wifi won't connect to home network

thomasr1950
Contributor - Level 1

Lately my phone won't connect to my home wifi. It recognizes my network but says searching.  Sometimes it's after being on VZW network then at times not. Samsung said to delete all unused networks, i did, i only have home & work on phone. I have to restart phone to reconnect to my home network. I've cleared cache. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Tom

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Reboot the router?

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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thomasr1950
Contributor - Level 1

No, i don't think it's the router. My laptop connects & stays connected. Just now i was out of my wifi range, came back in range then lost my connection again. Could it be a phone issue?

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

It could be the phone, but it could still be the router. The phone might be more sensitive to fluctuations in the radio signal being broadcasted by the router. That's how I figured out it was getting time for me to replace my six year old router. The smartphones started to have issues, but the laptops never have a problem connecting.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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thomasr1950
Contributor - Level 1

My router is only a week old. I found a link that maybe a fix. What's your opinion? Your posts are always very helpful.

http://galaxys3reviews.net/samsung-galaxy-s3-wifi-problem-fix

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

It can't hurt to try it.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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thomasr1950
Contributor - Level 1

My wife has the same phone, she stays connected. It happened again, i was connected to wifi, it then went to 4g. I had to restart my phone to reconnect to my wifi. So would that be a router issue?

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thomasr1950
Contributor - Level 1

Off & on all evening i have this issue. It shows wifi then it goes to 4g. So can this be a home network issue? If my wife's phone doesn't have this issue & my phone goes from wifi to 4g, it appears it's more of a phone issue. Am i right? If i restart my phone it will then go from 4g to home wifi if it's on 4g prior to restartng my phone & will not connect to wifi even if i reenter my wifi password. Am i right? Any other suggestions on how to resolve this issue?

Thanks,

Tom

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Android_Optimizer
Contributor - Level 2

Since your wife has the same phone, and apparently doesn't have the issue I recommend comparing your wifi and mobile data settings compared to her's. If your settings are different try changing them to mirror her's. I don't have a Samgsung phone for my current model, but a lot of the settings should be the same considering the OS version is the same. If you go into settings -> wifi -> (on my system there is three dots in top right corner of the screen that pulls up a drop down list. In that there is an Advanced wi-fi settings. In that there is a feature called "Auto-switch to mobile network" which is supposed to "use mobile data connection when Wi-Fi signal is weak". If you can find that setting make sure it is unchecked. If your phone thinks there is a weak connection (even if there isn't) that could explain you constant disconnects.

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

@Thomasr1950,

I appreciate you bringing this to the attention of the forum. I can understand how this may provide some concern. I do suggest moving the phone into Safe Mode. This will allow for us to rule out any third party apps that may inhibit the phone. http://vz.to/NnpVJG

YosefT_VZW
VZW Support
Follow us at VZWSupport

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thomasr1950
Contributor - Level 1

I lost my connection again after following your steps. I tried to save my info on Kies but the phone & pc aren't connecting to each other. I do have the Kies drivers installed, i keep getting the trying to connect message. I think my phone is defective.

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thomasr1950
Contributor - Level 1

I went to wifi settings, turned wifi off the on again. At first wifi came back on then just in the blink of a eye it went back to 4g. I then restarted phone & connected to my home wifi. This is a intemittent issue, i'm afraid if i don't pay attention i'll run over my data limit.

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lovesrain
Newbie

I have been having this problem on 2 phones...the original and the one Verizon replaced.  This is NOT a router problem...it's a PHONE problem that Samsung/Verizon are aware of and are NOT FIXING.  I'm getting so frustrated.  Have NOT been aable to find any answers,

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siliconcty
Newbie

I was having the same problem after the update.  I was on the phone with the samsung advanced tech support bc the verizon tech couldn't get things to work.

we did a soft reset on the phone.  Remove battery, Insert Battery.  Hold the down volume button while holding the power button.  After the phone does a single vibrate, release the power button and continue to hold the down volume button all the way through to boot up.  During this process keep an eye on the bottom left of the screen and it will say SAFE MODE.  Let the phone boot all the way.  After phone is operating "normally",  Remove the battery again and reboot normally. 

For the moment at least, this seems to have solved the "won't connect to known network" problem.  We'll see how long it works.

After we got it working, I asked him why doing what we did "solved" the problem.  I got some utter non-sense about how in 4.2 they changed something to where the switching between known wifi networks will only work as it did pre 4.2 if Mobile Data is turned off.  This makes absolutely no sense to me since the whole point of the phone switching from local area to wide area as needed and without user intervention is the entire premise of efficient seamless mobile connectivity.

If the problem is solved,  it's solved i guess... but this explanation of the change in 4.2,  if real .. seems utterly ridiculous.

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