In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Probably a router with wireless but at 10 years old will be a very old and slow type of wireless - so a new Virgin Media hub

Plus might find the range of the wireless signal is not great too

I said I thought t had been replaced not too long ago, Best guess is less than 2 years so is going to be a fairly recent Virgin box. I've emailed them to ask for details of that box.

In reply to a post by Mml:

If you say that a modem is downstairs and the wi-fi router is upstairs, you might want to keep it that way - if you were to replace the two with the new Superhub, it will have an impact on wi-fi coverage throughout a house. Since you mention they're an elderly couple, it's best not to cause them such disruption
If it turns out it's the modem that's faulty, I have a spare VM Cisco modem sitting at home so I can give it away. And it's not 10 years old - manufactured in 2010

They're elderly but most definitely not senile. In reality much of their wireless usage is downstairs so having the WiFi originating downstairs may be an advantage.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

I thought t had been replaced not too long ago, Best guess is less than 2 years so is going to be a fairly recent Virgin box.

The recent Virgin Superhubs have this "modem" mode where the wi-fi is disabled and only one Ethernet port works. So if you go into settings and return the Superhub into its normal mode (or just do a reset through a pinhole), you then can test how good is its wi-fi, and do away with Linksys

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

In reality much of their wireless usage is downstairs so having the WiFi originating downstairs may be an advantage.

Except you said they also had something using Ethernet upstairs. See if the cable that's currently feeding the Linksys can reach that device.

In reply to a post by Mml:

Except you said they also had something using Ethernet upstairs. See if the cable that's currently feeding the Linksys can reach that device.

Oh yes, the Linksys is next to the (upstairs) desktop PC.

Now know it's a Virgin Superhub 2. Single port feeding the upstairs LinkSys router's Internet port.

They don't want any changes to the Superhub and are happy to buy a replacement for the LinkSys. Probably go for the Asus you suggested earlier. It's perfectly adequate for their needs.

Thank you.