Have spent over 4 hours trying to order a pod, terrible experience.

[Nickoglas]

Hi, 

We recently had Virgin come by door to door, really nice sales guy who offered a deal which was half the price of our current package with BT and 10x the speed, we were already thinking of leaving BT so decided to go with it. 

At the time they said as we are on o2 we'd get upgraded to 1GB and we'd get 3 free pods. I think there is simply a bit of disconnect between sales and engineering as the engineer didn't leave any pods and when asked seemed very reluctant. I actually wasn't here at the time of the install so couldn't speak with him directly. 

We connected the o2/VM accounts to activate Volt and got the double data on o2 quickly (matter of days if that), and I ordered a pod over the phone which took around an hour. Waited a few weeks and nothing turned up, I honestly just assumed they were busy/used an economy postal service to send it. 

Anyway it turns out because volt hadn't been activated on the Virgin side somehow (even though it was working on o2 side) so they auto cancelled the pod and didn't tell us. Having no idea this had happened and that volt wasn't activated finally got it setup when I called to ask why the pod hadn't arrived, and was told in 24 hours we could order a new pod via WhatsApp. Spent another hour on hold on WhatsApp today only to be told they can't order it because it's a hub 5x.

Whilst the price is a lot better than our previous supplier which is good, the customer service has been pretty atrocious and has required a lot of chasing on my end and time spent on hold trying to get through (probably at 5+ hours now) just to order a pod so I can use the internet on my PC (my PC doesn't have a wifi card and previously I used BT discs with an ethernet connection as that was also more stable) has been really frustrating, especially when we thought it was all arranged and no one told us otherwise. 

Really not sure if anyone can help here, but was advised by other customers to try posting here. 

Many thanks

Nick 

[Client62]

Life is far too short to waste the next 3 months trying the prise the VM Pods one at a time out of VM.

Order a decent MESH today and it can be installed and covering the whole home tomorrow.

[Nickoglas]

Honestly I am at the point where I am considering ordering one. I spoke to them on the phone again today and they said "I can't do it but will get my manager to approve it and call you when it's done" I do not expect to receive a call from them.

Honestly it's not even the full 3 I need which we were promised at point of sale, I just need one so I can connect my PC to it via ethernet cable as that is upstairs and the router is downstairs. 

[Cardiffman282]

As sure as night follows day that manager callback will not materialise. Forget the pods and get your own kit (just be aware that the 5x can't be put into Modem Mode). 

[Client62]

Folks tend to feel the suggestion to buy and own your own network gear is a flippant remark, its not.
The upside of a retail Wi-Fi solution is you own it, you control it & it works with any ISP.

A Wi-Fi repeater only extends a decent signal from the VM Hub further into the home,
but the cost is a 50% loss in speed.

Connecting a PC to a VM Pod or Wi-Fi Repeater by an Ethernet cable is just using an external Wi-Fi adaptor.
If all you need to do is connect a PC to the Hub via Wi-Fi a low cost dual band USB Wi-Fi adaptor would work fine.

If the problem is there is no Wi-Fi signal upstairs, putting a Wi-Fi Pod there or any Wi-Fi repeater is not going to work.  This is the number one school boy error in the placement and use of Pods / Repeaters.

[Nickoglas]

There is indeed wifi signal upstairs, of course not as strong as downstairs but it is present. I would prefer to connect via ethernet straight into the hub but we ended up moving it for various reasons. 

We are currently on 1GB at the router, so I don't mind losing a bit of speed, in a perfect world I would not need to lose speed but as you and the other commenter have inferred it isn't perfect. So I think I will just buy my own wifi extender off Amazon and see how that goes. 

In the past with BT we had these discs, the same thing as Virgins pods really, and I found that connecting the disc to the PC via the cable was a much more reliable and consistent connection than just connecting via Wi-Fi so it should be okay in theory. 

[Nickoglas]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, and yes you're right. They said it'll take 3-5 days to arrive (if they even ordered it) so I am going to give it until Friday and if it has not arrived I will buy my own solution from Amazon etc. 

At this point I will try a simple extender and see how it goes. Beyond that I will cross the bridge when I come to it. 

[Nickoglas]

Sorry to message again but just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to write back. 

[Kath_F]

Hi Nickoglas, 

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 there's been some issues when it's come to getting a WiFi pod. When being boosted to Volt, this automatically includes WiFi Max. It doesn't mean you automatically get 3 WiFi Pods. If there are issues with your signal, we can run through diagnostics to determine if one is needed. 

I can certainly check the account to see if one has been arranged for you yet but in order to do that, I will need to confirm some information with you to pass security. I have sent you a direct message to allow us to do this with you in a private space. If you are using a PC/Laptop then you can just click on the little ✉ at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox. If you are on a mobile/tablet device then instead click on the little circle icon in the top right then select 'Messages'. 😊

Thanks, 

[Nickoglas]

Hi Kath,

Thanks for getting in touch. I have replied to your DM just now. 

In terms of Volt/Wi-fi max. At the point of sale, the salesperson advised we would be entitled to up to 3 pods free of charge, this was also confirmed when I spoke with the agent over the phone who ordered the original pod (the one that was later auto cancelled without notification) so honestly I am not sure if there is a breakdown in communication between the teams but I can only relay what I have been told by people who work for Virgin. 

I explained at point of sale I require a pod because one; my PC is upstairs and the router is downstairs, and two; my PC doesn't have a wi-fi card (so It needs to be connected to the extender with an ethernet cable). Previously when we were with BT, they provided us 3 Wi-Fi extenders free of charge with no hassle. I was told it wouldn't be a problem to receive a pod.

As of this morning I performed a test via your own app on my phone in the room where my PC is and the router speed is 1134mbps but the actual wi-fi download speed is 154mbps, so upstairs we are basically getting around 14% of the router speed sadly.