I got 99 problems but my WiFi ain't one

I was convinced my issues with Virgin were due to the service to the property. But it was just shitty wifi.

I've not had too many problems with Virgin Media (I'm only on the internet with them now) and typically they go 3 days before we move and are renting the place out. Ironically the one service I've included is the WiFi.

We're moving to BT as Virgin isn't an option in the new location so will see how that pans out. I figure as everyone is on openreach in the new location all much of a much ness.

Isn't Virgin service notoriously patchy?
Virgin Media is a thin veneer over NTL, which was routinely slated for appalling customer servce.
NTL itself was the 'last man standing' after a wave of consolidation of smaller fibre start ups.
I'm envisaging incompatible legacy systems with persisitent temporary patches.

Problems seem to be really localised. I'm on a neighbourhood forum and some people seem to have no end of issues, but - touch wood - mine is rock solid. Surprising since the door to the cabinet at the bottom of the street is always open.

WFH since mid-March, it's only been down once and that was less than an hour. Advertised 350Mb is almost always >380.

What wifi dongle do people recommend for when home broadband goes down? Virgin connection has has been down/intermittent since Thursday and word on the street is it might take them til this Thursday to fix it.

We're tethering to 4G on mobiles but wondering if a dongle will have more oomph?

Problems seem to be really localised

Exactly this. Virgin have been lazy in terms of core infrastructure upgrades for some time and it's starting to come back to bite them. According to a friend who was an enterprise architect there for a while, there are big chunks that haven't been touched since the NTL days. This is part of the reason they still offer asynchhronous services over coax.

We're tethering to 4G on mobiles but wondering if a dongle will have more oomph

Depends on your phone and dongle really.

My samsung galaxy s9+in hotspot mode gives us 200mbps at home but in the past when I've tried various USB dongles I've never seen more than 40mbps or so.

Our 4g router gives us about 150mbps.

The only way to find out is to experiment really.

Yep, I barely had any issues in 10 years (once I replaced the Virgin router) there but other people seem to have constant problems.

(On the same forum there have been loads of people complaining after a car spontaneously combusted next to a telephone cabinet and wiped out everyone's phone and internet for weeks, that seemed really unfortunate.)

All my current issues were to do with installation and the inability of the call centres to give me any idea what was going on. The service is fine now it's installed (apart from some billing fuckups).

When I was having to use 4G due to Virgin being crap I found the biggest difference was where I placed the phone in the house. I wandered round doing speedtests and got some massive differences even from one side of a room to the other (was tethering at 60Mbps or so in the good spot).

I then hooked an old phone up to a travel router but that was more for convenience in that I could use a proper Wifi point rather than relying on the phone's one.

It's almost like they were trying to come up with an example to sit under the definition of lip service.

Currently running my wifi with a Unifi AP LR plugged into the 3 4g modem/router.

Wondering if I'd be better off switching to an Amplifi setup (currently no ethernet installed in the flat).

I'm guessinh the Unfi AP can't be used with the domestic Amplifi setup.

Virgin update - I emailed the CEO and got a call back from the CEO team -

The cable to the area is knackered.
They don't know if or when they'll be able to fix it.
So, internet isn't actually available in the area?
No.
Surely during the many times I called someone would have seen this on your database, especially when I called a month ago triple checking Virgin could supply internet to the property.
No, this is not on any database 'they' can see.
Right.
So someone will call with me with an update?
No. Keep looking out the window. If we can get a permit you might see someone trying to fix it in the street over the coming weeks.
Right.

Just got another call, someone is on their way to have a look right now...

Wow, is that 200mbps on a 4G connection?

Looks like my S8 is out performing my partners iPhone SE by some margin, might need to share/swap.

It is. We have unusual circumstances in that EE pays us to have an EE 4G mast on our roof so our 4g router is no more than 60 feet from the mast. We usually get closer to 150mbps but 200mbps on a good day. Not bad for a service that offers an advertised average dl speed of 30mbps!

best get to the window!

Virgin is back up and running in SW9.

Borrowed a neighbours WiFi for the morning so there was no drama at all

Looking to boost wifi signal in spare room and noticed TP-Link deco referenced a few pages back and can be had here for £70.

Good option and any reason not to go with this? I got no idea about this stuff.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-E4-Seamless-Replacement/dp/B07NWBPYBX/ref=sr_1_6?adgrpid=53537253992&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwreT8BRDTARIsAJLI0KK9irmQUPjWt6sBRBoD-y4ojEdZhu_e-GjykVImsqv918gTs_pFZ4caAgohEALw_wcB&hvadid=259003535502&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9046005&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=15438827229226658856&hvtargid=kwd-302410443482&hydadcr=25555_1820928&keywords=tp+link+deco&qid=1603895147&sr=8-6&tag=googhydr-21

Looking to boost wifi signal in spare room and noticed TP-Link deco referenced a few pages back and can be had here for £70.

Similarly interested in how this compares to say an amplifi setup. Currently I'm running a single long range unifi AP into my modem/router.

I've been reading through this thread and this post really helped.
I currently have a Fritz!box 7530, and have a few dead spots with wifi. Plan is to snag a 3490 for cheap on eBay and use it to set up a mesh network.

glad to hear, hopefully it goes smoothly. I tried to do this for a friend the otherday, but for some reason the secondhand box I bought just wouldnt join the mesh no matter what I tried was maddening, they've just bought two FRITZ!Repeater 3000 instead.

Ok so - we have plusnet internet, the router of which can’t be put into bridge mode. So, my plan is to get

1. a TPlink TD-W9970 (only because a) it’s TP Link like the rest, and b) it had come up on the plusnet forum as a modem to replace the provided on) but would appreciate any suggestions
   
2. TP Link TL-SG1008D 8 port switch - for Roku, IKEA hub etc - just becuase it’s cheap and says it’s low power. I can’t be bothered to pore over switch specs.
   
3. TP Link Deco M5 3x pack - one for the main router, one upstairs, one in the shed connected via Ethernet via powerlink. Could probably get away with 2 as the house is only 70sqm, upstairs has bad reception but I’d imagine that is the provided box.
   
4. TP link 5 port switch that we already have for laptop in shed and connecting to exercise bike set up eventually.
   
   

Is there anything obviously wrong with this setup? The modem I’m just taking from recommendations on forum threads I see in Google.

Thanks in advance

Looks okay to me. I'd turn off the WiFi in the TD-W9970 and let the Decos handle that without the extra interference.

Yea good reminder.

the router of which can’t be put into bridge mode

Do you need it to? Unless you need the features of a fancier modem/router then I'd think you can probably skip the W9970, keep the Plusnet router, switch wifi off but still have it doing DHCP, then have the Deco's do the wifi.