Rant.

[UnhappyDuck]

To be clear, this is a rant. I moved from BT back to Virgin and I am kicking myself. So the download speed is for the most part as advertised, but the usability of the network is probably at around 15%. This is because the router is one of the worst pieces of junk I've ever come across, and I find myself on the verge of taking a hammer to it on a daily basis. 

I've used ordinary network extenders to amplify the network, but for this to actually work I find I would need to spend around £300 on a mesh network. The links for this on the Virgin website, even if I wanted to pay for them, all come up with page not found errors. 

I didn't have any of these problems with BT. With download speeds of merely 30Mbps the UTILITY of the network was orders of magnitude better than Virgin. I am totally **bleep** off with Virgin, their lack of support and my decision to change. To be fair, I warned you this was a rant at the start. 

[Andrew-G]

I've used ordinary network extenders to amplify the network, but for this to actually work I find I would need to spend around £300 on a mesh network. 

No you wouldn't.  A hundred quid will buy you a basic, but fully capable wifi three box mesh system (like the TP-Link Deco M4 that I use).  Spending three hundred would get you a state of the art Wifi 6 tri-band mesh, but that's totally different to VM's mediocre hubs, or BT's kit.  

By all means spend £300 if that's what you want, if on the other hand if all you want is a decent wifi mesh to improve on VM's skanko-hub then there's no need to spend that sort of money.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Hub-3-0-compatibility-with-Mesh-systems/m-p...

[legacy1]

ZyXEL Multy U, Tri-band AC2100 Whole Home Wifi Mesh System [WSR30-EU0301F] Pack of 3 : Amazon.co.uk:...

[UnhappyDuck]

Brilliant. What I'd prefer is to not spend anything and get the coverage I had with BT. And I'm so glad you can measure the network topology of my home from a single email. Masterful.

[Steve1701]

Hi UnhappyDuck,

I have to say, for the life of me, I can't understand why you are having to buy anything to enhance your service (or obvious lack of it) ... Virgin Media are supplying a service, therefore 'THEY' should ensure it's working to spec, not put something in, and let you figure out how to get something useable.

Hell, you wouldn't go to buy a new car, then be expected to buy the front doors yourself on top of the price !!!

The obligation is theirs, not yours, in my humble opinion.

😲

[legacy1]

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@Steve1701 wrote:

Hell, you wouldn't go to buy a new car, then be expected to buy the front doors yourself on top of the price !!!

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That because the hub is a F1 car without doors when in modem mode, router mode is a F1 car hooked to a caravan so its not going to be good.

[Andrew-G]

What I'd prefer is to not spend anything and get the coverage I had with BT.

Well, that's solved then.  You either don't spend anything and take the manky wifi quality of the VM hub (because it is designed to be cheap and works for most people most of the time, and that's all VM set out to achieve with a thirty quid, almost throwaway hub), or you cancel and go back to BT.  

I didn't ask - if you have the Hub 4, or are on the Ultimate Oomph package, then you can request a couple of free "pods" that act as a quasi-mesh system.

[UnhappyDuck]

@Steve - my point exactly.

[UnhappyDuck]

Yeah, right. So basically I've been sold a complete and utter pup, a service provided under totally false pretences. To be clear:

If I had know the limitations of the hub and the completely atrocious service provided by Virgin, I would had stuck with BT. I was happy with BT by and large, the only benefit Virgin provided was price matching for higher bandwidth (I am working from home, I do computer animation for a living, I suck up bandwidth like it's going out of fashion). But although BT was clunky, at least I could connect do the dog-damn network. 

As far as I'm concerned Virgin have lied about the service they offer - it's not sufficient without extensive additional expenditure. The only solution I've heard so far on this forum is - spend more money (@Steve, honourable exception). As far was I'm concerned they have sold a service under false pretences - and I'm very happy to go into detail to demonstrate this. Far and wide over social media. 

[UnhappyDuck]

I'd happily cancel and go back to BT, but for the exorbitant charge Virgin attach to doing so. I'm also unclear as to why there seem to be a plethora of Virgin apologists on this forum? As I warned at the start of this thread, this is a rant. I'm in no mood to be reasonable.