How many connected devices are allowed on Hub 3 router?

[PDS123]

I have c. 50 devices (mix of smart bulbs, Alexas, smart plugs, iPads, computers, etc) and I can no longer add additional smart home devices via either the Virgin Media router or an Airport Express Base Station (1st Generation) + two further Airport Express devices on a separate home network but connected via Ethernet to the Virgin hub.

Is there a maximum number of devices allowed on Virgin's Hub 3 including those connected in addition and presumably cumulatively via a connected separate wifi network as indicated above?

Thank you for any assistance offered!

[-tony-]

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@adrianjacobs wrote:

So, 3 weeks after being sold an upgrade to overcome the intermittent dropout problems I was having due to "more than 7 devices connected at the same time", I am now having intermittent connection problems - again.  Most of today my WiFi has been up and down like a yoyo.

Looking for a means to monitor the WiFi so I can measure exactly how often and for how long the WiFi drops out. Any suggestions? 

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with respect why would you assume a faster speed would stop wifi drop outs - i assume that was the advice from the offshore agent you spoke to - they are generally useless and pull solutions out of the air

you need to start again - how are wired connections - doo they drop - if they do then you have a connection problem and other advice about 3rd paty routers with 1gig ports is as useless as faster speed - however if wired devices are solid then its purely a wifi problem

what adjustments have you made to the wifi settings - split the bands and urn off smart wifi - download inSSIDer or similar and look at what channels are busy - choose one athat are not if possible 

log into hub3/4 - 192.168.0.1 [or 192.168.100.1 if in modem mode] - DON'T SIGN IN, click - click router status [centre of screen] - and post the downstream and upstream figures - to see those press on the grey buttons/boxes labelled - upstream - downstream

if its an earlier hub button is top right

if the levels are outside spec that that may be the problem 

ultimatly the solution may be a 3rd party router or a mesh system but get all the checks and fact finding out of the way before you think further on that

[adrianjacobs]

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@-tony- wrote:

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@adrianjacobs wrote:

So, 3 weeks after being sold an upgrade to overcome the intermittent dropout problems I was having due to "more than 7 devices connected at the same time", I am now having intermittent connection problems - again.  Most of today my WiFi has been up and down like a yoyo.

Looking for a means to monitor the WiFi so I can measure exactly how often and for how long the WiFi drops out. Any suggestions? 

---

with respect why would you assume a faster speed would stop wifi drop outs - i assume that was the advice from the offshore agent you spoke to - they are generally useless and pull solutions out of the air

you need to start again....... 

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Yes, I was told (& sold my current system by VM's representative. 

Is it unreasonable for me to expect to get what I'm paying for? 

I have neither the time nor inclination to sort VM's problems and shortfalls for them. Quite happy to ask if there's any simple setting that they've got wrong that I can readily change. Any more than that and I expect VM to provide the services paid for. Being lied to, being visited by unqualified service people, being constantly fobbed off by customer support services people is not what I signed up for. VM are proving to be unreliable and not trustworthy and I will leave them just as soon as I can. I keep referring to my 84 year old mother who simply wants a working system too, in a modern house with a few simple smart devices, phone, tablet, alexa, thermostats, etc. Would you expect her to adjust her router settings etc? Investigate and buy mesh equipment etc? 

[-tony-]

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@adrianjacobs wrote:

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@-tony- wrote:

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@adrianjacobs wrote:

So, 3 weeks after being sold an upgrade to overcome the intermittent dropout problems I was having due to "more than 7 devices connected at the same time", I am now having intermittent connection problems - again.  Most of today my WiFi has been up and down like a yoyo.

Looking for a means to monitor the WiFi so I can measure exactly how often and for how long the WiFi drops out. Any suggestions? 

---

with respect why would you assume a faster speed would stop wifi drop outs - i assume that was the advice from the offshore agent you spoke to - they are generally useless and pull solutions out of the air

you need to start again....... 

---

Yes, I was told (& sold my current system by VM's representative. 

