Virgin Media Community

[HerMrFixit]

The appalling WiFi coverage of the onboard Virgin Media Broadband modem and the complaints from family about the low signal strength and poor coverage had me resort to placing the unit into Modem Mode and disabling the onboard WiFi and replacing this element with a proper Wifi router. 

Smashing!   Lovely strong WiFi all over the the house and even out into the garden. 🙂

But wait,  The two STB's also need a connection, so I dutifully provide them with the details and all is lovely and everybody is happy.

Until...  The STB's both forget that they are to connect to the WiFi network and so all the customisable user recording lists and requests etc. disappear and domestic unhappiness ensues.

Go into setting and tell the STB's to connect to Virgin Media and they complain that the network cable is unplugged.  "But Mr. STB we are using WiFI, just like you did on the in-built wifi of the broadband modem and you never forgot those details, did you?  So why are you always forgetting to connect on the new WiFI?"  Tell it to look for WiFi networks and re-connect to the Wifi router(it still has the password lodged in its memory so it clearly has all the details it needs/needed.

Bingo!  everything works again.  🙂

But this is an everyday occurrence.  😞

No other device using the non-Virgin Wifi network has any issue staying connected, remembering to connect etc. etc.   Just these awful Virgin STB's.   They have the settings, they just decide not to connect automatically.  Utter Rubbish!

So fed up with this I am thinking of switching supplier.  😞

[japitts · Accepted solution]

By putting your SH into modem mode and using your own router (which, by the way, is an excellent move), all devices in your home that need internet connectivity need to connect to the SSID (WiFi network name) of your router - the VM Superhub is only now acting as cablemodem.

I'm not sure if you're wanting help with...

1: How to do this? Follow Home > Help & Settings > Settings > Network, and follow the on-screen prompts for connecting to a new wireless network.

2: Some other issue with your wireless connectivity and your new router.

Do you have issues with any other wireless devices? What signal strength do your V6 report with your new router?

[HerMrFixit]

Thanks for the response.

The Cable Modem has its WiFi disabled and is operating on "Modem Mode".

All my "other interested party" devices are using the new  SSID of my external Wifi router and do not forget the network, or that they should connect to that network.

The 2 STB's are set to connect to the same WiFi network with the same SSID and password but forget to connect every day or lose their connection every day and do not automatically reconnect.   This is most annoying.

Both STB's have the new WiFi network visible, and they have the password for the network remembered (thank goodness I don't have to re-enter that each time).  But they should not lose their connection to Virgin Media and our "content" every day.

Her indoors "shouted at me" aboutthe rubbish on-board WiFi of the VM modem, and now I'm getting shouted at because the STB's are failing to reconnect tothe new WiFi network.  😞

[japitts]

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@HerMrFixit wrote:

The 2 STB's are set to connect to the same WiFi network with the same SSID and password but forget to connect every day or lose their connection every day and do not automatically reconnect.  

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What's happening, to make you think the connection is being lost? And what does the network connection screen report when you have this lost connection? I'd be looking for 2 things in particular..

1: The timings of the 6hourly connections on the LHS, and the reason given for any failure

2: The status in the top-right.

And irrespective of the network connection status, I'm not sure what you mean by losing your content every day. If you have bookmarks to VoD, then they should still remain but just have an error message when you play. Recorded programmes are played from your HDD and have nothing to do with the internet.

[HerMrFixit]

What makes me think the connection has been lost? - The fact that none of the content appears in the "my shows" area. When you then go to network settings and say connect to VM it tells you the network cable is unplugged. What network cable VM? We are Wireless and the SSID appears in the list when you go look for it, so why is it unable to connect to VM?
When you go through the rigmarole of re asserting you want it to connect via the WiFi netwrrk and it then does so, all of the content is them "magically" present. So, ergo, it must NOT have made the wifi network connection previously, is that not so?

[HerMrFixit]

Sorry, misworded that entirely. It is all the "On Demand" content that disappears and is no longer showing.
I guess this is because the box has NOT connected to VM to establish what our "rights" are to On-Demand content. So because it has no connection OD services are just "not available".
Stuff previously recorded is still there and fine.
This is the problem when the person who watches most askes someone who doesn't watch much TV to describe what is wrong. 😉

[newapollo]

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@HerMrFixit wrote:

Go into setting and tell the STB's to connect to Virgin Media and they complain that the network cable is unplugged.  

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I'm not saying this is the answer, but the message "Network cable uplugged" usually only appears if you have an ethernet cable connected to the STB, even if it isn't plugged into the router/hub.

Do you have an ethernet cable plugged into the back of the V6's?

If so then remove the ethernet cable as the STB may be getting confused and won't search for the wifi, it's expecting a direct cable connection. 

[japitts]

Newapollo is correct to say that your V6 will prioritise an Ethernet connection over a wireless one and that's worth a check.

But can you clarify answers to the questions I posed in post-4 above. Specifically what the network connections screen is reporting when this apparent connection drop happens.

I suspect the resolution to your issues will lie in the answers to those questions.

[HerMrFixit]

Thanks @ jappits 🙂
Next time she starts shouting at me about it, the first place I will go is the Network Status for the info you have asked for. 😉

[HerMrFixit]

I have posted on this topic before but cannot find my previous post, so I am afraid it is "here we go again" time.   Apologies to all.

My Broadband Router is being run in Modem only mode because the inbuilt WiFi is so shockingly awful.  

Both V6 boxes decide they cannot see the VM service and all our "rights & privilege's" for On-Demand services are inaccessible so we get no On Demand service.

We get Error C230

When you say test connection it says "Network Cable Unplugged".

Ooh look Error N27  "Network Cable Unplugged".

What network Cable?  the box is set up to use my WiFi network which is present and perfectly ok (the rest of my devices are all still happily using the WiFi).
EVERY TIME it is the same.  The Wifi network is there and the V6 box says it can see it at 100% signal strength.

The box will not let you escape from this screen unless you press the home button and start all over again (poor design).  So we then go to Network Settings.
So lets go look at network settings:

Yup network is there and 100% strength but this stupid box cannot connect to the VM service?
So go to change network settings (again) and just tell it to look for wifi networks, it see's network it was set to communicate over, it knows the password, you tell it again to use this network and then tell it to connect to the VM service and "BINGO!"  all it working VOD services restored etc. etc.

Now, nothings been changed only the V6 box told to use the WiFi network it was ALREADY set to use.   The WiFi router has not need a rebot, all my other devices have no issues, it is just these dumb V6 boxes that screw up!   Really disappointing to have to go through all this more or less EVERY DAY.

Any Ideas folks?   Switch to BT Broadband or Sky?  😉


At >£100 a month this is NOT the sort of performance I expect TBH, and the No-Help call centre robots are incapable of saying anything other than reboot the box.