Cannot connect to 2.4Ghz wifi on new WiFi Hub

[mroshaw]

Hi!

I connected up my new "WiFi Hub" router today, have had my fault HG2500 replaced, and I'm having a really weird problem.

I can see my 5Ghz SID broadcast no problem, but none of my devices can see anything broadcast on the 2.4Ghz channel. This includes the "Main" wifi and "Guest" wifi. Scanning on any device simply doesn't find the 2.4Ghz SID at all.

I've tried:

1. Splitting the Wifi - doesn't work, as the 2.4Ghz SID is simply not visible to any devices
2. Enabling "Guest" on 2.4Ghz - doesn't work, none of my devices see the guest SID
3. Changing "Main" to 2.4Ghz - doesn't work, no devices can connect to anything
4. Tried every combination of "Bandwidth" (20/40/80Mhz) for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz in Expert Settings - no change whatsoever
5. Tried every combination of "WiFi Mode" in Expert Settings - no change whatsoever

This is driving me BONKERS!

Anyone else having this problem and know how to resolve?

Thank you!

[clint_flick]

Hi

Lizard Systems do a 10 eval licence, and if you have android there is a phone one, https://vremsoftwaredevelopment.github.io/WiFiAnalyzer/ via the play store.

The above don't solve the problem, but my help to quantify it.

[mroshaw]

That is brilliant, thank you!

I used a free, Open Source tool called Vistuimbler, does exactly the same thing. I used it last night, and can confirm that there are literally no 2.4GHz channels being broadcast from my router, no matter what I do.

I've tried "manually" adding the SID on a number of devices, but it's literally not there. I am 99.9% sure that the router is faulty - there's a problem with the 2.5Ghz radio.

I spent 1.5 hours on chat last night and got nowhere. The chat ended with this advice from Vodafone:

"After running the test on your line I can see that there is an outage in your area due to which you are facing the issue."

They went on to say:

"It can be a little issue on the street cabinet due to which I am able to see that here."

Utter nonsense, I suspect, I don't see what this possibly has to do with the wireless signal or the router. Worked fine on the old Vodafone router, which has now been recycled.

I've been on hold for an hour today, trying to speak to someone, but I gave up. I'll try again tomorrow, I suppose.

All I want is a replacement router - I think it's pretty clear what the issue is.

EDIT: More screenshots for the Vodafone person that I'm currently chatting to:

Note that I've tried all combinations of "Bandwidth" available on this page.

[Evie]

Hey there @mroshaw - Firstly, thank you for everything you have tried in regards to trying to connect to the 2.4Ghz frequency!

If the issue in found to be with the router - we would need to raise this to our 2nd line tech team to get that authorised and sent out. For us to to this, we need to access your account and run some test, could you contact us on social media so that we can get this ball rolling on this?

[mroshaw]

---

@Evie wrote:

Hey there @mroshaw - Firstly, thank you for everything you have tried in regards to trying to connect to the 2.4Ghz frequency!

If the issue in found to be with the router - we would need to raise this to our 2nd line tech team to get that authorised and sent out. For us to to this, we need to access your account and run some test, could you contact us on social media so that we can get this ball rolling on this?

---

Hi Evie,

Thank you for the response.

Yes, I've been working for many (many, many!) hours with first-line support, to attempt to diagnose and resolve this behaviour. We've literally tried everything:

• Splitting the Main WiFi
• Broadcasting Main and Guest on combinations of 2.4 and 5
• Changing DNS from Automatic to Manual (Google DNS servers on 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4)
• Physical reset (paper clip in the reset button)
• Software reset (from the Admin UI)
• Try all wavelengths (20, 40, 80) across all combinations across 2.4 and 5
• Tried all protocols (a, b, g, n) across all combinations across 2.4 and 5
• Plugged in an old (non-Vodafone) router, and see immediately 2.4 Ghz networks being broadcast

Using Wireless Analyser (open source Android tool) and Vistumbler (open source Windows tool), we have seen that there is absolutely no 2.4 Ghz broadcast coming from the Vodafone router. We can see my neighbours BT Homehubs, happily broadcasting 2.4, but never from mine.

I'm now going through a pretty painful process of having to repeat all of this information to various people in Vodafone, while awaiting an official escalation to tier 2, to get the router replaced. - if you have any power whatsoever to help with escalation, I'd greatly appreciate any help that you might be able to give!

[mroshaw]

Vodafone continue to give me the runaround. I'm now on chat for the 6th time this week. So far, I've had:

• There's a fault on the line, this is causing the problem and will be resolved in 24 hours
• There's a fault at the cabinet, this is causing the problem and will be resolved in 24 hours
• There's a problem with DNS
• There's a fault with your mobile phone
• My mobile phone is too new (apparently, it doesn't "support 2.4Ghz" which is why my router is failing to connect to ANY DEVICES)
• There's a fault with ALL OF MY DEVICES

One chap, Kalid, who actually seemed helpful agreed it was a faulty router, and said he'd arrange a callback from 2nd tier support and the provision of a replacement router. That was 2 days ago. I get back to them today, no record of a call back.

I've now officially "had it" and will be cancelling my contract. Luckily, I'm within the cooling off period but to be honest, Vodafone have failed to provide the service from the beginning so I imagine I'm perfectly within my rights to call it a day. What a shame, great product, absultely tarnished by simply the worst customer service I've ever, ever had the misfortune to deal with.

[Mark]

Hey @mroshaw I'm sorry to hear you've had this kind of experience with our Customer Service team and would love the chance to turn this around and get everything up and running again! As we'll need access to your account to take a closer look and order you a new router (if needed), pop us a message through one of our social channels and our dedicated team will be happy to take a look 👀

[mroshaw]

---

@Mark wrote:

Hey @mroshaw I'm sorry to hear you've had this kind of experience with our Customer Service team and would love the chance to turn this around and get everything up and running again! As we'll need access to your account to take a closer look and order you a new router (if needed), pop us a message through one of our social channels and our dedicated team will be happy to take a look 👀

---

Hi Mark,

I've been in touch, but apparently there is a problem with my account that means the issue cannot be escalated to 2nd tier support, who apparently are the only people in the whole of Vodafone who can replace the faulty router. There's something about a "rogue outage" from July being flagged on my account?! All very odd, and apparently there's literally no way around this to escalate the issue - absolutely no way, I'm told, to simply get someone to send me a working router.

So, I'm still stuck with a router that doesn't work with half of my devices.

That was a week ago, and I've not heard anything, so I'll pop something onto social and see if anything has changed.

[Stevedilz]

I have had the same problem for over 12 months and nobody have been able to solve it they say there is nothing wrong.

Just had a new boiler and cant connect to the router again guess what its 2.4 ghz

I will be leaving this time for sure when my contract is up. shame vodafone dont  listen buddy i had given up smart lighting cant get to work, security cameras all worked fine when i first had the router then went to pot.

I tried to get a new router last time I renewed my contract but was told no

[Jayach]

@Stevedilz 

Have you tried the basics, such as using a Wi-Fi analyser app to check the router is actually broadcasting 2.4Ghz?

If it is, is it using channels 12 or 13, which some devices can't see?