Wifi coverage Terrible

[Fkhan]

I have a hub 3 and the M200 package…. I get 200mb download speeds in the same room as the hub and also in the room next to it…. However there is so little coverage upstairs in any of the bedrooms or my study that its ridiculous…. 2 of the bedrooms dont even have coverage to connect to the wifi and the other bedrooms get 20mb or less of downlaod speed…. I have installed the virgin wifi powerline boosters but still no change in coverage…. And as usual its impossinle to get virgin to do anything except take my money every month…. Any resolutions  here for this problem? Terrible customer service from virgin again!!!

[legacy1]

Do you think it could just be a limitation of wifi? or are you expecting too much?

[Fkhan]

I expect to get the wifi coverage and speeds that i am paying for…. At a minimum i expect there to be 100mb+ of available coverage all over my house…. Otherwise why am i paying for an internet service if it cannot service my needs

[legacy1]

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@Fkhan wrote:

I expect to get the wifi coverage and speeds that i am paying for…. 

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If this is what people like yourself are expecting from wifi from VM maybe VM should only do a wired router next time (with modem mode and router mode NAT) then what would you do then? buy a AP and find your speed not great? guess VM can say they don't support speed over wifi....🤔

[Fkhan]

Any solutions out there for this problem that i’m sure many others have also faced…. I just want to understand what people have done to resolve this, nothing else really….

[legacy1]

Well you could get a better wifi router and put hub in modem mode then wire a wifi AP upstairs...

[Stobbsy74]

There is not a lot you can do without paying out more money to improve the wifi. The hardware that VM give you is only capable of what it can do, which most will agree is not great.

The only real options are.

• Rent wifi pods off VM for £5 a month per pod.
• A combination of wiring ethernet cables from the hub to wifi access points in the area where you are struggling to get wifi, even if it means putting a cable through the outside wall, and going upstairs via outside wall. Or you could go under carpet up the stairs.
• Buying a decent wireless router that has better coverage than the hub and connecting the new router to the hub via ethernet cable and putting the hub in modem mode.
• Buying a wireless router mesh system and connecting to the hub via ethernet cable and putting the hub in modem mode.
• Powerlines are OK but usually not great speed and largely depends on the electrical wiring of your house.

A lot depends on how much you want to spend, how much hassle are you prepared to do and how large the house is.

When you talking wireless routers, you would probably want a gaming router as they tend to have the best coverage and are probably talking £300 (at a guess without looking).

With mesh router systems, you are probably talking £100 to £300, depending on coverage needed and if you pick dual or tri band.

Me personally, I did a mixture of wiring ethernet cables upstairs under the carpet (as I was decorating) and a triband mesh wifi6 router system. Yes it was a bit if hassle and money but getting up to 850mbps via wifi (depending on the device)  and 940mbps to my desktop in my spare room upstairs.

[Stobbsy74]

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@legacy1 wrote:
Do you think it could just be a limitation of wifi? or are you expecting too much?

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Personally I dont think people are asking too much for decent wifi that covers most of the house. I also don't think the issue of poor wifi equipment is limited to VM.

When you look at these forums, there is a large percentage of posts related to poor wifi performance.

When you compare the general size of the majority of houses in the UK, they are quite small especially when you compare them to house sizes in the US and Australia.

I personally live in a very small, 2 bedroom semi detached house and would expect decent coverage all over the house for the size of the property. Yet in the back bedroom with the hub 3/4 i get a signal but its very poor. If I lived in a 4 story 5 bedroom house then yes I wouldn't expect a signal all over.

The technology is there as I tried an Asus gaming router for a day, and got full wifi signal, so I can understand people being frustrated and not happy, especially those people on the newer tech such as the hub 5 and still rubbish wifi coverage.

Maybe instead of supplying a non wifi router, maybe VM should drop there prices and let people buy their own gear and let them connect straight from the cable with no hub. Or even better supply decent gear with decent wifi.

Over an 18 month contract, to BUY a £300 router would be £16 a month, so to rent a router as you have no other option should  be a fraction of this as typically you don't get a new hub after every 18 months but more likely to be 36 months. Plus as VM buying in bulk and they have no VAT to pay on the £300, you are probably talking around £5 a month or less for a £300 retail priced router.