Wifi Channel setting keeps resetting to Auto

[Cheekie78]

Hi All

Has anyone seen this issue I have with Hub 3.0. This has been occuring for about a month, since Virgin upgraded our line:

Standard specification compliant	: DOCSIS 3.0
Hardware version	: 10
Software version	: 9.1.2109.200

Issue is that the Channel setting, after a few days, gets set back to Auto when I have set it to Manual:

V annoying as it then causes the Wifi to drop every few minutes whilst it finds a good channel. I keep set to manual as there is a lot of variable channel interference where I am.

Thanks

Cheekie

[jbrennand]

I think it defaults to auto when "Smart Wifi" is activated - and the two band are combined into a single SSID. Try this
____________________

In Advanced>wireless signal >smart wifi - tick the disable “channel optimisation” box or “Smart Wifi” box and save settings.  May be different pathways and wording on the 3 Hub types

Then, go to advanced>wireless signal>security, rename the 2.4 & 5 GHz network ssid's.  Just type over to change 'em to whatever you like and something that will differentiate them (e.g - Cheekie_2 & Cheekie_5) Try to avoid spaces and periods in the SSID names as they can cause issues with certain devices. Use the same password for simplicity,  Then, apply settings and restart the Hub.  Your 2 wifi networks will now be clearly separated - and you can then select the network you want each device to connect to… individually from the "available networks" list on each of your devices. 

[Cheekie78]

Thanks John!

Could you check the screenshot I posted in my first post. I think I have it set as you have suggested, but not sure if you are meaning to untick the channel optimisation option 🙂

Cheers

[jbrennand]

I would untick the channel optimisation box and use a wifi analyser App (or Airport Utility on iOS) to check which 2.4 channels are being heavily used around you and move yours to one of numbers 1,6,11 that is least so. Same for 5GHZ

[FredBloggs60]

Hi John, I am having the same problem.

My settings are:

2.4 and 5 GHz enabled, with separate SSID's.

2.4 GHz set to manual, Ch6

5GHz set to Auto

Channel Optimisation Disabled.

Hub keeps resetting 2.4GHz to Ch 1 which is being used by 3 other neighbours on Virgin, 1 Sky user, 1 BT user all about -60 to -70 Dbm and 1 unidentified network at -40 Dbm.

I keep setting to channel 6 which has no signals greater than -85 Dbm but hub still resets to Ch 1.

My network neighbourhood shows Virgin, Sky, BT, Vodafone and one other user but no-one near on channel 6.

Can't under stand 'Smart' or 'Intelligent' hub.

Please help as it has just reset from Ch 6 to Ch1 in the time it has taken me to type this post.

[Client62]

Our Hub 3 exhibits the same defect.

Below are our Hub 3 settings, we do not have split SSIDs for 2.4 & 5GHz.

The only way we can impose these settings and have them sustained for a reasonable length of time
is by adjusting to the desired WiFi settings then click once in the "Apply changes" button
then just leave the web page to time out. ( I allow several minutes )

The time it takes the Hub 3 to apply the settings is a couple of minutes, the web screen refreshes in a few seconds.

Another Hub 3 defect we see is with 2.4Ghz in N only mode - after a reboot 2.4Ghz WiFi may not start to operate.  
Using G/N mixed appears to cure this.

[Cheekie78]

Seems I am not the only one. 

I’ve given up with it now and bought a separate wireless hub…was getting too many complaints from the family.  Will put the virgin hub in router only mode 

[Adri_G]

Hi Cheekie78, thanks for your posts and replies on our forum and this thread.
We're sorry to see you've had issues changing your hub settings to manual and switching to the channels you wish your wireless bands to broadcast from.

We'd love to help you, as jbrennand above explained our hub is set to switch back to auto when the Smart Wi Fi feature is enabled.
In order to change this, you'd need to access your hub settings and switch the Smart Wi Fi off by ticking on ''disable channel optimisation'' then click on ''apply changes'' at the bottom of the page to apply this change.

You can try refreshing your page as well before you go to the next step, to make sure that this has been switched off, then make changes you want by switching to manual etc.

Please, let us know if this works - in case you wish to test the Wi Fi after this please be advised this should be done with all 3rd party equipment removed and hub set to router mode.
You can also use the VM Connect App to run diagnostics and check the signal levels in the house and the quality of connection on your wireless devices.

We hope this info is of help, please do let us know in case the issue persists after you've followed this process and we are happy to look into this for you.

[Cheekie78]

Thanks Adri - i've had that setting off the whole time (please see my original screenshot). The issue is that when this problem occurs the channel gets set back to auto despite the 'disable channel optimisation' option remaining set.

[FredBloggs60]

I have exactly  the same problem. Intelligent WiFi seems to be, look for strongest signal in the vicinity and try to swamp it.

Since last hub upgrade I no longer have total control over my equipment. 

I am in a very crowded WiFi environment and know what the quietest channels are but every time I do as you suggest, the hub resets to auto and channel 1 like every Virgin hub on 2.4GHz in my area.

It looks like a deliberate policy or really bad coding because the hub can't detect a free channel (less than -90DBm) and resets to a used channel (at -40DBm)