Help teacher troubleshoot home Wi-Fi

[Koldov]

Normally I try not to get involved, however this was presented to me as 'I can't connect my work laptop to the Wi-Fi at home and I really need to get some work done over the holidays'...

 

Unfortunately trying to get any technical details from them is painful (they didn't even know that the hub had a menu that you could log into and change settings)...

 

Anyway, it would appear the the teacher has just got a new Virgin Hub/Router at home and initially I thought it might not be transmitting on 2.4GHz for some reason, but after giving detailed instructions on how to find the setting, apparently her brother had already 'done something' to make the Ring doorbell connect on 2.4GHz... so I'd also imagine the network settings are quite basic for that?

 

Although it has been framed as a 'laptop' problem (the laptop is reasonably old, but it's the first time I've had this problem), however, some initial questioning actually seems to suggest a incompatibility between the laptop and new hub as the laptop can see other Wi-Fi networks in the local vicinity. The laptop apparently can't even see the SSID, so might rule out anything like Security settings (such as WPA2-PSK) and point to the new router's wireless standard (like 802.11ac)?

 

Obviously I have given them an Ethernet cable for now...

[Jawloms]

The laptop apparently can't even see the SSID

 

This is not something simple like there's loads of nearby Wi-Fis and they just need to scroll down a bit?

[LeMarchand]

Can other devices (like her phone) see the SSID? Wondering if the brother has hidden it.

[RobD]

I once had a similar issue, the teacher made such a fuss I ended up going to his house. He'd turned off the wifi on his laptop (button on the side), turned it on and it was all good (he didnt even offer me a cup of tea).

[PotNoodleTech]

If it's outside school then PC World .co.uk would be more than happy to help you.

[Cazab]

How old is the laptop?....

 

Has the brother "helpfully" turned off 2.4GHz network and left the 5GHz one on only?

[BKGarry]

Give them a long ethernet cable as a "backup"?

[TechMonkey]

apparently her brother had already 'done something'

This rings alarm bells, no pun intended.

 

Not wanting to be grumpy, but does the laptop connect to the school Wi-Fi? If yes, does it connect to any other Wi-Fi? If yes, the laptop works as intended and the issue is with their Wi-Fi, which is not your issue.

 

There are too many variables as someone has fiddled. We have had old laptops that just would not see certain SSIDs, so we replaced them. If that is not possible, and the above-mentioned questions are all in the positive then you have exhausted your remit.

 

To put it another way, what would be their response if you asked them to sort out your blood relatives' deficiencies in their chosen subject? BUT if they would like to pay £299.99 for an hour of your time then you can possibly fix it.

[robintech]

Can other devices (like her phone) see the SSID? Wondering if the brother has hidden it.

if it works on their phone then a USB Wi-Fi adaptor solves most of these older laptop problems for about £6

[Chris_Cook]

Its worth checking if the laptop supports wpa3 if its old. If it doesn't support that, then I'd argue for replacing it.

[nicholab]

Also why don’t they get their own mesh system. It very annoying how inept people choose to be about technology that required for daily life.

[ToyHeartsFan]

By default Virgins superhub 3 had one SSID that broadcast on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and their was a seperate "Guest" SSID for visitors.

 

You could change it so the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies had different SSID's, there were also options to change the channels, the channel widths and set the security settings WEP / WPA-PSK / WPA-PSK2 and turn off the pair / connect button that on the front of the router.

 

So he could have renamed the SSID's, changed the password and security setting on any of the SSIDs, hidden a SSID, tweaked the channel width to get the best performance for the device hes using etc...

 

 

"I thought it might not be transmitting on 2.4GHz for some reason"

 

My guess is that hes renamed the SSID's and used the 2.4Ghz frequency for the ring doorbell, possibly hiding the SSID as well leaving just the 5Ghz SSID visible.

 

802.11n i.e. the first 5Ghz support was 2008 and 802.11ac with more 5Ghz bandwith has been around since 2014 so it does sound like the laptop is long overdue for replacement if it only works on 2.4Ghz.

 

The brother might be able to enable the "guest" SSID on 2.4Ghz so she could use that, otherwise get her a 5G WiFi dongle as suggested or a new laptop.

[Fazza]

Virgin Media provide tech support for Virgin Media home broadband, Sky provide tech support for Sky Broadband, EE provide tech support for EE home broadband, BT tech support... etc. etc. etc.

 

If the laptop can tether/connect to a wireless hotspot from your mobile phone (and not any School SSIDs) then there's nothing wrong on your side of things.