Why isn't my Note 4 able to connect to Wi-Fi when Mobile Data is enabled?

[superdodds]

Note 4 unable to connect to Wi-Fi when Mobile Data is enabled

Hey friends,

I just bought my AT&T Galaxy Note 4 and I am unable to connect to my Wi-Fi network at home unless I disable the Mobile Data setting. If I enable Mobile Data, my Note 4 drops the connection to my wireless network and will not reconnect.

1.) I have toggled the 'Smart Network Switch' tab under the Wi-Fi settings going back and forth between on and off to -- neither appears to make a difference.

2.) I have attempted to connect to both the ASUS RT-N16 and LinkSys WRT54G wireless routers -- neither of which will allow me to connect.

It doesn't matter how many times I have the device 'Forget' the network and then try to reconnect, I cannot connect until the Mobile Data setting has been disabled -- and then it connects quickly to either the ASUS or the LinkSys as expected. I found this online that describes what I dealing with exactly and looks like others may be experiencing similar issues:

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(replace the '_' with '.') -- www_androidpolice_com/2014/01/31/bug-watch-several-nexus-devices-have-trouble-connecting-to-5-ghz-wi-fi-access-points/

Symptoms The symptoms are pretty straight forward: attempting to connect to a 5 GHz Wi-Fi network fails. The specifics are somewhat inconsistent, and they've slowly changed over time with each Android update, but the end result is the same. In early versions of the complaint it was common for 5 GHz networks to simply not appear in the list of networks. Attempts to connect manually with the SSID would discover the network but fail during the handshake. With newer versions of Android, the visibility issue has become fairly rare, but the handshake still fails and often marks the network as 'disabled.' Quite a few people have also reported being able to enter a password and save the network, but losing the connection immediately. The situation seems to have improved slightly in more recent complaints as some people have maintained connections, but the data rates are usually very poor and the connection eventually drops after a few hours. Toggling Wi-Fi off and back on can usually fix the problem for a short time, but it always comes back. This video demonstrates the typical behavior.
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Neither of these routers is configured with any strange or highly customized settings (MAC filtering or blacklist/whitelists etc.). These are just run-of-the-mill standard mostly default configs. My new Note 4 is not customized or tampered with either. I've done nothing more than download a few weather apps and connect to my Gmail. This has never connected since I brought the device home a week ago. If it was happening on just one WAP device I would tend to think it was limited to that single device. Given that it is happening across 2 different devices with 2 different bands (Wireless N/G), I tend to think it is something Android specific.

My device is running:
Version: Android 4.4.4
Baseband Version: N910AUCU1ANIE
Kernel Version: 3.10.0-2774708
Build Number: KTU84P.N910AUCU1ANIE

Any help or insight is appreciated. With the exception of this hiccup, I love this new device.

Thanks,

- Doddsy

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Note 4 unable to connect to Wi-Fi when Mobile Data is enabled

Since the WRT54G isn't capable of 5MHz, that whole quote is irrelevant.

There's a known problem (well, a few of them - which is why my new EA4500 router is in the closet and I'm running on an old WRT54G with dd-wrt) with Wifi with KitKat. There's also the possibility that your carrier has the phone set to prefer mobile data (they can't charge you for wifi).

 

[superdodds]

Re: Note 4 unable to connect to Wi-Fi when Mobile Data is enabled

Well, the greater point being that regardless of band -- I can't seem to connect to either WAP. The reason I thought maybe I was missing something is my thought that 'the possibility that your carrier has the phone set to prefer mobile data' would be affecting countless other customers of AT&T services. The likelihood that we're getting screwed by AT&T seems that it would also apply to other smartphones (as they can't charge for iPhone home wireless network connectivity either). Furthermore, you can bet there would be a lot more noise about that online if this was in fact the case. I understand your comment, but I'm not convinced that AT&T is getting the better of Samsung Galxay Note 4 users. Sidenote -- I have 5 other iPhones, 1 iPod, and 1 Android tablet that can all connect with no issues. It's definitely related to this device.