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

[jbrennand]

TBH the best way to ensure wifi at the bottom of the garden is to run exterior grade ethernet cable from the hub out to the nursery and attach a wireless access point on the end of it.

[dazkgoodwin]

I've been using my TP-Link router with VM, and although I get good coverage around the house, including 2 floors up, I've increased the range by adding 2 x wifi extenders, one connects wirelessly to the router (OneMesh mode), the other, to be more reliable, via Ethernet, and operates in Access Point mode.

If running a cable is an option, I'd run some to where you can put either a wifi repeater or if you buy a mesh system, another mesh node, and put that in the closest window facing the nursery. That way you're always going to get full speeds to the wifi repeater/mesh node, then it just depends on clear line-of-sight to the nursery.

Even more ideal, if you can run ethernet externally (and you can buy ethernet cable that is suitable for external use) - then run some of that from the house to the nursery, then you can always plug in a wifi repeater/access point there, and it'll be as good a speed as you're gonna get then.

[Tudor]

Signal at halfway down my garden, about 25m from house on my Unifi AC Pro, 

Channel120 (11ac)

Signal25% (-81 dBm)

Rx Rate234 Mbps

Tx Rate130 Mbps

Not bad for the 5GHz band.

[happytre3frendz]

Thanks for all your responses.
Yes if it was my house i would def drill holes and get Ethernet cables in. But she def wont do anything like that.
So i have spent hours researching so many various mesh systems and whether she would need just a 2 pack or 3 pack.
She is going to sign up for the m200 and will tell the engineer to install the router on the 2nd floor stairway where the 1st floor stairs and finish and the loft stairs start.

The 2nd node i plan to put right on the end of the patio door in the kitchen.
The nursery is at the back of the garden roughly 15 metres away and she just wants good connection in there if possible.

I have looked at the NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Mesh WiFi System with Advanced Cyber Threat Protection (RBK53S in detail and typed garden in the reviews and many ppl say its good

ASUS ZenWiFi AX Whole-Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System(XT8), is also a contender with similar reviews where ppl said they get good coverage in garden.

Both of them have some ppl saying they are both really rubbish so its hard to make a decision.

[happytre3frendz]

What exactly is this set up you have?

Please post a link

[Sofia_B]

Hi @Dasco. 

Thanks for your post 🙂 

I'm sorry to hear you've been experiencing slow speeds, I appreciate how frustrating this must be and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. 

Is this solely a Wi-Fi issue? Have you managed to get pods ordered since posting? Or are you now looking into a third party mesh system? 

Let us know. 

Thanks, 

[jbrennand]

Getting the installer to install on the second floor will be an issue - they dont usually operate above first floor - H&S - of course!

You can get a mesh with an external grade unit.

But it is still no contest with an ethernet cable and WAP - which will sort it perfectly for ~£50 - whereas a +£500 Orbi mesh may well not - its a dice roll. I would explain the facts to her 🙂

Edit: You can get exterior ethernet cable with no ends on then so any drilled holes will be quite small and then fit the 15mm end connectors  with a £15 kit from eBay.  Its quite easy with a bit of practice on spare cable.  Also think creatively - e.g. I could do the same and run the cable out easily via a hole in an airbrick or under floorboards or the roof eaves

[happytre3frendz]

Sorry i mean first floor. So one above the ground floor. That should easily be possible.

I have virgin install my system in the loft but that was years ago. They had no problem with that.

Surely if they do loft installations they can do first floor?

[happytre3frendz]

The issue is not really drilling. There is just no way to get a cable from where the router will be to the back of the garden. It would just show and look awful.

[Dasco]

---

@Sofia_B wrote:

Hi @Dasco. 

Thanks for your post 🙂 

I'm sorry to hear you've been experiencing slow speeds, I appreciate how frustrating this must be and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. 

Is this solely a Wi-Fi issue? Have you managed to get pods ordered since posting? Or are you now looking into a third party mesh system? 

Let us know. 

Thanks, 

---

You're about 6 months too late. I changed my hub3 to modem mode and installed a Asus ZenWiFi AX Whole-Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (XT8) 2Pack and now have no more wifi problems and get close to my M600 speed at all times, so it was the hub3 causing the poor wifi all the time. 
If you want to cover a larger area or get the speed you're paying for over wifi then fit a 3rd party router or mesh system.