Intermittent Internet

[Refgizmo]

Hi,

We regularly have problems with internet dropping out. It does not appear to be related to number of devices etc.

We had a booster installed some time ago, but in all honesty, it was never great, and seems to be getting worse.

I'm paying the hell of a lot for my internet and not happy with how temperamental it is.

Refgizmo

[jbrennand · Accepted solution]

See this...
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Firstly... are the issues only evident on wifi connections or do you see them at the same times on devices connected on ethernet cables? If you don't know, can you check to help diagnose whether it is just a wifi issue or it could be network connection related?

What Hub model is it? What are the various Hub lights showing/doing when this happens?

[Refgizmo]

Hi John,

The internet appears constant via the ethernet.

It is Hub 3.0.

The Hub lights do not appear to change. They are always a constant yellow colour.

Hope this helps.

Refgizmo

[jbrennand]

OK that's a common issue on here see this
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As it is a wifi only issue, then on a Hub3/4, you can try separating the SSID's of the 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi bands by renaming them in the settings and at the same time switch off "channel optimisation" apply and save the settings. All wifi devices will need reconnecting to the best SSID at each location. Also use a wifi scanning App to find the best wifi channels to use (just select and use channels 1,6,11 on 2.4GHz) - this often helps Hub3 users get better wifi performance - but its still no substitute for getting better kit 🙂

If you need more details of how to do this just ask

To address these wifi issues, VM now supply “wifi Pods” (no longer doing cheap and cheerless “boosters”). However, their Pods are only free to customers on the 1GB, Ultimate Oomph or Volt packages - is that you? If so they are worth trying - they should work for you.

If not… you will be charged £5/month. Its a simple solution and should work for you. However, you would soon pay off that cost by buying a "better" wireless solution that will be yours to own and use forever but it isn’t the simple plug and play option of the Pod(s).

Get either a… (1) Mesh System, (2) Wireless router, (3) Wireless access point (4) Powerline adapters, (5) A combination of (2,3,4).

£40-100 should sort it for most customers with an average property and usage.

[Refgizmo]

Thanks John.

I'm afraid I'm going to need some help on that one!

Refgizmo

[jbrennand]

OK - a more detailed protocol is below.

Do you use an iPhone or an Android one (for the "scanner" App)?

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Go into the Hub3/4 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>smart wifi - tick the disable “channel optimisation” box or “Smart Wifi” box and save settings.  Then, go to advanced>wireless>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 - refgizmo_2 & refgizmo_5) -- 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 to connect to individually from the "available networks" list on each device. 

Note all your wifi devices will need re-connecting to one of these new SSID's and passwords.
5 GHz is always better/faster and subject to less interference (and is better for iDevices ) than the 2.4 one - although the 2.4 one has the better "range" and some older/cheaper/dumber 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.