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Help wifi problems samsung galaxy s2

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srobertss

Lurker
I suddenly developed a WiFi problem with my Samsung galaxy s2 and an older Samsung phone, but it's only at home, so I'm sure it has to do with the router. I've also posted this in the forum for our router, which is a netgear n900 r4500.

All other devices at home are connecting: laptop, tablet, roku, etc.

The phones identify the network and appear to be connected, but there isn't any connectivity. this is after over a year working with no problem.

I can't remember all the steps I took with the phone, but the last step was reformatting it from the menu.

with the router, I've tried turning it off and on, changing the security settings, updating the firmware.

What else can I try, short of buying a new router?

Thank you for your ideas.
 
Have you tried doing a test and just temporarily disabling the security options in your router and checking if your phones will connect to your home network and be able to get online access?
Since all your other stuff is still working OK and this problem just popped up recently, can you recall if your phones had any kind of update recently? When did you upgrade the firmware on your router?
 
I'm assuming you use DHCP for your home network? Buried somewhere in your Netgear's setup menu there should be an option to assign your phone a reserved IP address. Maybe try that to see if your phone(s) can get back into your network.
 
svim said:
Have you tried doing a test and just temporarily disabling the security options in your router and checking if your phones will connect to your home network and be able to get online access?
Since all your other stuff is still working OK and this problem just popped up recently, can you recall if your phones had any kind of update recently? When did you upgrade the firmware on your router?
Click to expand...


Yes, I disabled the security. if the phone upgraded, it was without my noticing. and then I reformatted it, so I'm assuming it updated at the same time, because it said it had the latest software and firmware. but the older phone with a different version of android developed the same problem.

Thanks for taking the time on this.
 
svim said:
I'm assuming you use DHCP for your home network? Buried somewhere in your Netgear's setup menu there should be an option to assign your phone a reserved IP address. Maybe try that to see if your phone(s) can get back into your network.
Click to expand...

I looked at the router's user manual and found instructions on how to assign a permanent IP address. It directed me to the LAN setup. I tried adding it, and turned wifi off and on, on the phone. It didn't make any difference. Then I restarted the phone. And that didn't make a difference. But it's entirely possible I don't know what I'm doing.

But again, thanks for the ideas. I'm learning a little bit.
 
srobertss said:
The phones identify the network and appear to be connected, but there isn't any connectivity. this is after over a year working with no problem.
Click to expand...
OK so this happens more often than it should. There could be an issue with your ISP's DNS (Domain Name Servers). If your phones 'appear' to be connected, as in your router is using NAT to give them local IP addresses properly, but there isn't any actual connectivity, as in neither get online access properly try digging into your Netgear router's setup menu again and it's probably set to automatically use whatever DNS addresses your ISP supplies. Try using some of these public DNS numbers instead:
Google public DNS
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
OpenDNS
208.67.222.123
208.67.220.123
Any of the above will work out for you. They both apply nationwide. There are also more local ones if you want to pick something closer (generally the closer the DNS server is to you the better, usually)
http://public-dns.tk/nameserver/us.html
This won't adversely affect your other stuff like your laptop since your router should reboot itself to apply the changes and they'll have to reconnect themselves to your wireless network anyway.
 
svim said:
OK so this happens more often than it should. There could be an issue with your ISP's DNS (Domain Name Servers). If your phones 'appear' to be connected, as in your router is using NAT to give them local IP addresses properly, but there isn't any actual connectivity, as in neither get online access properly try digging into your Netgear router's setup menu again and it's probably set to automatically use whatever DNS addresses your ISP supplies. Try using some of these public DNS numbers instead:
Google public DNS
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
OpenDNS
208.67.222.123
208.67.220.123
Any of the above will work out for you. They both apply nationwide. There are also more local ones if you want to pick something closer (generally the closer the DNS server is to you the better, usually)
http://public-dns.tk/nameserver/us.html
This won't adversely affect your other stuff like your laptop since your router should reboot itself to apply the changes and they'll have to reconnect themselves to your wireless network anyway.
Click to expand...

The lan setup menu has a range of IP addresses listed (192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254) and when I tried 208.67.222.123 it said "failure. the IP address should be within the dhcp range." I didn't try any of the others. I started to read a general netgear tutorial I found on the internet, but I think I'm getting in over my head. I may pay for a call to netgear next.

I appreciate the input.
 
a while back I was having WiFi problems with my local WiFi router.

I ended up turning off the DNS in the router.
 
The LAN setup menu is a completely different option, it pertains to which IP addresses that get assigned to things like your laptop and tablet that are a part of your home local network. The DNS numbers you want change will be specifically in a section of your router's setup menu titled something referring to DNS or Domain Name Server.
 
AZgl1500 said:
a while back I was having WiFi problems with my local WiFi router.

I ended up turning off the DNS in the router.
Click to expand...

I googled "turning off DNS" and didn't find anything that was at my level of understanding. and there's nothing in my router manual. so I think I'll hold off on that suggestion for awhile. but thank you.
 
svim said:
The LAN setup menu is a completely different option, it pertains to which IP addresses that get assigned to things like your laptop and tablet that are a part of your home local network. The DNS numbers you want change will be specifically in a section of your router's setup menu titled something referring to DNS or Domain Name Server.
Click to expand...
I found the DNS settings, but nothing that applied to a specific device. all other devices in the house are working fine and I'm reluctant to change anything that might interfere with them. maybe it wouldn't, but again, I think I'm over my head.
 
AZgl1500 said:
a while back I was having WiFi problems with my local WiFi router.

I ended up turning off the DNS in the router.
Click to expand...
I think you're mistaking it for some other setting. You could disable it in your router but at some point, either by setting up your own hardware firewall/DNS server or individually setting every device you have to use their own, you can't do without it. Essentially it's a vital link between you and the Internet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
 
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