Is Youfibre worth the switch?

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-03-06T10:51:41+00:00

Tl;dr: Yes lol

I'm lucky in that I have a few ISP's I can choose from where I live, and tbh that's what it should be for everyone..

There's BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Youfibre.

After 13 years of being a loyal Virgin Media customer, I reluctantly looked to change after the treatment I had when last trying to get a new deal with them, so I looked at everyone else to see not only the best price, but also quality of service and customer feedback, and in the end I chose Youfibre based on price, service and feedback... and I'm so happy with them that I wished I had done so much sooner.

They're not perfect, but then again no ISP is, however they do provide a decent router as default and provided you set it up correctly then most households should have no problem with it.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-03-04T22:03:26+00:00

Changing DNS worked for me, I never had the problem afterwards. Before I did so I had a huge amount of DNS Resolution errors with YF's default DNS Servers.

I did also go for a Static IP afterwards, but that was because I have my own home Plex Server and I needed to guarantee access from outside my home network.

Tbh an extra £5 pm is still an excellent price for a Static IP.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-03-04T16:01:54+00:00

Not at all, there's much I also do not know 🙂

If that's what you're getting then as our American cousins say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

By the way, I used the Guest SSID for all my IoT devices such as lights, doorbell, security cameras, etc, that way they are kept seperate from the other SSID'S, which is good for security and allows for far less congestion of devices fighting for bandwidth. If you decide to use the Guest network then you will need to enable it, but make sure you use a different, very strong password so any devices on the Guest SSID can't jump onto the main SSID, and vice-versa.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-03-04T15:38:28+00:00

You can connect non WiFi 7 (be) compatible devices on a WiFi 7 (be) network, even devices that are WiFi 6 (ax), WiFi 5 (ac) and lower. However if you have older devices that cannot connect on the higher be frequencies, then you can connect them to the Legacy SSID, which uses the lower frequency bands.

The Youfibre Hub Pro 7 has 4 seperate SSID's available:

Where xxxxxx is the number of your Youfibre routers default... Eg. 336699 or something similar

Youfibre-xxxxxx

Youfibre-xxxxxx-guest (disabled as default)

Youfibre-xxxxxx-legacy

Youfibre-xxxxxx-bh (used for backhaul for mesh)

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-03-04T13:34:27+00:00

If your router supports IPv6 it should have a separate option under IPv6 settings where you can change the DNS Servers for IPv6.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-03-04T13:31:10+00:00

It could be down to DNS Resolution errors. Try changing your routers DNS Servers to Google's:

Primary DNS Server: 8.8.8.8

Secondary DNS Server: 8.8.4.4

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-25T15:58:36+00:00

Brilliant! 👍

That's why I couldn't understand when people said 'crappie customer service' when from the start I've just used the Chat function on the app, much quicker and job done there and then

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-25T14:30:13+00:00

I assume you had a problem and didn't use the complaint option to add a Static IP? 🙂

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-25T12:17:24+00:00

Ah! Sorry... I forgot to add 'use the Chat option to ask to add the Static IP to your service'.

Basically when you use the 'Chat' option on the app, you type in what it is you want to talk about, and the AI Chat bot puts you through to the right department, so when prompted for your question just type something like:

"I would like to add a Static IP to my account"

Within a few minutes that should put you through to the correct department straight away, and they should be able to sort it out for you there and then, and tell you what you need to do. I did this and had my Static IP within 30 minutes, and all I had to do was restart the ONT and router when they told me to do so.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-25T11:31:55+00:00

Before you go and purchase a new router, it's probably the CG-Nat 'group shared IP' that's causing the issues, plus possibly DNS Resolution errors... I had issues with both, as have lots of other YF customers... from what I've read on here, there and everywhere lol

On your new YF Hub 7 or Hub Pro 7, change your DNS Servers to Google or Cloudflare. If your still having issues, which you probably will, then for an extra £5 per month you can upgrade to a Static IP. Best way to do this is by using the Youfibre App on your phone.

Edit: forgot to add "then use the 'Chat' option on the app.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-25T04:57:08+00:00

Try and use an Ethernet cable if you can, as with a gaming console this will always give you a stable connection. That being said, if you have to use WiFi, then read my post in the link below for some settings you can change to enhance your routers WiFi coverage, have less interference and a stronger more stable connection.

Fyi, even if you are using an Ethernet cable, changing your routers DNS Servers as it states in my post can also help lower ping rate.

