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Internet is intermittent and it's very frustrating

Kareemios
Joining in

For the past few weeks, the internet connection has been very intermittent. 

 

  • The problem is on multiple devices, irrespective of distance to the HUB  3.0
  • The wifi connection doesn't drop, but the internet connection disappears, very frequently and for roughly 5 minutes each time, interrupting zoom calls and video streams
  • I've tried resetting the hub, factory resetting the hub, all of the steps recommended on the help forum, but to no avail
  • Post Code: N4
  • It's impossible to find a way to book an engineer or get the attention of a tech person through the usual channel. the Virgin Media website is designed to navigate you from any kind of help as far as I can see.
  • Is it the responsibility of the consumer who pays nearly 50£/month for a connection to also be their own tech support? 
5 REPLIES 5

jbrennand
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person
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? Different pathways to resolving those two options will apply.

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

Second try the “free & automated” Service Status number - 0800 561 0061 - which usually gives the most up to date info. and tells you of any known local issues down to postcode level.

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John
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I do not work for VM. My services: HD TV on VIP (+ Sky Sports & Movies & BT sport), x3 V6 boxes (1 wired, 2 on WiFi) Hub5 in modem mode with Apple Airport Extreme Router +2 Airport Express's & TP-Link Archer C64 WAP. On Volt 350Mbps, Talk Anytime Phone, x2 Mobile SIM only iPhones.

I would have to hook a laptop for hours by ethernet to see if there's an issue or not, and this is not practical (Also, shouldn't be my job as a consumer and I need WiFi to be the main thing that works anyway). Wouldn't be better for Virgin to be able to send someone around to diagnose it?

 

Thanks for the phone number tip thought!

jbrennand
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person
Hub model? Lights?

VM dont guarantee wifi connections - only speeds to the Hub and out on ethernet cable connections are (it is in the T&C's).

In fact no ISP does... BT say they do but charge you an extra £10/month for their "whole home wifi" solution. For which... they issue you with 3 of their "discs" which can be had for ~£100 on Amazon and then say - if they dont work they will just give you the money back - not really what I would call a guarantee 🙂

Easy to see why..... all properties they serve are different - from small modern thin walled flats through iron rich Victorian red brick builds (Faraday cage) to18 room baronial mansions built from foot thick stone where the Hub is in the servants quarters 3 floors down and 100 yards away

So they wont send a Tech out unless it is actually "broken" - yours isn't - its intermittent - so what they will do If it is a wifi only issue, is on a Hub3, they or 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 🙂

To address the wifi, (like BT) VM now supply “wifi Pods” (not “boosters”) for their customers.

Pods are free to 1GB or Ultimate Ooomph package customers others will be charged £5/month. If they are free they are well worth getting and offer a simple solution.  Order via the phone or a VM person will do it here.

If not free, at that level of investment you would soon pay off that cost by buying a "better" wireless solution that will be yours to own and use forever and which will cure all your wifi problems.

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John
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I do not work for VM. My services: HD TV on VIP (+ Sky Sports & Movies & BT sport), x3 V6 boxes (1 wired, 2 on WiFi) Hub5 in modem mode with Apple Airport Extreme Router +2 Airport Express's & TP-Link Archer C64 WAP. On Volt 350Mbps, Talk Anytime Phone, x2 Mobile SIM only iPhones.

Hey thanks for this however you misunderstand the problem

It's not the WiFi that's intermittent, it never drops. it's the actual internet connection that disappears as I said in op

OK, shouldn't be your job to diagnose a problem, but your options here are to persist trying to call VM*, or get involved in a little fault finding, following the diagnostic advice below - there's nothing you can break or mess up, you are not changing any settings.  I'd initially suspect from the description that the network log may be full of "partial service" or "synch timing" errors, caused by power or noise problems.

Connect to the hub by clicking on this link http://192.168.0.1/  That should pull up the log in page for the hub.  But don't log in, just click on the link "Check router status"  That'll bring up a window with five tabs.  Open the Downstream tab.  Select all the text (Ctrl-A if using a keyboard), copy it (Ctrl-C), then paste it (Ctrl-V) into a reply here as TEXT not screenshots.  Post that, do the same in subsequent replies for the Upstream and Network log.  You'll get an error message when you post the Network log, just click on "post" a second time.  Then we can check for any obvious problems with power, noise or error counts.  ideally do this after the hub has been running without a restart for 12-24 hours minimum.

Also, setup a BQM over at https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality that'll show visually if anything odd is going on with your VM connection.  Post a LINK to a LIVE, SHARED graph here and we'll see what's happening.  Usually needs to run for 24 hours before we can draw reasonable conclusions, but the live graph will continuously update so you can post the link immediately.

* And yes, VM's online help is poor, the telephone helpline is worse, and experience does suggest that the objective is to reduce the chances of customers speaking with a competent agent who understands the problem, takes ownership through investigation to resolution.