Hub 3 probs and upgrade

[GeoffLove]

We have a hub 3.  A few months ago devices connected via Wi-Fi began ‘pausing’ when on the net. Searching/loading webpages appeared to freeze for seconds to minutes before continuing to load.  This could happen every few minutes.  Disconnecting the device from the Wi-Fi connection and reconnecting would restart things again. 
Virgin sent some codes and suggested factory resetting the router. This appeared to cure it for a couple of months.
This week the problem returned   Spoke the virgin who tried to say it was the Wi-Fi signal strength that was the problem - it’s not, this occurs sat next to the router. They then said we needed to do another factory reset. When I queried why this was needed again I was told ‘situations’ on the network had caused the problem. This sounded a bit suspect . I suspect the truth is that we have a dodgy router whose settings are corrupting in some way.

I’d like to get the router changed but don’t want to upgrade the package. I’d there a way to pay a one off fee for the router to get a hub 4 or 5 or can anyone suggest what to do to get it replaced. 

[jbrennand]

Try this first... it often helps sort some Hub3/4/5 wifi issues for some devices.
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Go into the Hub’s settings. Type in  http://192.168.0.1  into your web browser’s url box and login with settings password on the Hub's base sticker (or your own if you changed it). Then in Advanced>wireless signal >smart wifi - tick the disable “channel optimisation” box or the“Smart Wifi” box and save settings.  May be different pathways and wording on the 3 Hub types
Then, go to advanced>wireless signal>security, rename the 2.4 & 5 GHz network ssid's.  Just type over to change 'em to whatever you like and something that will differentiate them (e.g - Billybob2 & Billybob5) Try to avoid spaces and periods in the SSID names as they can cause issues with certain devices. Use the same password for simplicity,  Then, apply settings and restart the Hub.  Your 2 wifi networks will now be clearly separated - and you can then select the network you want each device to connect to… individually from the "available networks" list on each of your devices. 

Note all your wifi devices will need re-connecting to the new SSID's and passwords.
All things being equal, 5 GHz is always better/faster and subject to less congestion/interference (and is better for iDevice speeds than the 2.4 one - although the 2.4 one has the better "range" and will be needed when the 5 GHz drops out of range and some older/cheaper/dumber or “specialised” devices can only use this one. 

You should also use a wifi analyser App (or Airport Utility on iOS) to check which 2.4 channels are being heavily used around you and move yours to one of numbers 1,6,11 that is least so, but it wont help if there is other interference.

See if these changes help - you will lose any “seamless roaming” benefits but it may not matter and you can always change the settings back by doing a " pinhole factory reset " if you prefer the way it was - or it doesn’t help.

[GeoffLove]

Sadly I already had it set up like this.  Thanks anyway. 

[Steven_L]

Thanks for coming back to us GeoffLove, I would be happy to take a further look into this for you but would need to confirm a few details via private message, please look out for my message and we can get started.
Kind Regards,
Steven_L