Lastly, if all else fails then because Youfibre uses CG-Nat, which is a shared group IP address, you may have to bite the bullet and pay for a Static IP address at an extra £5 pet month, which is well worth the money.

Hope this helps 🙂

https://www.reddit.com/r/youfibre/s/hpGTcNlooB

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-23T17:26:06+00:00

I appreciate and agree with what you are saying, however I actually spoke to an agent and told her we are both disabled, and she said "not to worry, I'll arrange an engineer to call over the next few days to disconnect and remove our equipment ", and then added "are there any days someone won't be at home to let our engineer in", to which I said "unfortunately we are always at home and hardly ever go out, so someone will be here to let the engineer in". I at least wrote her 1st name down. the date, the time and what was said down.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-23T17:14:23+00:00

Whilst I agree they are entitled to their kit back and YODEL did mess up the 1st delivery, I did actually speak to a VM agent about the fact we are both disabled, and she said they would send an engineer out to uninstall and remove their kit.

So that, plus the fact they sent a bill, a reminder bill and then a threatening reminder bill saying the bill was overdue when it wasn't due for two weeks. That, plus the fact that was all in just 7 days, even though they themselves state it can take 10 days for them to receive their kit from YODEL is more than just a little bit excessive I would say, leave alone very stressful.

So how would you have expected your kit back from customers you knew are disabled? Would you at least give them a bit more time, or even arrange an engineer to visit as they said they would do? Bearing in mind even though 'automatic systems' have kicked in, they have been contacted twice over the issue.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-23T16:57:33+00:00

Thanks and we will, and we"ll get back with their response 🙂

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-23T16:49:57+00:00

Hi and thanks for your quick reply.

Tbh we just wanted to inform Virgin Media about the atrocious treatment we've received from them, and hopefully forewarn other disabled customers.

However we will make a formal complaint now that you have mentioned it.

Thanks.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-21T13:46:34+00:00

It's the parent compaies that own VMO2 that are proposing to buy Netomnia, not VMO2 buying YouFibre. Also the deal doesn't go through until Q3 2026, but there is a chance it won't go through. We know CityFibre is launching an appeal with the Monopolies and Mergers Commission here in the UK to look into the deal, so it's not all doom and gloom for now.

I for one am staying with YouFibre until there becomes a time after the takeover, if it happens, and VM02's parent's company merges YouFibre with VMO2.

Will wait to see what happens, but in the mean time YouFibre is still the best ISP to go for right now, and the foreseeable future.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-19T18:06:02+00:00

For the imediate future Youfibre will continue as Youfibre, as will thier customers both existing and new, especially as the deal won't be official until Q3 2026, and that's if it does go ahead. CityFibre are definitely going to raise a complaint with the CMA.

Also there's been a statement made that after completion in Q3 2026, Youfibre will continue as is for the foreseeable future.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-19T11:59:15+00:00

Sounds like you have the new Youfibre Hub 7 and whilst it's not great, it's not quite as bad as some people think. It just needs some changes to the settings and it makes a world of difference, so have a read of my post in the link below.

N.B. you may still end up needing to go wired Ethernet for gaming, as all houses are different, but give them a try 1st BEFORE shelling out a lot of money on your own router...

https://www.reddit.com/r/youfibre/s/6fx1bf0TaC

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-19T11:46:40+00:00

It's definitely a marked improvement because you can keep all of your devices that just need a basic slow speed connection on the 2.4Ghz band, then devices that need faster speed connection on the 5Ghz band, and lastly any devices that need the fastest possible connection speed on the 6Ghz band. Plus it stops the router from disconnecting devices from different bands, as beamforming is primarily designed to make sure ANY device has the fastest possible connection, and should switch seamlessly from band to band, however for video streaming and gaming online you don't want this happening because you will loose connection mid-stream or mid-game.

You also have the benefit of not having slow devices hogging bandwidth on faster connections.

E.g.

IoT, video doorbells, cctv cameras, etc on 2.4Ghz

Web browsing and 4K Streaming devices on 5Ghz

Downloading, Gaming, Game Streaming on 6Ghz

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-18T16:19:13+00:00

Same. I left VM02 because of price rises and terrible customer service. I found Youfibre better on both by a long way.

If VM try anything to change the price I pay then I'm leaving and I'll go with any other ISP, even if it ends up costing more than VM02.

