Wifi slow despite having 500mbps

[Luke321]

Hi,

I pay for 500mbps and I do achieve this speed when plugged in via ethernet on my PC. However, on my phone using wifi it ranges between 30mbps - 100mbps. On my firestick it's got to 5mbps. I live in a rather small house and have already tried changing the channels to less busy ones. Have gotten a new hub from Virgin, and have tried clicking the reset button many times. No luck and incredibly frustrating. Do I need a better hub? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[carl_pearce]

What's the connection speed of the devices?

[Tudor]

"tried changing the channels to less busy ones" I presume you mean on the 2.4Ghz band. Channels overlap and you can only use channels 1, 6 or 11. If you see say channel 4 looks less busy, it’s not. If you set to this channel you are actually overlapping with 1 and 6, so effectively getting twice the interference. 5Ghz channels rarely reach outside of you home and you would probably not see any others. If you are using a 2.4Ghz channel, then you are getting the expected speed.

[Luke321]

Wasn't aware of this. The wifi isn't split into bands currently. But 2.4GHz is set to channel 10 and 5GHz is set to channel 100. 

Speeds seem to be up and down like a yoyo on phones and one minute it's 100mbps on the firestick, next it's only 5mbps. I pay for 500mbps and seem to only get this when using ethernet. It's causing an issue now as the firestick buffers due to the unpredictable speeds.

Your suggestions would be great.

[Luke321]

One minute its 100mbps and the next it's only 5mbps. Seems to vary a lot. It's not an issue on my PC where I'm plugged in. But considering my house is small and the firestick and phones will buffer and lag at times, there has to be something wrong here and I've already tried lots of different things.

[carl_pearce]

You don't pay for full speed to wireless devices, you pay for the connection to the HUB over the VM network.

VM guarantee a minimum of 30Mbps, however is £8/month if you aren't on the higher packages:

https://www.virginmedia.com/wifi-max

Regarding 5Ghz I'd suggest channels 36 – 64 as 100 is DFS which some devices don't support.

[Luke321]

Kinda ridiculous to be paying £50 a month for wifi and not getting above 5mbps on some devices. Definitely something wrong here. Will keep looking into it and will make some complaints to Virgin. Channels 50-64 are also DFS too according to Virgin. So I'm just going select channel 48 I think. 

[carl_pearce]

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@Luke321 wrote:

Kinda ridiculous to be paying £50 a month for wifi and not getting above 5mbps on some devices. Definitely something wrong here. Will keep looking into it and will make some complaints to Virgin. Channels 50-64 are also DFS too according to Virgin. So I'm just going select channel 48 I think. 

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You aren't paying for Wi-Fi, you are paying for a broadband connection.

It doesn't state anywhere in your contract with VM to expect full speed to wireless devices, so unless there is an issue with your line I don't see how complaining will help.

[Cardiffman282]

The WiFi from VM hubs is notoriously feeble. I suggest putting the hub in to modem mode and using your own better router. 

[jpeg1]

Change your 2.4ghz channel from 10, to 1, 6,or 11.

Is your firestick plugged directly into the TV? If so it is being screened by the TV and probably receiving interference from it. Fit a USB extension lead to keep it out in the clear.