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]

[nubster]

Thanks for your advice mate.

If you look back at the thread (and I’m not asking you to !) I’ve been complaining about dreadful broadband for many many months. Virgin do not care. Been fobbed off for the same amount of months.. 

I am not the most techy of customers and because of that Virgin can keep me in the ‘just fob him off pile’ unfortunately. Even now, they say there is an ‘outage’ in the area. If that’s the case, there’s been the same outage for months!

As advised, I have been with Virgin since it’s inception (since Nynex days)  but get treated without an ounce of loyalty.

I don’t see why I should check another router, buy another router, etc. I pay top dollar for a broadband service but sadly I receive a broadband service that performs significantly below expectation and the customer service is just as bad.

Lots of my colleagues have BT Broadband, pay less than me - need to join them.

[solanoah]

The fact that we (or some people) are recommending that people should buy a new router on a virgin media community forum seems really weird. And virgin should be ashamed of themselves.

Shame!!!

[Bannosantoro]

• Yeah I totally understand, both points (nubster and solanoah). I am a bit of a techie, so I tend to fix my own issues, at least try to find a solution. I've been with Sky, and EE and both times have replaced the supplied router with a Openreach modem and Netgear router. I've always found the supplied equipment to be nowhere near good enough for my needs (over 30 devices, a media server, cameras, Echo's, phones, tablets, games consoles etc....). Since trying Virgin I found that the supplied router simply could not cope with my network needs....literally from day one! It would of not let devices connect (unable to obtain IP address) So again, I replaced with a Netgear router. I'm starting to think that the problem is the firmware in the VM Hub?? There is a major flaw with the DHCP side of things. The DHCP server in the router just does not work!! One fix would be to assign static IP addresses to all of your equipment, but this is really not the best solution. Upgrading to a far superior router, with much better WiFi coverage and reliable firmware is the way to go. eBay has great deals on used top spec routers. My setup is now blazing, for an investment of £100. I'm happy with that. Supplied equipment is only any good for you he most basic of situations. In this day and age, more powerful reliable solutions are the way forward. Everything is "connected" now and these free supplied routers just can't cope. They're cheap rubbish. 

[roblye]

HI

Been reading these posts with interest since my SH2 started playing up and Virgin sent me a VH3.

Generally it wasn't that bad but as you will have seen I had numerous problems getting everything to connect. However over the last couple of days I have actually got everything going again via automatic DHCP (I think).

This includes the Amazon Blink CCTV setup which had just refused to connect despite dozens of resets/reboots etc.  Not sure what happened but after a few tries where again it didn't connect I just left it. However I had forgot to unplug it and about five hours later noticed the indicator lights on the module had gone from the red one I had been getting to the normal blue and green!. .  .tried linking the cameras and hey presto they did!  I have no idea why this happened other than it took the Blink module 5 hours to find the VM3!

I have occasionally had a problem that either my iMac or work windows 10 laptop, does not connect straight away despite being hardwired via a new set of TP link homeplugs, but opening and closing the network preferences windows on each for some reason connects.

As all my devices, I have listed them here so folk can see the variety of stuff we use as a guide. . . . .wired devices, via a TP-Link 8 port switch plugged into the VM SH3 or TP-Link home plugs (connected via switch with therefore only one LAN port on the SH3 used) :- Sony TV, PS4, Virgin V6 box, Sonos beam, iMac, windows 10 laptop,

The rest are WiFi devices:- 2x iPhones, 2x iPads pros, 2x MacBook airs, MacBook pro, xerox laser, A4 HP inkjet, A3/A4 HP inkjet, Blink cctv (the printers and cctv connect via 2.4ghz WiFi) are all working and am going to see what happens.

Speed wise we pay for 200Mb fibre, downstairs in the lounge where the SH3 is, we get full 200 on the iPhones/iPads and 85% plus on the MacBooks, all the hardwired stuff seems ok but obviously hard to speedtest.

Upstairs in my office which is diagonally across the house (4 bed detached), the iMac and Windows laptop get 88/90Mbs via the home plugs, but my iPhone only gets about 25Mbs via Wifi but 55Mbs via the home plug WiFi. . . to me that gives a good idea of how poor the WiFi is on the SH3.

If things start to go haywire again then I will need to consider a router as has been discussed here, but not until I try to get an engineer from Virgin who knows what he's doing (other than "reboot your router") to have a look. Oh and as yet, I haven't done a router reboot other than when first connecting everything, I have just been trying to add the awkward stuff on as I couldn't afford not to have my work laptop connected during the working from home period.

[solanoah]

Hi virgin,

Started using a new router 2 days ago but virgin’s hub restarts itself everyday.

Still having dropped packets on a daily basis.

[solanoah]

Hi All,

It is fair to provide an update...

A Virgin engineer came around to fix my broadband. He said something about downstream signal loss, cable issue etc.

[asteldian]

I have the same issue for months now, ever since I got the hub 3.0. Every day internet drops and I have to reset the damn thing. It is not a wifi only issue as my 2 PC's are connected by ethernet. 

I had the same issue with hub 2.0 though an engineer came out and fixed that. Seems ridiculous that the same issue is happening with this new hub. The  whole reason I am with virgin is for the 'better' internet they supposedly provide

[CuadraAd]

Hi asteldian 

Since the day I changed the 3.0 router to modem mode and installed my own netgear router I haven’t had a single issue. The 3.0 doesn’t do what it says on the tin (or what you pay Virgin for), but if you want a viable workaround and to stop pulling your hair out then get a separate router.

[nubster]

Did the problem in my area get resolved ?

Previously Virgin were unable to offer me any assistance to resolve my rubbish service level as there was work to be carried out around the 25th August.

4 weeks on from that I am still having problems with my internet dropping out (not wifi) using a wired connection in my home office.

[Gareth_L]

Hello asteldian

Thanks for confirming everything is working good now 

Able to get onto your online account 

Engineer has been out and fixed the damaged coax 

Gareth_L