WiFi Pods - Are they working?

[Magoo90]

Good evening all, long time reader first time poster. Lots of useful information on here!

I've received my WiFi pod which I plugged in on Monday. I was unsure if it was actually doing anything but I left it plugged in as it said 24 hours bedding in period. 

This morning I received a text saying my new equipment was now setup and ready to use. 

To be honest I still hadn't noticed any difference. The speed tests in the room upstairs are still relatively slow/some fast ones however it's the inconsistency (dropping off) that was causing us the most issues. 

I've got network ports throughout the house so I've now plugged the WiFi pod direct into the house network.. I'm still unsure if it is linked/working. I've seen no increase in WiFi strength (as shown on phone etc) and so far it's too early to see about the dropping out. 

Can someone confirm 

A) Does the WiFi pod show on the virgin connect app and/or the list of devices when logged in? (if so then mine isn't working). 

B) Do I need to have WiFi optimisation turned off on the router? - the help page doesn't make this clear, it would indicate that this setting should maybe be turned off?! 

For info I have the Super Hub 3 and still rocking original SSID & password etc. 

We are in a 70 year old brick house which has been getting renovated, hence the ethernet ports in all the rooms. We got this done when we got a rewire as I knew wifi would be iffy. 

Thanks! 

[Adduxi]

From the Help pages ;

Can I use an Ethernet cable with my intelligent WiFi Pods?

You can experience slightly faster speeds on your devices if you plug them into a WiFi Pod using an Ethernet cable. You can also connect multiple WiFi Pods to each other via Ethernet. The WiFi Pods will then use this to talk to each other, rather than WiFi.

You might need to turn the WiFi Pod that’s connected to your device off and on again for it to be recognised and added to your network.

How to set up and troubleshoot Virgin Media Intelligent WiFi | Virgin Media Help

[Magoo90]

Yeah I've tried turning the pod on and off and the router, network switch etc. The cctv which is into the same network switch which links in that room is online. So I do believe the WiFi pod is getting Internet via the ethernet cable plugged in.

The help pages do not explain if the pods should show as a connected device or if they should appear in the app etc. 

Should the WiFi optimisation be on? 

Thanks. 

[jem101]

@Magoo90 I believe that for the pods to work then all of the wifi optimisations etc. do need to be on.

Do you actually have ethernet ports in each room? And are they all linked back to some central point?

[bitsandpcs · Accepted solution]

wifi optimisations needs to be enabled and wifi channel set to auto, also if you are test via wifi stand over the pod and discount wifi on your device then re enable that was the device should connect to wifi via the pod and then test, If you dont disconnect the device will still stay connected to the wifi from the router. If the light on the pod has turned off then the pod should be connected to the router.

[Magoo90]

Thank you. 

I turned wifi off on my mobile then stood in front of the pod, turned wifi back on and when I performed a speed test. I achieved a speed of 680! This is faster than I get in the living room (where the hub 3 is). I do believe that the pod is working!

It is a shame that there is no way to confirm the pod is active in the network. It still doesn't appear on the list of devices on the app or when I am logged into the router - and if it is, it isn't clear (no name affiliated with it). 

Thank you all for your help. 

I'll need to see about getting another few for the downstairs! 

[bitsandpcs]

Sounds like it is connected and if there is no light on on the pod i'd say it's connected. When i was on the pod trial that was also one of the complaints that there was no way to interrogate the pods like you could on the old wifi extenders and that they dont even show on the router setting.