Is it unreasonable for me to expect to get what I'm paying for? 

I have neither the time nor inclination to sort VM's problems and shortfalls for them. Quite happy to ask if there's any simple setting that they've got wrong that I can readily change. Any more than that and I expect VM to provide the services paid for. Being lied to, being visited by unqualified service people, being constantly fobbed off by customer support services people is not what I signed up for. VM are proving to be unreliable and not trustworthy and I will leave them just as soon as I can. I keep referring to my 84 year old mother who simply wants a working system too, in a modern house with a few simple smart devices, phone, tablet, alexa, thermostats, etc. Would you expect her to adjust her router settings etc? Investigate and buy mesh equipment etc? 

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as said above VM and no other isp guarantee wifi - they cannot there are too many variables but you can split the bands and turn off smart wifi that should help

the techs are not network engineers they are installers and fault fixers for the wired connection - they cannot and donot resolve wifi problem for the reason above - there are too many variables

they will not send a tech if there is no obvious fault and poor wifi is not a fault if wired connections work

adding the info i asked for can help to isolate if its a connection problem or a wifi problem - getting the service you pay for if thats the problem starts there - as to other isp's - they are all the same - some better than others but not guarantee wifi

again as said if your connection is good there are answers - a 3rd party router of mesh system - again thats no different to other isp's - all supplied hubs are minimum spec - they work for many but not all

being lied to by unqualified people - i assume you mean telephone agents - VM's customer service is mainly offshore - that brings many problems as you have found - the best advive is on this platform imo and offshore best avoided at all costs - 

[adrianjacobs]

"

best avoided at all costs - 

"

Yep, that sums up VM.

You say all Isps are similar.

My aforementioned 84 year old mother has a free broadband from BT. Provided as a sampler I guess alongside her land-line. Typically works at 1-2mbps although I once saw it reach 3.7mbps. Only has WiFi devices connected to it: she uses it to turn on/off a few smart plugs and bulbs around the house, to send and receive emails from her phone and tablet, to watch YouTube videos linked by friends and family, the odd church service on Zoom, to stream TV to her amazon fire TV, and listen to the radio and reminders on alexa. Oh, and to turn on her heating and hot water on her hive system. All very much the same as I want, from my £100 a month system. Hers works without issues.

So, no, all isp providers are not the same. 

[-tony-]

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@adrianjacobs wrote:

"

best avoided at all costs - 

"

Yep, that sums up VM.

You say all Isps are similar.

My aforementioned 84 year old mother has a free broadband from BT. Provided as a sampler I guess alongside her land-line. Typically works at 1-2mbps although I once saw it reach 3.7mbps. Only has WiFi devices connected to it: she uses it to turn on/off a few smart plugs and bulbs around the house, to send and receive emails from her phone and tablet, to watch YouTube videos linked by friends and family, the odd church service on Zoom, to stream TV to her amazon fire TV, and listen to the radio and reminders on alexa. Oh, and to turn on her heating and hot water on her hive system. All very much the same as I want, from my £100 a month system. Hers works without issues.

So, no, all isp providers are not the same. 

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fine - your mothers setting in her router may be different to yours in your VM hub - that may be part of the problem but if you dont want to check and see if any change helps then fair enough - this place will [try and] give you all the help you need - most help comes from other VM users not make it up as they g on offshore help centres

but just saying yours does not work will get you nowhere

[adrianjacobs]

I think we agree on a number of things:

Avoid VM at all costs

All ISP providers are not the same

And

BT are able to provide a working system 1st time and continuously thereafter, for free, while VM are unable to provide a similar system at all, for £100 a month, without the assistance of knowledgeable and experienced 3rd party volunteers (and a lot of time and additional cost of the "customer"). 

You may be prepared to accept this, I'm not. Just saying "it doesn't work" should get me everywhere with a decent supplier charging £100 a month. So yes, I will continue to complain, and warn others, until I can get out of my mis-sold contract.

Will anyone from VM read this? And care? 

