Virgin Media Community

[sasd1206]

I live in a small one bedroom flat, it's over 100 years old so the walls are quite thick. I work in the living room and my daughter has schooling in the bedroom but the wifi signal is often so poor that she has to tether to my mobile instead. Virgin sent me a booster but that doesn't work as the TV and router are nowhere near a plug point and therefore runoff an extension lead. I also bought a Netgear extension which only works intermittently (and not very well when it does) The bedroom is only 8m from the hub. Would it be worth investing in a mesh system? Is there a budget one that could be recommended? Also I'm not particularly tech savvy so are they fairly simple to set up? Any advice very gratefully received! 

[gary_dexter · Accepted solution]

Can you not run a cable to a central point and install a decent wireless access point?

[tehwolf · Accepted solution]

What is the budget? This one gets a good write-up around here - it's "entry level" territory but from a well-regarded manufacturer..  It's currently £130, but goes up and down between £100 and £130, so you may see it reduce in the coming weeks - depends how urgent it is.. 🙂

[sasd1206]

Thanks! Reviews do look good - I'm wondering what the difference is between the set priced at £129.99 and the one at £99.99 (as I said I'm not very tech savvy!) It is pretty urgent however as  a whole class was missed this morning!

[gary_dexter]

There are other means of connectivity - things don't stop just because of WiFi being slow or out of range.

[tehwolf · Accepted solution]

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@sasd1206 wrote:

Thanks! Reviews do look good - I'm wondering what the difference is between the set priced at £129.99 and the one at £99.99 (as I said I'm not very tech savvy!) It is pretty urgent however as  a whole class was missed this morning!

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Oh - i didn't spot the S4 - i believe it's just a slightly newer model - if that's up for £99 at the moment, grab that instead. 

Avoid the E4 - this only comes with 100mbps ethernet ports which will limit the speed you can get through them

[sasd1206]

Very helpful - thank you I think I will get it particularly as I don't think schools will be reopening anytime soon!

[tehwolf · Accepted solution]

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@sasd1206 wrote:

Very helpful - thank you I think I will get it particularly as I don't think schools will be reopening anytime soon!

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When they arrive pop back here for some advice on how to get them all set up - it can be a bit fiddly to get the Virgin Hub set up in modem mode - there's a specific sequence to do it in - and i believe before you attempt that you need to get the first deco online with the hub in router mode, as it needs an internet connection when you first switch it on.. we can talk you through all of that as and when though. 

[sasd1206]

Ah that's great I will definitely do that! Thanks so much

[sayekm · Accepted solution]

If the Wi-Fi is poor in the kids bedroom why not consider a powerline unit.

Although I have a BT mesh kit my son still uses a powerline for stability in his bedroom. A pair of 100mb powerline set cost around £25. We had a 100mb TP-Link powerline from when we had Talktalk 35. Although they rated at 100mb it would not go above 65mb on speedtest. So I later upgraded to 1gb powerline and sold the 100mb on ebay.

TBH 65mb on a powerline for schoolwork is plenty but my son is a teenager and wants the full speed for games download 😞

The speed may also depend on the electrical wiring of the property. I had my house fully rewired 15 years ago so cables are decent condtion.