Virgin Media Hub3 and Orbi

Tutor

Mar 18, 2018

Oh brother here we go again!! - after about 2 days of decent wifi its started to fall apart again

i have setup my virgin media hub 3.0 in modem mode, disbled wifi, put the orbi’s ip address in the DMZ, downgraded the orbi firmware back to 2.0.1.4 manually, moved the sattelite within 25 feet with not even a wall inbetween, manually separated the orbi and sonos channels and the system drops regularly whether the sonos is switched on or not (worse when it is switched on)

my sattelite seems to drop probably once an hour when sonos is not on and connected to more often when it is. The wifi drops and i have to reboot some of the connected devices even when it comes back up to be able to reconnect (android phone and ipad)

I have read virtually everything i can on orbi, virgin and sonos forums and am a tad frustrated

my house is not that large (i live in london so our houses are pretty small) it has quite thick walls and my orbi and sonos boost base devices have to be in the kitchen where the broadband enters.

i have tried the system with no sonos plugged in and the sattelite still drops regularly as ive said

i know technology as i have a first class honours degree in software engineering, ive read posts on these forums saying ‘wifi is just like that’ or ‘be patient’ but i’m really not at all happy with netgear right now. This is supposed to ne a consumer configable wifi system. I can get a decent router for £50 but i chose to buy an over spec system so i got good wifi everywhere in my home for over £300 - it worked fine for probably 9 monhs then recently seems to have fallen apart and noone seems to have any idea why.

i would buy another system but im still hopeful that netgear will fix these issues or at least tell us what limitations there are in use. Noone told me that i could not use sonos, android devices, ios devices, hiuse my orbi next to a fridge etc. when i bought this system - is it really THAT sensitive?

is there any sign of a new firmware fix, something to give me faith anyone cares or is even working on this or do i just throw it away and attempt to start again with a different system?

i have powered everything down and switched it all on stage by stage leaving 10 minutes between for everything to stablise but to no avail.

if anyone can spot a basic ‘have you tried this’ that im missing please shout as im at.a loss as to what to try now - thanks guys

koregan123
Tutor
Mar 18, 2018
1400 sq feet over 2 floors

we have quite thick walls so i never found a router whose wifi signal would reach from our kitchen upstairs - i have the router in the kitchen and the sattelite in the stairwell which enables the wifi (when available) to reach upstairs and cover the whole house

the issue i have is not reach, its the fact that the sattelite appears to regularly drop and then it seems to get in a muddle (ie the ssid is visible but either my devices connect and i cannot get intenet access, it says the wifi password is incorrect or just hange when trying to connect and i have to reboot the connecting device and try again)

i have unplugged the sattelite for now and the wifi seems a bit more stable but obviously slower from another room and signal doesnt make it upstairs anymore)

i have unplugged the sonos completely for now - just trying to get a stable orbi before i connect anything else

i thought downgrading to 2.0.1.4 would at least fix the sattelite dropping issue i had but it doesnt seem to have at all

K
- FURRYe38
  Guru - Experienced User
  Mar 18, 2018
  Kitchen might not be a great place for the router. Microwaves and other devices could cause problems.
  Stairwell isn't a great place either. Can you place the Satellite upstairs over where the router is downstairs?
  
  1400 sq ft is kind of small and not really good for any additional Satellites. The main router will be able to cover most of this. Run the system with out the Satellite for a bit and see how it works for you.
  - koregan123
    Tutor
    Mar 18, 2018
    Thanks ill try the system with no sattelite although i have already noticed that upstairs bedrooms get minimal wifi and in some cases none - like i said we have quite thick walls (its probably marginally better than the linksys router i had there before which cost me like £80)
    
    this does not explain why the sattelite keeps dropping when within 15 feet and within direct line of sight but that could be due to the kitchen etc. - funny but i had no problems with this for the first 9 months of having this setup -is there a way of checking firmware history so i can trace back to previous versions and see if there is a point the sattelite started being an issue?
    
    ill probably ask the isp to change the access point in the building to avoid the kitchen and try again but that will cost and i already feel like ive been throwing money at something which will not be fixed. We will see
    
    i understand that kitchen microwaves may have an impact as well as lots of electrical devices (fridges, wine cooler etc.) but interested in how the stair well is a poor place for a router - why so?
    
    Thanks for ideas and feedback - just want to get my ‘wifi works’ life back
    
    Never ever thought an expensive upgrade to my kit would cause such issues but you live and learn
    
    K

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