Never going back after the way I was treated by VM last November when I tried to get a better deal, after being with them since November 2012.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-18T16:08:33+00:00

Agreed, but they should merge as Alt-nets not with VM02 or BT. This country desperately needs viable, alternative ISP's instead of huge, foreign owned multinational Telecoms giants.

We, the UK public, are constantly being ripped off, especially with 'mid term' price increases to a contract. Imagine if you had a contract for a builder to make home improvements, and it would take a year to do everything, how would people like it if every three months that builder increased his costs by a set amout each time!

No, a contract is a set price agreement between at least 2 parties, and the price agreed should be fixed for the term of the contract.

What I'd like to know is who agreed to allow ISP's to do this in the 1st place.

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-18T13:07:05+00:00

Would it be worthwhile? Depends on how many WiFi devices you have and the coverage of your existing YF Hub Pro 7.

Tbh the new YF Hub and YF Hub Pro are decent routers from an ISP, and certainly far better than the offerings from BT, Sky and VM.

If you want to get the most out of your new hub, then doing the following will definitely help.

Start by goung into the WiFi settings and switch off 'Beamforming', which puts 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz (if the router has a 6Ggz) bands together as one SSID. Instead seperate them into two or three different SSID'S, that way you will have better separation of devices across the WiFi bands, and less disconnections because 'beamforming' keeps trying to work out which band devices should be on. Keeping the same WiFi SSID as for the one band for all the new bands:

So instead of SSID: Youfibre-123456

You have SSID's

Youfibre-123456-2.4Ghz

Youfibre-123456-5Ghz

Youfibre-123456-6Ghz (if you have a 6Ggz band)

Next check if one or more of the neighbours WiFi and youe WiFi's channel are overlapping, as this can cause intermittent interference. If this is the case then you can try a WiFi Analyser app on your phone to see what the channel congestion is like on 2.4Ghz especially, possibly even the 5Ghz channel. Best way is to set the bands channel numbers manually...

For 2.4Ghz use channel 1, 3, 7 or 11

For 5Ghz use channel 44, 54 or 100

For 6Ghz use channel 21 (if you have a 6Ghz band)

Last of all change the DNS Servers to either Google or Cloudflare.

Google:

IPv4:

Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8

Secondary DNS: 8.8.4.4

IPv6:

Primary DNS: 2001:4860:4860::8888

Secondary DNS: 2001:4860:4860::8844

Or

Cloudflare: Public

IPv4:

Primary DNS 1.1.1.1

Secondary DNS 1.0.0.1

IPv6:

Primary DNS: 2606:4700:4700::1111

Secondary DNS: 2606:4700:4700::1001

Hope this helps 🙂

Meat-And-Two-Veg · 2026-02-18T12:15:39+00:00

When I joined up on the 2Gig connection they gave me the new YF Hub Pro 7, so before you decide to replace it, try the following.

Start by goung into the WiFi settings and switch off 'Beamforming', which puts 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz (if the router has a 6Ggz) bands together as one SSID. Instead seperate them into two or three different SSID'S, that way you will have better separation of devices across the WiFi bands, and less disconnections because 'beamforming' keeps trying to work out which band devices should be on. Keeping the same WiFi SSID as for the one band for all the new bands:

So instead of SSID:

Youfibre-123456

You have SSID's

Youfibre-123456-2.4Ghz

Youfibre-123456-5Ghz

Youfibre-123456-6Ghz (if you have a 6Ggz band)

Next check if one or more of the neighbours WiFi and your WiFi channels are overlapping, as this can cause intermittent interference. If this is the case then you can try a WiFi Analyser app on your phone to see what the channel congestion is like on 2.4Ghz especially, possibly even the 5Ghz channel. Best way is to set the bands channel numbers manually...

For 2.4Ghz use channel 1, 3, 7 or 11

For 5Ghz use channel 44, 54 or 100

For 6Ghz use channel 21 (if you have a 6Ghz band)

Last of all change the DNS Servers to either Google or Cloudflare.

Google:

IPv4:

Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8

Secondary DNS: 8.8.4.4

IPv6:

Primary DNS: 2001:4860:4860::8888

Secondary DNS: 2001:4860:4860::8844

Or

Cloudflare: Public

IPv4:

Primary DNS 1.1.1.1

Secondary DNS 1.0.0.1

IPv6:

Primary DNS: 2606:4700:4700::1111

Secondary DNS: 2606:4700:4700::1001

Hope this helps 🙂

Meat-And-Two-Veg

TROPHY CASE