I’ve just installed an orbi router and two satellites and they appear to be working well giving me A strong WiFi signal (I had to turn my virgin hub 3 to modem mode first, then connect it to the orbi router with an Ethernet cable). My tv has a wired connection to the router and this is working well too. However, the freeview channels on my tv, which come through a wired aerial connection, no longer work at all. I think I have a standard tv aerial in our loft, which is some way from the router (in the basement) and satellite (on the first floor of the house). The tv just says it isn’t getting a signal from the aerial. Any ideas how I can my freeview channels back? Thank you!
1. If you turn off the router do you suddenly have tv channels?
2. Cheap connectors or coax cables can allow interference in/out. Digital broadcasts are an all or nothing. It either works or it doesn't and if you're boarderline on your digital signal strength, the router might just be enough to push it over the edge. Check all your coax connections for being of decent quality, intact, and not cheap conections. Check the cable for cuts/nicks/water damage. A coax cable that has poor shielding can lead to interference or signal leakage.
3. Are there splitters in line? These attenuate the signal and would put you closer to the digital strength cutoff.
4. Do you have a signal amplifier in-line? if so is it by the antenna or by the tv? Should be by the antenna for best results and it should be properly grounded.
Just some thoughts to try. The Orbi could have had been a strong enough signal upgrade to push your antenna setup over the edge but the root cause is usually from the coax cable setup. thats where I would start.
Though you did not describe how you were hooked up with the Virgin hub before, in addition to @plemans advice, to see if the problem is internal to your TV settings verses instant pickup problems, unhook your TV from the Orbi, then connect it back up wirelessly. If this makes the problem go away, then the issue would be in the TV input settings (or possibly hardware).
If the problem does not go away, move the Orbi farther from the TV to see if there is an instant pickup problem. Though the RF from the antenna is at a lower frequency than the Orbi. there is some possiblity that the 2.4GHz single can cause some instant pickup problems on TV RF wiring or circuits.
Thanks for all your detailed responses. When I turned the router off it made no difference so I guess that means it’s not a problem of interference? I should have explained on my original post that the tv is connected to both the aerial and router through a humax freeview box, so while I think my tv is capable of wireless connection, I need it to be connected via an Ethernet cable to the freeview box in order to receive freeview channels . Could it be a problem with this box? Might I need to upgrade it for some reason? Thanks again for your help.
Yes, the Freeview box is a significant part of the puzzle. I have (some) experience with a digital television antenna that is located less than four feet from a Wi-Fi router (2.4G and 5G) and the Wi-Fi appears not to interfere with the digital tv reception at all.
So, the tv is connected only to the Freeview box using a wired connection and the Freeview box is connected to a digital tv antenna and to the Orbi router using a wired connection?
@Toj wrote: Thanks for all your detailed responses. When I turned the router off it made no difference so I guess that means it’s not a problem of interference? I should have explained on my original post that the tv is connected to both the aerial and router through a humax freeview box, so while I think my tv is capable of wireless connection, I need it to be connected via an Ethernet cable to the freeview box in order to receive freeview channels . Could it be a problem with this box? Might I need to upgrade it for some reason? Thanks again for your help.
Couple of questions about how the freeview box is setup.
The freeview box should have hdmi. Are you connected to the tv over hdmi or the coax or both?
You have the coax going to freeview and then to tv.
So, the tv is connected to the freeview box by hdmi cable (the tv is also connected by hdmi to an Apple TV box, chrome cast stick and amazon fire stick but I don’t think that’s relevant?). The tv has no coax or Ethernet cables connected to it directly.
The freeview box is a humax dtr t2000. It is connected to the aerial via a coax cable and to the orbi router via an Ethernet cable. The Ethernet cable has a splitter attached which controls hue lights but I’ve tried removing that splitter and it makes no difference.
The freeview box (as well as the Apple TV) seems to get internet fine from the router because it shows and plays apps and players like Netflix, iPlayer etc just fine. It seems to just be the aerial that the freeview box can’t get any signal from.
I hope that covers everything - apologies for my lack of tech savyness...
So, the tv is connected to the freeview box by hdmi cable (the tv is also connected by hdmi to an Apple TV box, chrome cast stick and amazon fire stick but I don’t think that’s relevant?). The tv has no coax or Ethernet cables connected to it directly.
The freeview box is a humax dtr t2000. It is connected to the aerial via a coax cable and to the orbi router via an Ethernet cable. The Ethernet cable has a splitter attached which controls hue lights but I’ve tried removing that splitter and it makes no difference.
The freeview box (as well as the Apple TV) seems to get internet fine from the router because it shows and plays apps and players like Netflix, iPlayer etc just fine. It seems to just be the aerial that the freeview box can’t get any signal from.
I hope that covers everything - apologies for my lack of tech savyness...
So if your freeview box will play online content the internet/router is working correctly. It puts you back at checking coax and antenna going to the freeview box. See my post above for recommendations on checking that.
Okay, thanks. I’m a little confused about the issue because the problem of no signal from the aerial remains when the router is switched off and I thought this meant interference wasn’t the problem?
I’ve ordered a new, good quality coax cable with the correct male/male confuguration (at the moment there’s a connector between the coax cable and the box which the new cable will make redundant) in any case.
I don’t know what’s beyond the aerial connection into the wall (which I think runs to an aerial in the loft, to which we don’t have easy access) so I’m not sure what I’ll do if the new cable between the wall and the box doesn’t work. I’ll keep you updated with the new cable in any case.
Are you sure someone didn't unhook the ariel in the loft or cause something to happen to it and it was coincidence you'd replaced the router? Easy check would be to borrow a antenna or buy one.
If the freeview box works on the tv with streaming content and your wifi works great than the box is functioning correctly. If the only part not working is the OTA broadcast then its that input. You say you don't have access to the loft to check it but you could buy/borrow an antenna and see if that works.
Plus if it doesn't get better when the router is turned off, its probably not the router causing the problem. Its the coax input signal. Is it a shared antenna? Maybe the signal has been split to many times if its shared and it dropped the signal below the threshold. Or someone just unhooked it.
