Virgin media connect app - Can't enable wifi hotspots

[tuckova]

I'm a Virgin Mobile customer and I'm trying to enable hotspot access on my Pixel 4a via the Virgin Media connect app and it's failing every time I click on the "Get set for wifi hotspots" after a short period of time with "no server response" despite a strong wifi and 4g data connection as per the screenshots below.

      

I've followed all the advice I can find like:

• Confirming the hotspot account status and that it is retrieving all my other account details correctly
• Checking for existing saved wifi networks and removing them (there aren't any as it's a new phone)
• Confirmed that the app has the required permissions
• Deleting the app cache/data and reinstalling the app
• Tried activating at multiple time across various days in case it's an issue at the server end

Is there anything else I can try or does the application simply not work on android 11? (note: I've recently installed the app on an android 8 device with a different sim card and that worked fine).

[naboo]

That is correct

MikeRobbo your post whilst pretty accurate has nothing to do with the crux of the issue in this thread

[tuckova]

@endi - strange that the Android engineering team told you that the issue is "by design" as I would consider preventing the user from manually selecting the hotspot authentication mode as "by design" whereas on the Pixel 4a at least it lets you configure the hotspot profile and then crashes/reboots the phone a high proportion of times that you go near a hotspot (note: the hotspot often works fine initially and the phone reboots when you move out of range which again doesn't fit with their description of by design as if it was insecure it shouldn't allow you to connect in the first place).

After sending two Pixel 4a's back (contrary to my earlier post the recent Android updates didn't resolve the issue) I've now got a Pixel 5 on the way and if that has the same issue then I suspect any Android 11 device will have the problem until the Android Engineering team accept that they have a problem.

[endi]

Could you post the exact settings you are using (minus your email+password of course)?

Also are do you have a Virgin Mobile SIM or are you using the username/password auth?

Thanks!

[tuckova]

No account details involved as I'm using a Virgin SIM with the "EAP method" set to AKA as per Virgin Media's manual set up instructions.

As several people on my street have VM broadband a short walk up and down is all it takes to cause the Pixel 4a to restart (sometimes multiple times) and as I use the phone as a sat nav and for tracking strava routes this happening most times you pass by a VM hotspot is means it's not something I can live with. I don't have access to any other SIM that allows me to test whether the AKA issue is specific to VM's implementation, however regardless of whether VMs implementation is broken or not Android shouldn't pancake the whole OS due to a Wifi authentication failure.

My Nexus 5x running Android 8.1 certainly doesn't have any issues connecting/disconnecting from the VM hotspots so I'm stuck with that until my Pixel 5 arrives.

[endi]

OK. I don't have the SIM, so you are having a separate issue, however I'll look into getting it in order to help the Android team troubleshoot and get to the bottom of this.

Separately, to the Virgin team: for those that do not have a SIM, please support stronger authentication in the hotspot network.

[HandyHat]

@endi - After reading what @tuckova said about it allowing him to connect in the first place but then restarting his phone, I think the Android Engineering Team have got the wrong issue in mind. As of the December Update for Android 11, Android now requires you to use a certificate to connect to enterprise networks. This encrypts the connection, and means users can no longer choose Do Not Validate (which results in an unencrypted connection), but forces the network admin to provide a certificate. This XDA link explains this in more detail.

This is just a thought, but I think the Android team saw the words "issue connecting to enterprise network" and "Android 11" in the same issue and assumed that this was the problem. I can confirm, however, that this is not the issue with the Virgin Media network, because this has been an issue since the release of Android 11, when you could still connect to other (working) enterprise networks using Do Not Validate.

[tuckova]

Just an update on the original issue from my side - my Pixel 5 arrived and also crashed repeatedly when the SIM was manually configured to use AKA auth to connect to the Virgin hotspots indicating that it was an Android 11 issue as I suspected and not specific to the Pixel 4a. Fortunately once I applied all the updates (as some new ones had been released since I was using the 4a) the reboots have stopped and I'm now able to walk/drive past VM hotspots without my phone restarting.

To check which updates your phone is currently running go to:

    settings -> about phone -> android version

Ensure that android security updates are 5th Jan 2021 or later and that Google play system update is 1 Dec 2020 or later. If not click on the relevant to check/apply the update (weirdly on a 4a I had access to the security update was the latest version but the Google play update was back in Oct 2020 and the owner wasn't being prompted to update it. Forcing the update on the 4a has resolved the problem for them so it seems the Google play update has resolved the issue).

[endi]

@HandyHat here's what happened.

Android requires a lot of manual setup and left me with a lot of trial and error (all of which hailed) to try to configure the network, on the other hand Windows just autodetects (auto-tries?) the settings and just works, given username/password.

So I provided the Android team with the Virgin Media hotspot config as detected by Windows, and working correctly there. They came back telling me that this configuration is not supposed to work in Android because it's insecure. This still means that the minimum it takes to support modern Android (at least on setups without SIM) is a change in the network setup on Virgin's side.

[Jarric]

I was just wondering if there had been any update from Virgin Media on the original issue here; the Virgin Media Connect app not being able to pick up wifi hotspots?

It appears that this is definitely a combatibility problem with Android 11. The app was working perfectly on my Nokia 8.3 two days ago, when it was running Android 10. I then upgraded to Android 11 and now I'm getting the same error messages shown in the start of this thread.

I don't have a VM SIM so can't connect that way, but I'll try the other manual settings mentioned when I'm next able to do so.

[HandyHat]

It's astounding. Android 12 developer previews are out and Virgin haven't updated for Android 11 yet...