Help Nexus 4 needs restart to connect wifi

[michaelkenward]

My Nexus 4 does wifi fine for a while, and then it won't connect.

The strange symptom that marks it out from other reports around here is that trying to complete the password does not help. It complains about wrong password. (It isn't.) No amount of turning the wifi on and off will restore connectivity.

A puzzling aspect is that it throws up the same "wrong password" message for open sites (BT Fon) that do not need a password.

The way to get the wifi back is to restart the phone. Then it connects fine.

My theory is that I have an app that is somehow upscrewing the wifi. But there's nothing new that might explain it.

So, my question is, apart from uninstalling apps in a trial and error exercise, how do I track down what might be causing this behaviour?

 

[John Bean]

You mention BT Fon - do you have the BT app installed?

When something kept screwing up my wifi connections I did some trial and error tests, and the BT app was the offender. Removed it and have had no problems since.

 

[michaelkenward]

Yes. That app is there.

Will see if that does the trick.

I should have thought about that one first. BT is awful when it comes to technology like this.

 

[michaelkenward]

Looks like you were spot on.

I didn't even have to remove the app to establish a connection between the BT Wi-Fi app and the death of my wifi.

I just went into the apps control panel, killed the app and immediately got back my ability to connect to the wifi.

Time to wander over to the BT forums to warn folks about this bug.

Only BT could write an app that does the exact opposite of the intended purpose. Instead of connecting the wifi, it kills it.

 

[John Bean]

Thanks for letting us know that it solved your problem

As a side note I initially thought the app would have been useful when out and about by logging me into any BT network automagically instead of having to remember username and password. But...

As we both now know it is more trouble than it's worth and in any case connection is simple without it; Chrome saves the username and password the first time you visit the BT/FON hotspot "login" page, no need to remember anything after that.