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).

[sku11meister]

Hi, As far as i am aware you need to log into your virgin media online account and look under settings in there, That is where you can enable or disable your virgin hotspot. 

Personally i dont know why anyone would willingly want to enable this as it allows any virgin customer using hotspot to use your router as a public hotspot.

They say it does not effect your private bandwidth which i seriously doubt! Please if anyone who is more technically advised than me would care to correct me or even explain it in more detail i would be glad to hear it! 

the fact the superhub2 and 3 are awful routers and cannot handle much traffic anyway, why you would want to stress the superhub even more by adding public wifi hotspot traffic is also beyond me.. again .. correct me if im wrong! 

I have my SH3 in modem mode because of this exact reason! its useless and cannot handle my home network or traffic/data needs at home! best thing i ever did!

[sku11meister]

also i tried using this hot spot service in London not so long ago, and I had the same problems. It just does not work. more of a gimick and sales ploy i think.

Most people turn it off! and i dont blame them!

[tuckova]

Thanks Sku11meister, however my issue relates to setting up access to the Virgin hotspots on my mobile phone while I'm away from my house via my Virgin Mobile account so it doesn't relate to my Virgin Broadband connection (although I appreciate that a number of the hotspots they grant access to are via other customers home broadband connections, which as you say they have the option to disable if they want).

On previous mobiles I've had the hotspots working fine via the Virgin Media connect app and it's been quite useful when I've been away travelling around the UK so I can't say they've been poor from my experience, however in this case the app won't even configure the access profile for the hotspots on my phone so I can't access any of them.

[sku11meister]

No worries. 

I know I gave up using the hot spot thing as it was basically either unavailable or when it was connected it was ridiculously slow, as in couldn’t even load emails or play a YouTube video, so basically useless 

[BenMcr]

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@tuckova wrote:

Thanks Sku11meister, however my issue relates to setting up access to the Virgin hotspots on my mobile phone while I'm away from my house via my Virgin Mobile account so it doesn't relate to my Virgin Broadband connection (although I appreciate that a number of the hotspots they grant access to are via other customers home broadband connections, which as you say they have the option to disable if they want).

On previous mobiles I've had the hotspots working fine via the Virgin Media connect app and it's been quite useful when I've been away travelling around the UK so I can't say they've been poor from my experience, however in this case the app won't even configure the access profile for the hotspots on my phone so I can't access any of them.

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Just to check - none of the Virgin Media hotspots SSIDs are showing as saved in your WiFi list? For the UK that's 'Virgin Media' and 'arq_wifi_x'

If you've moved across from an older Android phone then Google might have tried copying them over when you set up your new phone but had them corrupted in some way.

[tuckova]

Thanks Ben, however as I mentioned in my original post I did check for existing networks and the only one I have is for my own wifi.

Has anyone actually got it working on Android 11 I guess is the question?

[BenMcr]

It's a good question, and I've not seen a definitive statement around Android 11 support yet.

In the meantime as you're a Virgin Mobile customer, you can connect to the 'Virgin Media' set of hotspots manually using SIM authentication. Instructions on how to that are here:

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/sim-based-wifi-eap-profile-settings

It won't configure your device for the airport hotspots or those in other countries. Those still need the Connect app to configure your device.

The 'Virgin Media' hotspots are those generated by Hubs opted into to do and on the London Underground.

[tuckova]

Thanks Ben - I didn't come across the manual configuration instructions before so I'll give that a go later and hopefully it gives me access to most of the hotspots while I wait for an answer on the Android 11 compatibility.

[tuckova]

Any chance of a response from the VM team as to whether Android 11 is supported or not - or if this is the wrong place to ask where I should be directing the question?