mb/s.

Many devices do not work well with Smart Wi-Fi enable, some not at all.  Auto Channels on the Hub 3 tends to produce random glitches on the WI-Fi during channel changes.

Not having VM Pods was a choice we made in favour of our Hub 3 having stable fixed channel Wi-Fi.

[philnumbers]

Thanks Client62 but unfortunately I’m not talking about 25Mb/s, it feels like 0.25Mb/s when it slows down.

I don’t *think* it’s only when connected to the Pod either as that is in the opposite side of the house to where we often have issues. But I don’t know how I can tell what my phone has chosen to connect to?

I could switch it off for a while to test to see if the issue goes away, but it is providing a connection to a couple of things that I want to use.

[Client62]

VM Pods are just Wi-Fi Repeaters, it must be located where there is a good signal from the Hub to repeat,
if a VM Pod is placed too far from the VM Hub the result can be a large area where the signal is good, but the bandwidth is little or nothing.  Placement is very critical for all forms of Wi-Fi Repeater.

When you see very poor performance does that also go with low signal level on the iPhone ?

If it does it may be the iPhone has connected to the VM Pod and stayed with it despite the VM Hub being closer, it is the iPhone that chooses which Wi-Fi service to use ( not the Hub or Pod ).

From the iPhone app store install a free Wi-Fi Analyser app. These can show the WI-Fi signals in the house and which Wi-Fi signal is being used.

[Sephiroth]

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@philnumbers wrote:

Hello

I have an issue where my 2.4GHz WiFi connections grind to a halt and become unusable.

<SNIP>

The greyed out channel on 2.4 shows Channel 6, I assume this is the channel it's using even though I can't manually change it. I have a Sonos system with various speakers, that is set to Channel 1.

<SNIP>

Cheers

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The Hub cannot be broadcasting on both Channel 6 & Channel 1.

Putting that aside, channel congestion (6) is a possibility, either from your speaker system if running, or from neighbours.  That said, channel optimisation on the Hub should put you onto a different channel.  

What’s it like with the speakers inoperative?  Or at non-peak times?

[Adduxi]

The only “proper” working wifi scanner for iOS, due to security, is the Airport Utility. 

[Adduxi]

Of course the Intelligent WiFi could be flipping between Channel 1 and 6 ….. 😂

[philnumbers]

“When you see very poor performance does that also go with low signal level on the iPhone ?”

No, it often shows full WiFi signal. 

“The Hub cannot be broadcasting on both Channel 6 & Channel 1.”

Yeah the Hub I think is on 6.

My Sonos speaker system which creates its own mesh network called SonosNet, on I think 2.4GHz, is set to Channel 1.

[Sephiroth]

OK - got it.  The Sonos system is on a separate WiFi that does not go through your Hub.

That leaves neighbouring contention (which the “intelligent WiFi” should deal with, or it needs some hands-on expertise and rigorous experimentation.