Why are only my Samsung prodcuts suddenly having trouble connectining to the internet via WIFI?

[Android Central Question]

After working for two years without problem, my two S5 phones and my Samsung tablet suddenly started having trouble connecting to the internet servers via my wifi. They connect to the WIFI, but then connecting to the internet servers is very slow, and the connection breaks a lot, then is slow to reconnect. While connected, however, they operate with the speed they should.

This affects all apps and the Samsung browser. It does not seem to affect Chrome, or at least not as badly, which is maddening.

Also, 9 other devices from different manufacturers (ipads, chromebooks, laptops, playstation) are having NO problems whatsoever. They work fine with my home network. It's only the Samsung products having this issue. But to make it even crazier, take these Samsung products down the road to a different network, and they operate fine. Only on my home network is there a problem, and only with the Samsungs does that problem manifest.

I am at my wit's end. Any basic fiixes have been tried. Every kind of reboot, refresh, cache wiping, battery changing, modem or router switching, static IP, removing apps, checking for interference, you name it, I've done it.

Can you help?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It wasn't clear to me -- did you already try rebooting the router, by unplugging its power for about 30 seconds?

I've been seeing some people say that forcing the device to use 2.4 GHz wi-fi (and not 5 GHz) helps. Go to Settings>Wi-fi, then tap Menu>Advanced to look for that option.

 

[MiguelLamp]

Thank you for the reply. Any standard fix, I have tried. Everything have been powered down, rebooted, rolled back, cache cleared, or swapped out. The problem occurs only with my Samsung products (devices from three other manufacturers connect fine), but then those same Samsung prodcuts works perfectly at any other location. It only happens with my Samsung products and only with my home wifi network.

This is why I am going crazy. If my Samsung products had these issues on other networks, then it's the Samsung's faults. But they work great elsewhere. So then it must be my network, but my network works fine with 5 ipads, a chromebook, a PS3, and an HP laptop.

Quick recap of the actual problem: it's not that my Samsung products can't connect to my network or the ineternet at all. They do connect, but it takes forever (up to five minutes sometimes), and then they will drop the connection repeatedly. And it isn't the Wifi network they are having trouble connecting to, because the wifi always connects to the phone immeadiately, strong and steady. It's the actual Spectrum internet server that they are taking forever to connect with. So if you are familiar with the speed.net test by Ookla, it will show you when your device connects to the WIFI network, then a seperate connection to the Spectrum internet server. The first connection happens quickly, but that second connection takes forever.

But when I took the Samsung phone down the road to a store that uses the exact same Spectrum modem, router and internet server that I use, my Samsung phone connects immediately to both router and the internet server.

So it's only here in my home, and only with my Samsung devices. That other devices connect no problem seems to rule out interference, and the Spectrum tech that came to investigate said he could detect no interference. But he was unable to solve the issue. And because he had an Iphone that connected no problem, he refused to believe it was anything other than an issue with my phone. He wouldn't believe me when I said that the phones connect to any other wifi no problem.

I am so at my wit's end with this.

 

[MiguelLamp]

I also tried a factory reset on one of the devices. I knew it wasn't going to work, and it didn't. That the devices work at other locations tells me that's the devices themselves are not the problem. It's something to do with the handshake between the Samsung devices and the Spectrum server as processed by my home network, but only on my home network. But again, this problem persisted despite using two different Ubee all in one modem/routers and then a Sagecome modem and router.

 

[MiguelLamp]

I went to a new location today, also serviced by Spectrum and their Ubee modem WiFi, and the phone I had with me worked perfectly. No problem connecting to the internet. Then I got home to the same old problems. But, as I keep saying, these problems only affect my Samsung devices.

I took screenshots of all the settings for the router at the new location, and I will compare those settings to mine when I get home. But I'm not hopeful that I will find the problem lying in the setting.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm, I agree that's puzzling and frustrating. Can you confirm that you also tried forcing the connection to 2.4 GHz, and not 5 GHz (if that's a possibility)?

Are you able to log into the Spectrum modem/router's settings and see if there's an option to check for a firmware update?

 

[MiguelLamp]

So, yeah, it was 2.4 and 5. And the firmware was all up to date. But it's working now, and you are not going to believe the problem. Tech came out from Spectrum and looked at it and said, "Man, I can't fix that. That's a software issue, probably with the router settings. But what I can do is replaced all your lines that are accessible, and replace and uprgrade all the connectors."

And holy ****, that fixed the problem. We also eliminated old lines that we used to use but don't anymore, for rooms that had TV's but don't anymore. And as soon as I had all new cable lines and connectors, we turned everything on and the Samsung products started working fine again.

He said he could see that my signal was for ****, but that good enough that I was working. I was getting the 100 MB/s speed that I should, but it had a lot of noise in it. Why that only started affecting the Samsung phones and tablet, but not the Ipad, the PS3, the HP laptop or the chromebook, I don't know. Neither did he. And why it just started happening to the Samsungs about ten days ago, neither of us can explain. But the second he replaced the lines and connectors, the problem went away.

A friend told me that it could be a grounding issue, and maybe the Samsungs were more sensitive to it than the other products, but that is just a guess.

But if you run into anyone with connectivity issues and none of the standard fixes seems to do anything, then I suggest they get their cable lines and/or connectors replaced. To be clear, not every line was replaced. He did not replace the line running from the street to the inside of the house. But he did run new line from my basement to my office and into to modem. And he did put new connectors on every single line in the house. And that made an enormous difference, which I'd have never of guessed. I was so focused on software and hardware that it never occurred to me that the signal on the line itself could be messed up but still work on some devices but not others.

 

[B. Diddy]

Thanks for the followup! That is really weird, but glad it's working now!