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).

[endi]

+1 new customer here, also failing to set up the hotspot on Android 11.

I'm OK with the app support being still under development, but I would love to have a manual alternative.

[Toto2]

I have the same issue, tuckova. 

And I'm not even sure this is an android issue, because I'm unable to opt out or in of the facility on my.virginmedia.com account directly. It just pings with an error message saying they were unable to save my settings and that I should try again later. It's been weeks now.

Have you found a solution or heard any news?

[tuckova]

endi: BenMcr actually provided the manual configuration instructions via the link he provided in his earlier post:

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

The good news is that I can confirm that I'm able to connect to the Virgin Media hotspots with it, however the bad news is that my Pixel 4a frequently crashes and restarts when moving out of range of the hotspots due to a fatal wifi error in Android 11's OS. After chatting with Google support they want to swap out my phone to rule out a hardware issue, although I'm skeptical that it will resolve the problem and suspect that I'm potentially going to have to return phone for a refund. Will update once the new phone arrives and has been tested.

[tuckova]

Just an update on the saga for anyone else who might be suffering the reboot issue when moving out of range of the hotspots, the issue was exactly the same on another new pixel 4a phone so it seems Android 11 isn't ready for the mainstream yet (or at least in terms of the AKA authentication set up VM use on their hotspots). It's a shame that Google force you onto Android 11 as I suspect Android 10 would have been fine, however they have allowed us to return the phone despite it being outside of the normal return period so it's now time to figure out what alternative phone to go for.

[endi]

So here's the fact. I happen to work for Google, although not for Android specifically, and since I am affected I can try to help resolve this, if only Virgin was in any way, shape of form responsive, through any channel at all.

[naboo]

Same problem here

One plus 8t sporting Android 11 gives the same error as mentioned

Samsung S20 and a mi mix 3 5G both work fine and neither of these have Android 11

[tuckova]

To be honest the Virgin media connect app not working on Android 11 is probably a good thing just now as I mentioned as once the hotspot authentication is configured (manually in my case) Android 11 starts crashing almost every time you move out of range of a hotspot and that's a much more annoying issue as our phones would restart several times just walking down my street which is a Google issue rather than anything to do with VM.

Google's response has been disappointing with no acknowledgement of a problem or ETA on a fix and while they've agreed for us to get a refund on both phones one is stuck in RMA limbo as apparently there is an issue with their returns system so I've been told to wait 24-48 hours for an update for over 6 days now. Up until this point I've been a big fan of the Google's phones, but I have to say this experience has really damaged their reputation from my perspective and I can't see me considering any of their new releases. 

[endi]

@tuckova, I have reported my version of this issue to the Android team. A crash would be wonderful because it would prove that this is an issue with Android and not with the network, and it would accelerate resolution. I think I have tried every possible setting combination, manually, and never got it to connect, never mind crashing.

If you can tell me how to make it connect and crash, it will be massively helpful.

Thanks!
A.

[tuckova]

@endi, as I mentioned previously the Virgin Media Connect app doesn't work on Android 11 so you may as well uninstall it. As for how to do the manual hotspot configuration you just need to follow the steps that were posted above via the Wifi settings, however here's the link again:

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

Be aware that you need to be in range of a Virgin Media hotspot to set this up and as BenMcr mentioned it has some limitations in that it won't allow you to connect to some of the non-VM hotspots that the Virgin Media connect app does - not that you'll want any additional hotspot access once your phone starts restarting all the time.

I've submitted quite a number of crash reports all with the same fatal exception (i.e "Attempt to invoke virtual method boolean android.net.wifi.wificonfiguration.isPassPoint() on null object reference") so the Google Android team should be well aware of the issue.

[endi]

Bad luck, I don't have the SIM so all I can attempt is password auth.