Virgin Media's mesh system for M600

[Dasco]

I have the standard wifi extenders that you could get from Virgin for ages but they have never really worked very well.
When I had my 360 box and two 360 minis fitted last year I asked the engineer about fitting a mesh system as the extenders just don't work reliably he said to wait till now and phone and ask for the mesh system.
I am on the Ultimate Oomph bundle and have been since it came out.

My wife is a teacher and is now teaching via live video link to her class in their homes and with both my kids using the live video teaching from their schools the wifi just can't handle it, which is not great for my kids but is terrible for my wife as she is trying to teach 35 kids at home everyday.
So i've tried to call Virgin today to try get the pods sent out to me but I just get no lines available, is there anyway one of Virgin Media staff can contact me so I can get these ordered and hopefully fix the wifi or at least make it more stable.
Many thanks

[dazkgoodwin]

Good luck 🙂

By the way, wasn't having a dig at the Virgin Media Hub 3.0, every ISP raves about how amazing their hubs are, and very few are that good.  Investing in a good router will almost always give you better wifi and more flexibility (USB ports to share printers, media), FTP server functionality, Dynamic DNS functionality (especially useful as Virgin don't offer static IPs), better QoS controls (so you can prioritise data to your Virgin TV boxes for more reliable UHD streaming etc.), guest networks, the list goes on.

The only downside is whilst the Hub 3.0 is neat and compact, I now (in addition to the hub as a modem), also have a wifi router with 8 antennas that looks like an evil torture device from a sci-fi movie 🙂 

[Dasco · Accepted solution]

I thought I would come back and update you all after installing the Asus ZenWiFi AX Whole-Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (XT8) 2Pack. 
If you're not splitting the 2.4G and 5G signals its really easy, If splitting them its a little harder but not much. Overall its easy really, just give the units time to finish start up and to settle. I have a total of 27 devices connected on wifi and now have no holdups or slow downs. I am getting over 500 Mbps on 5G signal and over 300 on 2.4G signal at furthest point in the house.
Just been down the bottom of the garden and got over 300Mbps on the 5G and over 80Mbps on 2.4G which must be nearly 30 meters from the new router, but I think i'm going to move the node upstairs closer to rear of the house so signal should increase a little more.
I know this kit is expensive but it works and its wifi6 so should be good for few years yet.

[dazkgoodwin]

That's great speeds, I'm getting 400-500 near the tp-link router, and often 300+ two floors up, and that's using a tp-link wifi6 onemesh wifi repeater.  I wouldn't usually recommend using repeaters in true wifi repeater mode (better to use ethernet and turn it into an access point), but this onemesh system seems to work well.  It'll be interesting how it compares to tp-link's own Deco mesh system, but I quite like how industrial the hub looks with it's 8 antennas!  it means business 🙂

[jonathanpye]

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@Dasco wrote:

I thought I would come back and update you all after installing the Asus ZenWiFi AX Whole-Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (XT8) 2Pack. 
If you're not splitting the 2.4G and 5G signals its really easy, If splitting them its a little harder but not much. Overall its easy really, just give the units time to finish start up and to settle. I have a total of 27 devices connected on wifi and now have no holdups or slow downs. I am getting over 500 Mbps on 5G signal and over 300 on 2.4G signal at furthest point in the house.
Just been down the bottom of the garden and got over 300Mbps on the 5G and over 80Mbps on 2.4G which must be nearly 30 meters from the new router, but I think i'm going to move the node upstairs closer to rear of the house so signal should increase a little more.
I know this kit is expensive but it works and its wifi6 so should be good for few years yet.

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Hey Das

You've probably already said earlier,  but what' package level of Broadband are you on as a base reference for what speed your getting at the hub before wifi is considered.

I have Gig1 with upto 19 devices connected

The best speed I've ever measured over wifi is 600mb at a distance of approx 10ft in same room from hub4 router since on gig1.

Thanks

[dazkgoodwin]

I'm on M500, typically 50 devices connected. Test a couple of metres from the router, but I can be in the room above and sometimes get near 500 Meg. Sometimes it's much slower, it does vary. 2 floors up and close to the mesh repeater I've just got 150-200, still fine for casual browsing in bed. 

[Dasco]

I'm on M600 and at 3 meters from hub on my Samsung S20 which is wifi 6 I get 620ish on laptop I get 480ish but its a older laptop.

[Andrew-G]

And how is it performing during the week? 

I must say I'm surprised nobody checked to see if your broadband connection was performing properly before recommending expensive new wifi kit.  Don't get me wrong, the Zen Wifi kit is first class, leagues ahead of VM hubs and pods, but if your problem is upstream network congestion during the week it will probably remain until lockdown is over.  On the plus side you've got the best wifi money can buy....

[Dasco]

I had been on with Virgin tech in November and when the engineer came to install the 360 and mini boxes he was happy at the time. The upstream is fine, like you say it is the best kit you can buy, I'd been thinking of doing it for ages i'm so glad I did. 
I can stream 4k HDR films while both kids and wife are streaming lessons.
The kids only have the teacher on each of their laptops but the wife is streaming to 30 kids but you wouldn't know there is no buffering no freezing no lost connection.

[dazkgoodwin]

My word of advice would be for the VM hub (or any ISP provided hub) is to try it first before committing to expensive equipment, it might just work for you.  Some of us have more extreme needs in terms of wifi coverage, capacity for multiple devices (typically 50 at a time in my house), or features such as media hosting, network printer sharing etc., which a better hub/router can provide, and without the need to spend too much.

I'd be interested to hear how users get on by replacing the VM by different mesh systems.  Mine only has one extra mesh access point, speeds usually 150-200Mbps (wifi 6), which is a big drop in throughput, but still more than enough for casual access two floors up.

[happytre3frendz]

Hi 

Thanks for the info

Wanted to ask you if you have set this mesh wirelessly or using ethernet. I am looking to get a mesh system for my sister-in-laws house who is going to sign up with virgin but needs good wifi in the house aswell back of the garden because she has her own nursery. 

The nursery is about 20 metres away from the main house. Do you think this mesh system will allow at least 20-30mpbs speeds that far away?

She is going to sign up to the m200 package.

Please let me know.

Thanks