Virgin Connect App can’t see my Hub 5 router but internet is fine

[SteveP62]

I’ve just received my new Hub 5 router, which is working very well so far and indeed, there seems to be a marked improvement in the WiFi strength and spread over the Hub 4. 
My only issue to date is that the Virgin Connect App can’t see my Hub 5 router. I’ve tried re-booting and resetting the router numerous times, deleting the app cache and deleting and re-installing the app and all of these in different orders, but to no avail.

It searches but on everyone occasion, can’t find the hub and invites me to re-install my hub (which I have done but as I say, it’s working fine and providing wired and wireless connectivity without issue).

I believe VM have recognised an issue with some of their customers but any ideas or suggestions greatly appreciated. 

Thank you.

Steve P 

[Babak11]

Same issue here.  I joined virgin a couple of weeks ago. A day or so after setting up the hub5, the Connect app saw it and I managed to get a couple of speed readings and order a pod.  But after a 3-hour outage last Wednesday, the app lost the hub and no matter what I do, it has refused to find the hub again. I have tried practically everything on these forums and nothing has helped. I have also have had long conversations with Virgin help desk who have run remote diagnostics but they have not managed to fix it.

I am not having any joy with the pod (it’s light does go off, so is supposedly connecting), but without the Connect app, cannot see if it is connected to the hub or not. 

Any help much appreciated, thank you!

[Reece_MH]

Hi Babak11 👋

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

I've taken a look on our side, and I can see that your Hub is in Modem Mode. The Connect App only works for Hubs that are in Router Mode and online. 

Please be aware as well, that if your Hub is in Modem Mode, your Pods will not work as they are not compatible. The following criteria must be met if you wish to use WiFi Pods:

- The Hub must be in 'Router Mode' and not have been changed to 'Modem Mode'

- Channel Optimisation must be left on

- The SSIDs must be the same and broadcast enabled

- The SSID must be password protected

- The Passphrases of the SSIDs must match

As long as all of the above points are met then the Pods will automatically connect to your Hub's WiFi and begin broadcasting. The wireless details from the Pods will be the same as the Hub's details, so no additional steps are required to connect the devices in your home.

Thanks,
 

[Babak11]

Hi @Reece_MH

Many thanks for your reply and for looking into this. I did switch the hub to modem mode this afternoon to try my old mesh network - as I could not avoid the black spots and the Virgin pods (including one replacement) don’t seem to work. But until then it had been on router mode.

in addition to needing to avoid the dead spots, this morning I noticed very frequent jitter/timeouts on the hub5 WiFi. I only noticed this when streaming music within the house with no buffering used. About 3 times a minute for 1 second each even quite close to the router. The timeouts would not be noticeable in normal browsing or even when streaming HD material when there is sufficient buffering. 

I am mentioning this as maybe it is one of the reasons why the connect app is not finding the hub. If there are frequent timeouts, perhaps the Connect app just gives up quickly? 

I can always switch the hub to router mode to continue testing if required?

I would still like to get this fixed and use the virgin pods as my mesh devices are 5 years old and do not support WPA3 and the newer WiFi protocols.

many thanks again for your help.

Babak. 

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @Babak11 

If you are still experiencing issues in router mode, I would advise deleting and re-installing the app. 

Keep us posted!

[Babak11]

Hello @Ayisha_B

Thank you for your response. In the two weeks preceding my post above, I fully deleted the app multiple times, restarted the router and my phone, changed and verified settings in my phone and the hub, and spoke for over an hour to tech support, all to no avail. I also tried the app on an ipad and I my wife’s phone too. The only thing I have not done yet is to hard reset the hub.

I do now have a support ticket though, so with some luck this may get addressed.

Many thanks again

 Babak

[Matthew_ML]

Thank you for letting us know this, please do keep us updated on this too.

I would also maybe have a go at doing a reset of the router this may fix it you never know.

Either way please keep us updated 🙂 Thanks 

[Babak11]

Hi @Matthew_ML

Happiness, and thank you for encouraging me to hard reset!! 😀. So using the pinhole reset and app deletion plus non-private MAC address mode on my iPhone, it worked!

Although the app had worked once before and I had done a couple of speed tests, this time I can also see the full functionality such as network management, device management, etc. the two pods I have also finally started working after a few minutes.

But - I am also really surprised that devices I had connected to the hub previously, using a different SSID and before the hard, are now showing up on the Connect app. I would have thought deleting (not just offloading) the app and resetting the hub would have deleted this information? I am assuming there is a database at the Virgin side, and whilst the hard reset worked, this cache/db is a potential cause of the issues, as we have no visibility to it and hence cannot factor it into the equation?

All the same it works (for now!) and so the pods are running. With the two pods working, I have much better coverage now, although the furthest corners eg in my kitchen still have weak spots, with the signal being intermittent. Please can you advise how I can get another pod? Through customer services?

Many thanks again, great to see it work! And thank you for taking the time to respond.

I will now proceed to change the SSID name to my original so other devices can connect. Fingers crossed!

Babak

[legacy1]

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@Babak11 wrote:

I am assuming there is a database at the Virgin side....

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🤔

[Gareth_L]

Hello Babak11.

Thanks for getting back to us.

Matthew is away right now so I can p[ick this up and get the 3rd pod ordered.

If you don't mind, I will need to send you a private message to pass security. 
If you can check the envelope top right of your screen that would be great. 
Regards     
Gareth_L