Need to reset router every day

[nubster]

Been with Virgin media since time began and always been a big advocate. The main reason I've stuck with Virgin is the fact that my @ntlworld.com email address is the only email address I have ever had and the hassle to change is massive.

Nevertheless I am being pushed to the edge by the really [REMOVED] connectivity I have suffered for the past year.

Basically, the router needs restarting every day - sometimes 4 or 5 times a day. When I contact the technical helpdesk they run their tests and restart the router and they say it will be sorted. It is, for the next hour if I am lucky. Occasionally, I kick up a stink and say that we need an engineer to come to the property. They arrange this and subsequently attend.

My router is situated upstairs in a 2-storey house and is a 3.0 hub.

The last-but-one-engineer said that one of the problems was that the router was placed by a wooden desk and that dampens the signal downstairs, which is where the majority of the wifi stuff is. Moving the router downstairs isn't something I want to do, as I only have Virgin broadband and telephone - not TV.

The last engineer suggested that I needed to upgrade my broadband speed from 100mbps to 200mbps as I have around 20 wifi devices connected (who doesn't!). So, last month I upgraded the speed as suggested to 200mbps.

Sadly, the performance is exactly the same - dropping daily. The dropping is sometimes dropping of wifi and sometimes total dropping of the internet.

Help, otherwise I'm going to have to think about BT or something else!!

[Mod Edit – Inappropriate Comments etc]

[Martin_N]

Hi Bannosantoro,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community. 

I'm sorry to hear about this. I have taken a look on my side and it does look like a tech would be needed for this. 

I will private message you so we can look into this. 

^Martin

[nubster]

Hi

Tried a factory reset on the router.

As expected this made no difference whatsoever. Router restarts required on a daily basis unfortunately.

Virgin Broadband remains rubbish in my house.

[Katie_WT]

Cheers for popping back @nubster

After checking your account we can see you have recently rebooted which is great. No errors are showing at the time of checking and the signal is within the parameters we would expect. There seems to be no issue with your broadband itself.

However - we can see that there are a few issues with the WiFi devices that are showing errors. They are advising that some devises are too far away from the hub which are causing connection issues and a couple are on the incorrect band which is also causing problems. 

 We can also see that you have a further 6 devices all connected via Eithernet. 

Are you able to disconnect all devices and only have one wired connection to see how you get on? 
 

Cheers

[nubster]

I can confirm that wired devices go down at the same time as wireless devices.

If devices are too far away from the router (which has never been raised as an issue or a risk) then do I need a wifi booster ?

Disconnecting every device apart from one wired device - do you want me to try this as a one off exercise or operate like this until the connection drops ?

[Katie_WT]

We'd like you to check to see if you see any difference in your connection @nubster

Have you downloaded the Connect App in order to check for any blackspots and see if you qualify for boosters? 

[jbrennand]

If you haven't already... set up a free “Broadband Quality Monitor” to continually monitor the state of your connection and record any true network dropouts - it will thus allow you to differentiate between those and simple wifi dropouts. It does it 24/7/365 and it keeps a visual record of any/all of your network disconnections, useful data to have to match to the Network logs (in your Hub settings) and also in discussions with VM.
If you just see a wall of "red" then your Hub is not accepting the "pings" - make sure you uncheck the “ignore ping from WAN side” box in the settings - note it will take an hour or two to start seeing a sensible picture.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality

[nubster]

Thanks for that

I have had a broadband monitor set up for a while - I just don't know what it means or what to do with it !

[Bannosantoro]

@nubster

Hi mate, I have had the same issue as you with the VM superhub 3.

My workaround solution:

But a Netgear R7000 Nighthawk router (eBay is your friend)

Put superhub in "Modem mode"

Install DD-WRT firmware on R7000 router

On the Administration page of DD-WRT click on "keep alive" tab, and set your router to automatically restart at your chosen intervals.

Now my router reboots twice a day at times I'm not using it, and I see no interruptions in service anymore.

Also the R7000 will give you amazing WiFi coverage all over your house.

That's how I have it set up, the VM superhub is truly garbage as a router.

Let me know if you need any help setting this up (if you go for it, the R7000 goes for around £80-£130 on eBay). And it's a much better option than using and extender.

[nubster]

Thanks for the advice!

I know other people who have Virgin and their broadband is NEVER down. My sister lives around the corner and her broadband goes down every now and again. Mine goes down, on average, 6-7 times a week - sometimes it can be 3-4 times a day. I don't think the problem is wifi as wired connections (PS4 for instance plus others) goes down at the same time as everything else. Yesterday it went down twice.

If I thought that spending £80-£130 would fix the issue I would gladly spend it, but sadly I don't think it will.

This has been going on for over a year and VM have sent 2 or 3 engineers over that year but the problems persist. One of the engineers said I needed to upgrade to 200mb broadband so I did. That made no difference either.

I have to assume that they're not interested in me as a customer (who has had Broadband with VM for over 20 years).

Perhaps its time to bite the bullet and go to BT - just need to sort out a generic email address !

cheers

[Bannosantoro]

No worries mate. It is a weird one TBF. I can't figure out if it's the connection coming in that causes the lockups, or the VM Superhub?! I presume that a bad signal from the green box outside could potentially cause the Superhub to randomly lock up, because I get the lockups when using my own equipment also.....so it does suggest a connection/supply issue rather than an equipment issue. All I know is that using the "keep alive" feature on my router essentially negates the issue to a point where I don't notice any problems anymore. I'm essentially refreshing my connection on a 6hr interval, which seems to prevent any actual lockups. 

Hope you get sorted. I would see if you can get BT's new superfast fibre?!