Get your broadband school holiday-ready

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 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, with average download speeds of 1,130Mbps – that’s 16 times faster than the national average – 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 at the bottom of the garden (although the fairies would be pleased!). And always keep it indoors in a cool place and out of bright sunlight to prevent it from overheating.

We don’t mean giving it a dust either. Regularly check for and remove any unauthorised devices that are connected to your router that might be slowing it down. This could include unused gadgets in the spare room, work laptops on the weekend and even your neighbour’s smartphone (that’s how strong our broadband is!).

Plus, the Virgin Media Connect App lets you pause WiFi to any approved device when required – perfect for the kids’ tablets when it’s lights out.

How to download the Virgin Connect app

1. Head on over to either the Google Play Store or App Store and search for Virgin Media Connect.

2. Tap install.

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.

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!

Manually restarting your router clears any glitches or memory issues that could be slowing down your connection. Just remember to leave it off for 10 seconds to reboot properly. And for extra reliability, the Virgin Media Connect App is at your fingertips.

You can run a super-intelligent WiFi home scan to detect snags and speed up your connection around the house, and all without leaving the sofa. 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 as standard.

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