Get your broadband school holiday-ready: broadband tips for the school holidays

Summer is here. While the teachers are all having a lie-down and some much-needed quiet time (either on a sun lounger or in a soundless dark room), the summer holidays mean your broadband will be working overtime.

If you work from home during the summer months, you don’t want their “victory royale” ruining your very important work call with the much-feared spinning circle of doom.

Or worse: your very important work call ruining their “victory royale”.

So it’s vital you have the best broadband available throughout your home to keep everyone in your life happy. You. Your boss. And, of course, your “real boss”. 

A strong and reliable WiFi connection will help keep your household running in tip-top shape. That’s where we come in.

Intelligent WiFi technology is built into our Hub 3, 4 and 5 routers as standard. With features including better WiFi coverage and automatic WiFi fixes, Intelligent WiFi is designed to automatically sort WiFi issues around your home.

Our Hub 5 router also supports WiFi 6, our highly advanced WiFi technology. The router supports multi-gigabit speeds and comes with a 2.5Gbps ethernet port, working alongside our ultrafast broadband network to deliver an efficient and supercharged connection straight to WiFi 6 compatible devices.

Need a boost? Our superfast WiFi guarantee (backed up by our WiFi Pods if needed) is included at no extra cost with our Gigabit Fibre Broadband and Volt packages. You can also add WiFi Max to our M50 to M500 Fibre Broadband packs without Volt for £8 a month. We’ll complete our checks and if you don’t achieve 30Mbps in every room, then we will send you your first WiFi Pod. Whether you’re upstairs or downstairs, our WiFi Pods adapt to how and when you use your WiFi, and automatically tackle issues before you need to.

Our future-ready Gig1 Fibre Broadband delivers faster speeds at home, enabling households to do more online at the same time and on multiple devices. Plus with our entire network now upgraded to gigabit speeds, all homes passed by our network can now access hyperfast connectivity.

Want to know more? Read on to find out how to make your lightning-fast broadband more reliable at home with our tried and tested tips and tricks, to get you and your family ready for a summer to remember.

Believe it or not, your router’s location can have a tremendous effect on your broadband’s performance. For maximum signal, place it in a central location and in as high a position as possible, away from pesky blackspots.

Having your hub on a shelf in your kitchen is going to emit a stronger connection than locked in a cupboard. And always keep it indoors in a cool place and out of bright sunlight to prevent it from overheating.

Make sure to keep your Hub out in the open. Objects can block and slow WiFi. Signals from baby monitors and cordless phones can also interfere with WiFi signals. Aim for 1 metre of clearance.

Keep the Hub upright, with its lights facing into the room. That way your Hub’s strongest WiFi signal goes outwards – not into the floor.

Follow these tips to get the best WiFi connection in every room.

Having a strong and unique password is not only a smart move for your online accounts but for your WiFi too. Even the least experienced hackers can access a relatively secure network, meaning that they can piggyback off your broadband and slow down the connection. Or worse.

The usual advice applies for passwords. Don’t repeat them. Mix up letters, symbols, caps and numbers. Avoid personal information in the password. You can also use password managers or, for added security, things like Virgin Media Advanced Security.

Each of our WiFi Hubs has its own default WiFi network name and password, so that you can connect devices to your broadband service wirelessly, without the need for a wired connection. It’s easy enough to change your Virgin Media hub password.

And if you currently don’t have a password for your router at all, then it’s time to add one. Chances are you’re probably the neighbourhood hot spot!

“Switch it off and on” might seem like the basic advice you’ve ever heard in your life. That’s because it is. It’s up there with “thirsty? Why not have a drink?” or “hungry? Have you ever considered eating something?” But the advice still works.

Manually restarting your router clears any glitches or memory issues that could be slowing down your connection. Simple!

How to reboot your hub

1. On the back of your hub, turn the A/C power switch into the off position (with the “O” pressed in).

2. Leave it off for about 10 seconds.

3. Turn the hub back on by turning the A/C power switch into the on position (with the “I” pressed in).

4. While you’re waiting, check over your equipment for faulty or damaged cables, which can cause problems with your network and slow down your internet speed. Also make sure your cables are tightly connected to the hub (finger-tight is all that is required, do not over-tighten as this could break the connector).

5. The hub can take five to 10 minutes to reboot. You’ll know the connection is back up and running when the white light on the front of the hub is on. The white light is at the front for a Hub 3 and a Hub 5. For the Hub 4 this will be the light ring around the hub.

Signals from your other gadgets such as Bluetooth-enabled speakers and baby monitors can interrupt your WiFi connection. This is because they interfere with other signals at the same frequency.

Therefore, you should avoid putting your hub close to other electronic gadgets to ensure a smooth and reliable connection can be reached at every corner of your home.  

Still having issues? No worries, if you have any problems that can’t be sorted with the above tips or on the app, give us a shout. Our engineers are always on hand to help, with servicing and repairs included at no extra cost.

You can also check the Virgin Media Service Status in your local area.

Whether you want to solve an irritating WiFi problem or you want to keep up to date with the latest news and trends, visit our Tech and Connectivity hub for broadband and WiFi tips, tricks and user guides.

We’ve got speeds for every household. Take a look at our superfast fibre broadband deals.