Problems with router

[jacquildavies]

I am posting on behalf of my step-son (the account holder) who has been getting problems using the internet. 

He has been getting a very patchy wifi signal even in the same room as the router and it is virtually non-existence in adjoining rooms (which don’t have thick walls). 

He has reset the router and done all the other checks mentioned on Virgin Media’s website including moving the router and using an Ethernet cable directly into the laptop which is OK and points towards there being a fault with the router. Nothing has made a difference. 

He phoned customer services and managed to get through to the technical department. There was an automated message telling him to restart the router. The message then confirmed there was an issue with the router and then hung up. Why didn’t he get through to a person in the technical department as has happened in the past?

He is now at a loss what to do next. I think it’s clear that the router is the problem and needs replacing. What’s the best way to get this situation sorted?

Many thanks. 

[-tony-]

the technical dept is an oxymoron with VM if it was offshore which it likely was - you got the full benifit of their knowledge which is reboot the hub - as to a problem with the hub - again how would they know

wired is ok which suggest the input is ok but lets check

log into hub3 - 192.168.0.1 [or 192.168.100.1 if in modem mode] - DON'T SIGN IN, click - click router status [centre of screen] - and post the downstream and upstream figures - to see those press on the grey buttons/boxes labelled - upstream - downstream

if its an earlier hub button is top right

all VM hubs are about as good a pound shop router on wifi - you can do a couple of things - split the wifi channels and turn off wifi optimisation - might be flagged as something else depends on the hub

download something like inSSIDer and look at what channels other wifi routers are using and choose a less busy one - on the VM hub thats it - i doubt very much its faulty - just cheap and cheerful and not very good

if that helps then great if not then you need a better wifi router or mesh system

[legacy1]

Use hub in modem mode and get a better wireless router with 1Gb ports.

[jbrennand]

Check as Tony suggests and if there are no obvious issues and its just a wifi issue then see this...
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If it is a wifi only issue, then on a Hub3/4/5, he can try separating the SSID's of the 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi bands by renaming them in the settings and at the same time switch off "channel optimisation/Smart wifi” “ apply and save the settings. All wifi devices will need reconnecting to the best SSID at each location. 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 the package he is on? If so they are worth trying - they should work well.

He will have to call in to order them (cant do it online) - or just wait here for a VM person to respond in a day or two and they will sort the first one for him .

If not… he will be charged £5/month (note - BT charge £10/mo for their whole home wifi solution). It’s a simple solution and should work for you. However, he would soon pay off that cost by buying his own wireless solution that will be his to own and use forever, but it isn’t the simple plug and play option of the Pod(s).

Need to get either a… (1) Mesh System, (2) Wireless router, (3) Wireless access point (4) Powerline adapters (+/- inbuilt Wifi,) (5) A combination of (2,3,4).

£40-100 should sort it for most customers with an average property and usage.

[-tony-]

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@legacy1 wrote:
Use hub in modem mode and get a better wireless router with 1Gb ports.

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do you never get sick of posting that - if you had a pound for every time you have posted that line you would be very rich - why not try too help instead of just trotting that out

[legacy1]

If I had a pound for posting my post where Docsis is not to blame I be rich too.

[jacquildavies]

Thanks for all your comments. I’ll try and work through the technicalities of your replies. I noticed that the router my step-son uses is the superhub 2 which I understand is quite an old one. If nothing you suggest works how do I go about getting a new one?

[g0akc]

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@jacquildavies wrote:

 If nothing you suggest works how do I go about getting a new one?

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Virgin will likely only provide a new hub if a VM technician attends and determines the hub is faulty.

If, having gone through the suggested steps, the issues persist move towards getting Virgin to come out.  They may be reluctant to do so, particularly if it appears to be a WiFi only issue within the home.

[Paulina_Z]

Hi @jacquildavies,

Welcome back to our Community Forums! Thank you for your post and I'm very sorry to hear that your step-son is experiencing some ongoing broadband issues with their Hub. 

Can you tell us if you've been able to resolve this issue with the help of the Community and what they suggested? Do you need any further help at all?

Is it a connection issue your step-son is experiencing or slow speeds? Please take a look at our WiFi Troubleshooting page to see if this can help.

Let us know so we can look into this further for you if needed.

Thank you.

[jacquildavies]

Thanks everyone. Going to have a proper look at it and will report back.