Help and advice Virgin Media wifi issue and router

ftsos · 4 April 2018 at 11:13AM

Hi Guys,

I need some help and advice. If I say my worst broadband service has been with Virgin Media, I wouldn't be exaggerating. I have lived in my current house for more than 15 years, and in that time I have had broadband with various companies, and most recently with PlusNet. PlusNet wasn't great, but I didn't have to call them several times a week.

My wifi is terrible. It's not usable most of the time. I work in tech, although I am not a networking guy, so I am reasonably comfortable with technology. Even though the service is terrible in terms of wifi, virgin media won't release me from my contract.

After a lot of arguing and many calls, they sent me a replacement router, which was no better. Then they sent someone down to my house. The guy was honest enough to admit that the routers with virgin media were rubbish for wifi. I was shocked he was saying this given that he was a virgin media employee. Credit to him for being honest. He said there is nothing he could do to help me.

I work partly from home, so my wifi is essential. Half the time I can't browse web pages properly. We are not talking about watching videos or downloading music, just your normal browsing.

Now since virgin media won't release me from my contract, I have 2 options, either sign up with another broadband company, and also continue paying for virgin media or get a router of my own.

I am considering getting a router of my own. I want to invest in a router that also have 3G/4G capability. I want to know from other users who have had wifi issues if getting your own router solved the issue with virgin media wifi?

As far as I have been told, I do not know how true it is, but virgin media routers are supposed to be known for wifi issues.

Does anyone have a router make model recommendations? This is one I am considering: ASUS RT-AC3200 Tri-Band Wireless Gigabit Router (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Y2NVH4O ) any good?

Any advice or recommendations would be highly appreciated.

By the way, I tried to post on virgin media forum about this, but they have paid forum employees pretending to be customers, who weren't very helpful.

Thank you.

cranford · 4 April 2018 at 12:02PM

I had issues with VM a while back but a replacement super hub3 solved the problem and now I get consistent speeds of 200 to 240 mbs on a 200 mps service. Plus I got £30 off for a year for the trouble with the old router!. I think the problems with the router affect games. I don't know what it means but there is a latency issue with the router. I have seen gamers requesting the old super hub 2 or beging release from their contract. Maybe tell VM you are a gamer and as such their service is not acceptable.

Geodark · 4 April 2018 at 12:32PM

To be honest you might be better buying your own wifi router and just using the virgin one in modem mode. This is what I did and I have never looked back.

ChuckMountain · 4 April 2018 at 12:47PM

I appreciate this might not be the solution you want but have you tried connecting a network cable from your computer to your router to see if the problems still persist even hardwired.

VM can have issues that could be an underlying fault rather than the WiFi.

The whole issue of WiFi can be problematic. VM router are not that bad in the grand scheme of things (there is a fault with the SH3 but that's down to Intel rather than VM).

I have a separate Wireless Access Point from UniFi which I have more in the middle of the house and this does give better performance.

There are a few options but it depends on things like how big is your house, wall construction. Is the router in the same place as BT etc?

JJ_Egan · 4 April 2018 at 2:40PM

Agree i would not buy a router until i knew the problem was wifi .
As said test speed first via Ethernet .
Then test WiFi from next to router .

RumRat · 4 April 2018 at 3:06PM

I have no problem with the Virgin hub on Wifi. It runs at about half the speed of Ethernet connection, around 150 Mbs.
I've been with VM since it's inception and moved over from the previous cable company. The BB has been rock solid in all that time, which is why I stay with them.
See if you can borrow a WiFi router to try, but, only after confirming that your speed to the house is as expected first.
As above, how far are you away from the router when testing? If you are in a different room, then a different router or WiFi extender may help.
By the way, you received bad service from the Engineer who came out and just made excuses.

ftsos · 4 April 2018 at 3:24PM

Hi Guys,

I have tested it cabled its fine. All my devices are Macs, and they are the new Macs, so they don't have ethernet without using an adapter. Plus I have gadgets.

Secondly, all the broadband companies before virgin had no wifi issues. I have lived at the house for more than 15 years. Its a house in Central London so internet coverage is good.

The way I look at it, I have 2 options, get a new router or get another broadband company. Both have costs. I am inclined to get a new router. As I plan to work from home even more, I am willing to invest in a good one with a 3G/4G capability built in. If anyone has any router recommendations, I would love to hear it.

Thanks again.

JJ_Egan · 4 April 2018 at 3:32PM

What speed do you have at the point of entry ??

RumRat · 4 April 2018 at 3:37PM

Is there any particular reason you need 3G/4G capability? You don't need to spend so much on decent router without.

ChuckMountain · 4 April 2018 at 3:43PM

Ok so its down to the WiFi just to clarify as I don't think I have seen it yet are the problems speed related, drop out etc.

Before spending your money its better to check out a few other things first, apologies if you already have but double check

1) Is the router in the same location as your previous one or is the VM cable coming in somewhere else?
2) Where is it ?
3) What network are you connecting to the 2.4GHz or 5GHz and what channels are these running on?
4) What speed connection from VM are you paying for?
5) Why do you want 3G/4G capability ?
6) Have you used any network software scanners to check what channels are being used. As you are in central London the airwaves can be oversubscribed. A neighbour's setup can interfere with yours etc. If you are using the same change it to a different channel to see if the issue still persists.
7) Which VM router do you have?

Doing this will help you regardless of what route you go down.

If you go down the other router route, you still need to use the VM router as no other routers in the UK are currently able to connect to VM's service. You put the SuperHub in modem only mode and then connect to new modem.

Alternatively you can buy a Wireless Access Point such as these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UBIQUITI-NETWORKS-UBI-UAP-AC-PRO-5Ghz-1300Mbps/dp/B016XYQ3WK/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1522852913&sr=1-1&keywords=unifi

or the slightly cheaper one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubiquiti-Networks-UAP-AC-LITE-Access-Point/dp/B016K4GQVG/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1522852913&sr=1-2&keywords=unifi

That will give you good wireless access without changing the router etc. You can have these at a more central location or even have more than one to give you really good coverage.

olbas_oil · 5 April 2018 at 9:08PM

I did some experiments wanting to replace my Virgin Superhub. I didn't have particular Wi-Fi issues, but I was very fed-up with the Virgin service dropping out, and wanted to explore 4G as a backup and perhaps alternative to Virgin.
1) Firstly I bought an ASUS RT-AC1200G from Amazon warehouse for about £40. I put the superhub into modem mode and used the Asus as the main router. I have about a dozen wireless and 5 wired (via additional switches) connections. This worked extremely well. I also bought a 4g modem usb stick for £30, and that gave acceptable speeds. My only problem was that there is no alternative firmware for the AC1200G, and I needed some accurate figures on bandwidth usage per device, to try and find a suitable data package.
2) I next bought a Huawei E5186 4G LTE router modem second hand. Very good results for 4G, and on the basis of this I gave notice to Virgin. Previously, because my only alternative was a slow ADSL, Virgin had never believed I would actually leave and so never offered me a good deal. This time they dropped from £52 to £29 for the same package - unlimited & all calls included package. So I'm staying for another year and have put the modem up for sale.
3) But I still wanted a router that would give me excellent performance as well as management data, so I bought an RT-AC87U. That is working well, but I don't think the Wi-Fi is any better/worse than the AC1200.

In your position (if you don't need the alternative firmware and management), and if you are staying with Virgin, I'd buy the AC1200 (it was as cheap as £35 on warehouse recently) with a 4G LTE dongle.

Help and advice Virgin Media wifi issue and router

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