Keep losing wifi connection on specific devices

[Cunny71]

Hi

I have a superb 3, over the last few months I'm experiencing specific devices losing wifi connectivity but others still have connectivity. For example for phone can lose the wifi connection but my laptop sitting right next to the phone is fine. A few hours later it could the laptop losing connectivity and the phone that is fine. 

The device still shows it has a connection and the superhub still shows a solid white light.

9 times out of 10 if I switch wifi off and on again on the device, the wifi connection is restored... until the next time.

This happens over lots of different devices (phones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, peloton bike, kindles, Sonos speakers, Hive heating bridge etc...) and different operating systems (iOS, Mac OS, Windows, Android). 

The problem is getting worse and worse. I'm constantly trying to fix individual devices and rebooting the hub several times per week. I work from home most of the time, as does my wife, and it is causing us considerable issues.

Any ideas what this issue can be and if there is a quick fix?

[jbrennand · Accepted solution]

Its probably the useless "smart wifi" in the Hub designed for seam;ess =roaming !

Try this first...

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 This (message 2) is for a Hub3…

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Hub-3-Wi-Fi-constantly-dropping/td-p/539137... 

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 - Billybob_2 & Billybob_5) 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.

[Cunny71]

will renaming the networks affect how my wifi pod works?

[jbrennand]

Yes.. you didnt say you had them 😎  Pods will only work on the single SSID.

You can always get your own wireless equipment to replace the Pods.

[Cunny71]

ok thanks for your help

I've disabled the channel optimisation so I'll see if that makes a difference.

[Vinegar]

It may well be that even though you have two devices next to each over, one could well be connected to the hub directly and the other connected via the pod - believe you me, WiFi is weird like that!

The problem here is that the pods are fairly simplistic devices, if they happen to work for you then absolutely fine, but they do seem to be quite ‘fragile’ in their ability to connect to and maintain said connection with the VM hub. They tend to assume that only the default hub settings are being used and any changes to that, can often cause the pods to go into meltdown and randomly do oddball stuff - basically drop connections etc.

Are you paying the (extortionate, in my opinion) £8 a month for it or are you getting them free? If the former, then I’d certainly recommend that you cancel the subscription for them, save the £96 a year if it is costing, and, as John suggested above, invest in your own WiFi equipment. If you are getting them for free, then I’d also suggest getting your own WiFi equipment but just unplug the pod and stick it in a cupboard somewhere!

[Cunny71]

since disabling channel optimisation my wifi pods are no longer working - I'm getting the flashing blue light

Is this to be expected?

[Client62]

VM Pods

Do expect Channel Optimisation Enabled  & SSID / Password to be matched on both bands.

Settings to discourage mobiles from dropping Wi-Fi and reverting to the GSM mobile data.

For iPhones...

Disable "Wi-Fi Assist"    Ref:https://support.apple.com/en-us/102228

For Android phones...

Disable "Switch to mobile data"

Settings >> Connections >> Wi-Fi >> ... ( 3 dot menu ) >> "Switch to mobile data"  ( set to OFF )

[Vikki_M]

Hi Cunny71

Thank you for your post and welcome back to our community.

I am sorry to hear about the issues you have been having with the WiFi service.

Has the information provided by the community here resolved this?

Please let us know if you need any further support and we will do all we can to help.