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New customer and WiFi issues

closetchimp
Tuning in

Hi, 

Ive had my virgin BB since the middle of Sept and although I'm overall quite happy I keep getting WiFi dropouts. 

I've checked the hub speeds and it all seems fine.. No issues reported and I've checked the WiFi channels and I'm on the best ones no major its not over crowded but we keep getting the WiFi dropping out or slowing right down... Under 20 a lot even crawling along at 5-10.

Im play a lot of mulitplayer online games and all the tvs are smart so use streaming for all our content consumption.. We have no ariel so the WiFi dropping or being really slow is a huge issue.

My wife is also a full time student and has a lot of online classes and it's starting to become a big problem for her as well.

We don't have anything connected by ethernet so it's an all WiFi house and I'm getting very frustrated. 

We didn't seem to have this problem with our last bt router and I'm seriously considering moving back if we can't find a fix to this. 

It happen a few times a day and it effects the whole house... Any ideas? 

9 REPLIES 9

closetchimp
Tuning in

Oh if it helps I'm using a hub 3.

Adduxi
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Does it happen if you use a Cat 6a Ethernet cable as a test?

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

Hi. Not sure, I'll have to go buy a cable and try as I don't one to hand.

I'm. Just going off past experience with my last router from bt.. I the 2 years I was with them we had 1, maybe 2 dropouts... I've had easily double digits ones with virgin since the 14 of Sept. 

jbrennand
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person
May just be wifi then.... VM Hubs can be problematic for wifi for some customers - there are things to try and do - but check on ethernet cable first - if that remains stable we can look at wifi improvement options

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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'll pick one up tomorrow and have a check. 

I'll let you know if it makes any difference. 

Thanks for the offer to help 

Hi, 

So tried an enthernet cable and that seems to work fine. 

Unfortunately it's not really an option to connect my devices in the house using one A. because I have soooo many items and B. the whole point of getting a faster service was to negate the use of direct connection.  

So I'm left with how do i make the WiFi more stable and reduce the drops outs/slow speeds I'm seeing.  Its especially bad on the first floor.

And again we never had this issue with BT so im thinking it's a hub issue.

Any helo would be greatly appreciated. 

jbrennand
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person
ok see this..
_________


If it really is a wifi only issue then on a Hub3/4/5, you could first try separating the SSID's of the 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi bands by renaming/differentiating them in the settings At the same time switch off "channel optimisation/Smart wifi” and “ apply and save the settings. All wifi devices will now need reconnecting to the best SSID at each location. 5GHz is always the "best" - 2.4 has greater "range".

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 Hub users get better wifi performance - but its still no substitute for getting better kit 🙂

To address the wifi issues, VM now supply “wifi Pods” (no longer doing cheap and cheerless “boosters”). However, their Pods are only free to customers on the 1GB, Volt (or old Ultimate Oomph) packages - is that you? If so they are worth trying - they should work for you. Its now called… Wifi Max see…….

https://www.virginmedia.com/wifi-max

You can call  0800 064 3850 to order the first one - or follow instructions on that website - or just wait here for a VM person to respond in a day or two and they will sort the first one for you . If you call dont get fobbed off by the offshore CS agents' saying you aren’t eligible it will be £5 or £8 month - you are… and it wont be - just look on the webpage.

If not free to you… you will be charged £8/month (note - BT charge £10/mo for their whole home wifi solution). It’s a simple solution and should work for you. However, you would soon pay off that cost by buying your own wireless solution that will be yours to own and use forever, although the VM Pods should be a simpler option.

You would need to get either a… (1) Mesh System, (2) Wireless router, (3) Wireless access point (4) A combination of (2,3).

£30-100 (that’s ~4->12 months of Max Pod rental) should sort it for most customers with an average property and usage.

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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.

Hi John, 

I had already done the channel switching and we seem to be on the best ones as recommended already. 

Its set to auto so I'm assuming it would switch if found to be congested.

I am on volt so a pod might be a good option but to order it using the Connect app it needs to scan when the WiFi drops.. And unfortunately when it does drop the Connect app won't work as it uses WiFi to connect! so I can't ever get it to register the issue using the app and therfore can't order one through the app.. Very frustrating l, so I'll think I'll wait for one of the VM representatives to reply on here to see if they can help.

Thank you for your help in the meantime though. Hopefully it gets sorted one way or the other soon. 

Kain_W
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Hi there closetchimp,

Thanks for your detailed responses and welcome back to the community.

Many apologies for the service issues faced, if there are signal issues with this then I'd recommend a Pod.

I've dropped you a PM so we can get this sorted for you to try.

You'll find the message within the purple envelope icon.

Regards,

Kain