[Jodi_S]

Hi adrianjacobs,

Thanks for posting on our community forums. We do apologise for the delay in getting back to you. We can see from your previous post that you are experiencing issues with your internet services, and this is causing you to experience regular drop outs.

We can certainly understand the frustration this issue must be causing you, however we will need to do some checks with you first.

As our valued members of the community have already offered you some great advice around our Wi-Fi, we will need to check if these issues occur when you are on a wired connection?

Have you been able test your equipment when connected via an Ethernet cable? Does the connection hold or do you still experience regular dropouts?

We have done some checks from our end and can see that you may have some devices that may benefit from being on the 5ghz band of Wi-Fi. For more information on how to so this check the link here.

If you could perform a wired test and post back to if you are having dropouts this way, we will be able to assist you further.

A BQM monitor may be best and monitor this for 24 hours, once you have your logs you can post them on here and we can look at these for you.

Kind regards Jodi. 

[adrianjacobs]

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@Jodi_S wrote:

Hi adrianjacobs,

Thanks for posting on our community forums. We do apologise for the delay in getting back to you. We can see from your previous post that you are experiencing issues with your internet services, and this is causing you to experience regular drop outs.

We can certainly understand the frustration this issue must be causing you, however we will need to do some checks with you first.

As our valued members of the community have already offered you some great advice around our Wi-Fi, we will need to check if these issues occur when you are on a wired connection?

Have you been able test your equipment when connected via an Ethernet cable? Does the connection hold or do you still experience regular dropouts?

We have done some checks from our end and can see that you may have some devices that may benefit from being on the 5ghz band of Wi-Fi. For more information on how to so this check the link here.

If you could perform a wired test and post back to if you are having dropouts this way, we will be able to assist you further.

A BQM monitor may be best and monitor this for 24 hours, once you have your logs you can post them on here and we can look at these for you.

Kind regards Jodi. 

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Thanks for your reply Jodi. If you had read my earlier posts on this thread you will have seen the history and that the frequent dropout problem originally occurred on my 100mbps service which appeared to clear once I was persuaded to upgrade to the 350mbps service, but immediately caused my wired connection to drop from its previous 100mbps to less than 10mbps. The engineer sent out to check over my system was unable to investigate the wired side because he "wasn't trained on cables". I, after some help from this forum and buying some recommended kit, have got this back up to near 100mbps (actually 85mbps) on my 1 connected wired device - desktop PC. It does not connect consistently, but if I go to the Windows 10 network troubleshooter, it will connect eventually. Meanwhile, my WiFi connection is certainly faster, but is still suffering dropouts from time to time.

I have several devices that need to connect to 2.4ghz (I understand many smart home devices such as plugs and bulbs can only operate on 2.4ghz). The link in your post takes me to a page where I can select which router I have but when I select it the subsequent page doesn't load. I don't know therefore whether what you propose will work or not. Devices such as my phones and tablets seem to connect to either 2.4 or 5ghz at random. I don't know if they can/should be forced to connect to one or the other. 

I have no idea what or how a BQM monitor is set up. You'll need to explain that in words of single syllables for me to understand. Alternatively, why not send out an engineer who does know what he's doing, and provide the service promised by the salesperson who sold the upgrade and assured me I'd never have any more problems (you do record all calls, don't you)? 

Looking forward to your response

[asim18]

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@adrianjacobs wrote:

Will anyone from VM read this? And care? 

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Most likely not. People have been complaining of being lied to by Virgin Media for the best part of a decade. I have been lied to multiple times in the past.

Not once have I heard of a VM representative ensure that a lie will not be propagated again.

Even if you put in an official complaint about being lied to, the person who lied to you will probably never be spoken to. Go to Virgin Media's trustpilot profile, it's jam packed with people saying they've been lied to, it's been going on for years but i don't think anything will  be done about it.

[lotharmat]

"BT are able to provide a working system 1st time and continuously thereafter, for free"

So go with BT - it's a no-brainer!

What's the catch?