Wi-Fi dropping in and out constantly

[georgie86]

Good evening 

we are having a nightmare with virgin media. I work with the nhs from home once forthrightly. Our Wi-Fi is dropping in and out hourly and I lose all my coding which is causing me to fall behind with my work. I’m so stressed out. We have had two engineers out and the problem isn’t resolved and we just want to leave now. I’ve rang virgin to request this and their complaints department were meant to ring us back within 24 hours but haven’t. We were also cut off last time we tried to complain. We don’t feel we should have to pay early termination charges as it’s not fit for purpose. This is one extra worry we just don’t need. Please let us leave so we can find a internet provider more suited to our area, virgin obviously can’t cope here 

[Anonymous]

Sounds dire. On the contract side the VM forum team will respond in a day or two but I agree that given the chronic instability of the connection there should be no early termination charges. If this becomes a problem there is an ombudsman type service called CISAS you could take it to. In addition there are growing reports that BT will consider absorbing these costs if you switch to them but there are no guarantees.

On the technical front we on the forum are always happy to look at things like your hub stats. You could also set up a BQM by visiting https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality  Given that you have already had two engineers it would seem network related rather than hub. 

[georgie86]

Thank you so much for your response, that’s really helpful. I’m will definitely be looking into CISAS. That’s good to know about BT I might contact them to see what they can do for us. It’s really good just to hear from someone with a bit of sympathy for our situation and that can provide proper answers. Cheers again 

[Adduxi · Accepted solution]

To use CISAS you will need proof of poor service.

As suggested you need to setup a BQM here www.thinkbroadband.com/ping to monitor and record your incoming broadband circuit.

Also can you post your power levels and network log from the Hub for comment.  Thanks

[Reece_MH]

Hi @georgie86,

Thanks for your post, and welcome to our Community Forums.

I'm really sorry to hear that you've had such a poor experience with your service. As previously mentioned, although CISAS is an option in regards to an Independent Adjudicator, you would need to have an open complaint that has been deadlocked - meaning we weren't able to come to a resolution between both yourself and Virgin Media.

I've taken a look into your service for you, and there don't seem to be any issues that could be causing intermittent service other than a range issue on your WiFi. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi can be affected by a multitude of different factors, including the thickness of walls, distance from the router, etc. We do offer WiFi Pods which may be beneficial to your service, but these may come at an additional cost per month, dependent on your package.

Have you tried to use our VM Connect App to locate any WiFi Blackspots in your property? You can get the app here

As previously mentioned by @Adduxi, a Broadband Quality Monitor may assist us in diagnosing any further issues.

Thanks,

[georgie86]

Hi again, we have already bought booster. Again it works for an hour but always drops out. This might not seem like a big deal but I can’t work like this as I lose all my work I’m currently doing. Obviously this is causing me massive anxiety in my day to day work life. You know there’s a big problem when you have to use a hot spot on your phone everyday as well as paying monthly for unreliable broadband. I’m honestly at a loss, from everything virgin have said we just have to deal with it even if it’s not fit for purpose. It would be fine if it was intermittent every so often but this is not the case. We think it dropping in and out once an hour is dreadful. I know virgin are just wanting easy money by making me pay out the contract but in this time of every company ripping off there customers and the cost of living crisis it’s hard for me to stomach. We just feel completely mugged off 

[jbrennand]

As said,,, Wifi is a fickle beast.... see this...
_______________________________

If it is a wifi only issue, then on a Hub3/4/5, you can try separating the SSID's of the 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi bands by renaming them in the settings and at the same time switch off "channel optimisation/Smart wifi” “ apply and save the settings. All wifi devices will need reconnecting to the best SSID at each location. Also use a wifi scanning App to find the best wifi channels to use (just select and use channels 1,6,11 on 2.4GHz) - this often helps Hub users get better wifi performance - but its still no substitute for getting better kit 🙂

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, Ultimate Oomph or Volt packages - is that you? If so they are worth trying - they should work for you.
You do have to call in to order them (cant do it online) - 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 not… you will be charged £5/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, but it isn’t the simple plug and play option of the Pod(s).

You would need to get either a… (1) Mesh System, (2) Wireless router, (3) Wireless access point (4) Powerline adapters (+/- inbuilt Wifi,) (5) A combination of (2,3,4).

£40-100 should sort it for most customers with an average property and usage.