Wi-Fi Pods

[Rpatrick]

I have weak Wi-Fi in one room and so need a virgin wifi pod. How do I get one? Do I buy it on Amazon? 

[jbrennand · Accepted solution]

No - any bought from any other source wont work at all - this will
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To address the wifi issues, VM now supply “wifi Pods” (no longer doing cheap and cheerless “boosters”). However, their Pods are only free to customers on the 1GB, Volt (or old Ultimate Oomph) packages - is that you? If so they are worth trying - they should work for you. VM Wifi is now “guaranteed” to 20 Mbps/room and it’s now called… Wifi Max see…….

https://www.virginmedia.com/wifi-max

You can call  0800 064 3850 to order the first one - or follow instructions on that website - or just wait here for a VM person to respond in a day or two and they will sort the first one for you . If you call dont get fobbed off by the offshore CS agents' saying you aren’t eligible it will be £5 or £8 month - you are… and it wont be - just look on the webpage.

If not free to you… you will be charged £8/month (note - BT charge £10/mo for their whole home wifi solution). It’s a simple solution and should work for you. However, you would soon pay off that cost by buying your own wireless solution that will be yours to own and use forever, although the VM Pods should be a simpler option.

If you do want to invest in better equipment, you would need to get either a… (1) Mesh System, (2) Wireless router, (3) Wireless access point (4) A combination of (2,3).

£30-100 (that’s ~4->12 months of Max Pod rental) should sort it for most customers with an average property and usage.

[Rpatrick]

Thanks so much John, that’s really helpful. 

[Rpatrick]

Would any wireless access point work (ie doesn’t have to be Virgin)? Can you recommend? 

[jbrennand]

Access points need connecting directly to the Hub via an ethernet cable. Is that what you want. If so this is a good cheap option...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Wireless-Access-Business-WAC104-100UKS/dp/B01LWUJU8H/

Or do you want something that is a router as well - or a Mesh system ?  I would never recommend a "booster" or "extender"

[jdoherty76]

Why would you never recommend an Extender John? Just curios.. and does the Pod not just pick up the signal and boost or amplify?

[jbrennand]

Extenders are poor value and if you have a poor signal it simply extends a poor signal.

For the same money you can get the WAP I linked too