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Jim Dantin
Diamond Product Expert•Original Poster
I'm a volunteer Mr. Fixit who uses Sherlock Holmes diagnostic techniques.
Nov 2, 2023

Troubleshooting WiFi Connectivity Problems

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This contains detailed troubleshooting steps for identifying and solving WiFi issues. If you are not comfortable, or do not understand, the steps, get someone to help you. Keep detailed notes of anything and everything that you change in your phone, or router, while troubleshooting. Change only one thing at a time, reboot the router and phone, and then test to see if the problem was fixed.
 
Read everything first, before doing anything. If you do not understand something, get someone to help you.
 
Before you do anything else, make sure you are running the latest version of Android on your phone and check that you do not have any apps with pending updates. You will have to find a good WiFi connection for that to happen.
 
Also, contact your cellular provider and have them check that your phone has been properly "provisioned" onto their network and that you have the correct SIM. If you simply moved the SIM from your old phone into a new 5G phone, you will probably experience problems. Every cellular system uses distinct radio frequency bands, and your phone must be properly set up (provisioned) to work. Otherwise, you will experience signal drops or other issues as you move around and the phone searches for a different tower. 5G technology has caused significantly more complex issues.
 
Google provides a Help page that includes troubleshooting steps. Work through that next:
Next, reboot your phone into safe mode to see if a misbehaving or incompatible app is responsible.
The only way to properly determine if your connectivity problem is caused by your phone or your router is to test the phone at other locations or other WiFi connections. If it can't properly connect anywhere, the problem is in your phone and you will need to contact the manufacturer's support team or a repair shop.
 
If you can connect to the WiFi network, but you can't get any internet content, you are probably dealing with a captive portal WiFi system. Let us know if that is the situation, and we can give you some techniques that will help you sign in to the portal.
 
If you can connect properly at other WiFi locations such as a coffee shop or a friend's house, or with your phone's hotspot, it's the router, or router settings.
   But all my other computers and my Xbox and my computer work fine.
It's the router.
   But I know it's not the router.
It's the router.
   But . . .
It's the router.
 
See these two Help articles to get started with troubleshooting:
 
Be aware that some older routers simply aren't compatible with the latest phones and computers due to incomplete or obsolete network protocol implementations.Google devices are always being updated to provide the latest and most secure connections possible. 
 
Using a computer with the Chrome browser, run the Chrome Connectivity Diagnostics to help identify the actual problem. You can download that app here if it is not already installed:
 
If you are having problems with Android apps, but not websites, you may have an improperly configured VPN. Disable it, temporarily, and see if the problem goes away. If it does, consult with the VPN's support site. Likewise, if you use a private DNS (either through an app or at Settings > Network & internet > Private DNS, disable it for testing.
 
If you have any "wifi extenders" in your home, they are frequently the cause of WiFi issues. Unplug them and see if that cures the problem. If it does, you need a different (newer, or stronger) router, or move to a modern mesh system such as Google WiFi. If you add a mesh system, but be sure to change your existing router to "bridged mode". Contact your ISP for assistance, if you are using a router they supplied.
 
If you have access to your router's settings, these tweaks often solve the problem:
  1. A firmware update in the router can sometimes fix compatibility issues.
  2. If your router is multi-band (2.4 and 5 GHz, and possibly 6 GHz), assign a different SSID to each band. This will let you choose the band and see if one works better than the other for your location in your house. 5 and 6 GHz does not travel through walls and floors well. Your phone may try to connect to those bands, and then have problems reconnecting in a weaker signal area of your home.
  3. If you have your own WiFi router, and have plugged it into the router provided by your internet service provider (ISP), you should change the ISP's router to "bridge mode". Contact your ISP if you need help with that. Having two active routers can cause all sorts of problems.
  4. In the router's WiFi security settings, make sure that your encryption is set to WPA2-PSK with AES Encryption. Disable TKIP if it is enabled. You may have to select WPA/WPA2. Do not select WPA only, as it is not secure.
  5. If you have a firewall or local DNS server, make sure you are not blocking DNS over TLS on port 853. Most older devices used simple DNS on port 53, but Android 12 also uses 853.
  6. If you have any firewall or monitoring devices connected through ethernet, try disconnecting them. There are verified cases that the Firewalla and Focal Meter caused problems.
  7. Disable WPS.
  8. Disable IPv6 - unless you are specifically using it. If you are using Verizon FiOS , you really should try disabling IPv6. That has solved problems for other users.
  9. Disable WMM/QoS
  10. Do not use a hidden SSID - it really does nothing to improve security! Some devices will have problems connecting to a hidden SSID.
  11. Check (or temporarily disable) firewall settings to see if ports or sites are being blocked that may impact normal internet use. If you use something like Netgear's Armor or other router security packages, disable them as a test. Other possible problem packages could be Pi-Hole or filtering DNS resolvers.
  12. Change the name servers from your ISP's default to Google's servers, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
  13. Make sure that the 2.4 GHz channel is set to only 1, 6, or 11. Other channels can cause problems. 
  14. Test for Bluetooth interference on the 2.4 GHz band - temporarily turn off Bluetooth and see if that helps. If it does, change WiFi channel and try again with Bluetooth turned on.
  15. Use a WiFi/Bluetooth analysis tool on your phone (Android or iOS) to look for nearby routers causing interference.
  16. If your router selects the WiFi channel automatically, the disconnections you are seeing might happen when the router senses interference and switches to a different channel. Based on the results from the WiFi Analyzer app, select the best channel numbers and manually set your router to that channel.
  17. If you are in a country other than the US, and you have a computer or phone that was produced for the US market, there may be an incompatibility between the router's radio channel and the device. US devices are restricted to channels 1-11, while channels 12-14 may be in use in other countries. If your router automatically selects channels, it may select channels 12-14, and your device will lose access.
  18. Save the changes and reboot the router
  19. Reboot the phone
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Last edited Jul 3, 2024

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