My Galaxy S7 does not find/display 2.4 ghz wifi signals

[AC Question]

I have a bizarre problem, and I have not been able to find anyone online with the same problem...

When I open up my wifi configuratioon, and my Galaxy s7 scans for wifi networks it seems to only find the 5ghz ones.

At home I have two wifi base stations. One in the basement which broadcasts 2.4, and one upstairs which broadcasts at 5 ghz. If I enter through the basement, my S7 finds the router, connects, and then when I walk upstairs it finds and connnects to the 5ghz router.

If I enter the house through the main door, the 2.4 ghz signal is too weak to bbe found, and I see _no_ wireless networks in the wi-fi setup screen. It will keep scanning fruitlessly until I go downstairs and it can finnd my wi-fi signal down there.

I've had this problem for some weeks, and could live with it, but now I'm travelling, and in my hotel there is only a 2.4 ghz network, which I can connect to with my laptop, but which never appears in my wireless networks list on my S7. That list remains empty.

This is extremely frustrating. does anyone have any ideas? I have tried resetting all settings and all network settings from the backup and reset settings menu. I can find no way of manually configuring the wifi bands.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! See if this thread helps: http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...5415-s7-edge-can-t-detect-5ghz-wifi-band.html. The question there is about the 5 GHz band, but the menu setting is the same one to look for.

 

[spacemooseprime]

Thank you for trying to help.

Unfortunately the menu item referred to in the responses to that thread seems to have been long ago removed from Android's interface. Reading the entire thread reveals that even the original poster in that thread was unable to find the menu item in question.

The people in the thread who were able to solve the problem did so by reconfiguring their routers. That's not an option for me since I want to be able to use my hotel and my offices wifi access points.

The only response which seems to offer any possible promise of remedying my problem suggets:

The remedy is simple, set your wifi country to EU, JP, or others same as your routers bands, as samsung default was set to US ( my router E4200 is APAC region ).

Use RootExplorer and SQLite editor ( these apps from the same dev ) and go to "/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db" in "secure" table, look for "wifi_country_code=XX" change XX to JP as in my case. Reboot your wifi. Et voila ! There it is my 5GHZ SSID !!​

I'm deeply skeptical of this solution:

1. Using rootexplorer and sqlite makes me nervous.
2. At the earliest I would be able to try this solution when I have returned home, since I don't have wifi access to download these apps, and I don't want to pay data roaming charges to do so.
3. The apps being recommended seem dodgy to me.

I'm troubled by this as I'm living in Europe, bought the phone in Europe, am travelling in Europe, and yet the phone isn't compatible with european wifi standards? And I have to root my phone to be able to use local wifi? This can't possibly be the case? Is there a menu option to change these settings hidden somewhere?

 

[B. Diddy]

Does this also happen in Safe Mode? https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-28008

 

[Rukbat]

I'm deeply skeptical of this solution:

1. Using rootexplorer and sqlite makes me nervous.

It shouldn't, if you know what you're doing. Root Explorer is just a file manager that can get root access. SQLite is a SQL editor.

3. The apps being recommended seem dodgy to me.

I've used them both for years with no problem. About the only "problem" with SQLite is that you should be fluent in SQL before using it. If you're not, how are you going to select (the SQL equivalent of "find") the record you want to change?

And I have to root my phone to be able to use local wifi?

No, to be able to see anything in /data. An unrooted phone shows an empty directory, since you don't even have read rights there.

Is there a menu option to change these settings hidden somewhere?

Other than once you've rooted? No.

 

[JohnDo100]

Hey,
I seem to have exactly the same issue, except my phone doesn't detect 2.4 ghz even when I place it right near the router.
It just keeps scanning endlessly...

I can only connect to 5 ghz networks.
I believed it was a hardware issue.

Did you manage to solve it somehow?