Samsung Galaxy S4 - Sprint - WiFi issues with 802.11ac (5GHz) connections

[Peter K2]

Hi,

I got a replacement from Samsung and I have the same problem, Galaxy S4 sees the 5ghz N network but it cannot connect to the router.
It shows it as "saved" when I try to connect.

Wifi analyzer shows me exactly the same thing.... The signal is there and then id disappears....


How did you fix that?

 

[Elizabeth Jesse]

My S4 worked for a couple of weeks on 5ghz, but now it will only connect to 2.4??? :'(

 

[Joel Lafleur]

Hi,

I have a possible solution. I was having the same problem where I could not connect to the 5ghz network from my samsung galaxy s4 provided by my netgear nighthawk r7000 ddwrt kong build.

All that to say try this.

It would work with my security disabled, however as soon as I turned on any security, wep or wpa, it would fail. Turns out with the wirless N standard introduced new security requirements to operate. You need to have at minimum WPA2 with AES to use N only or AC only. It would work in mixed mode because it would connect to wireless A which did not need those minimum standards.

Special thanks to Kong. If you see this, You Rock! and keep up the good work.

 

[CJohnStanchina]

I have been experiencing 5.0 Ghz connectivity issues for months. Got my Samsung Galaxy S4 nearly 1 year ago. Got a NETGEAR Nighthawk R7000 router a couple of months later. For about 2 months, the 5.0 Ghz connection on the phone worked just fine. Then I started getting intermittent messages from the phone saying that the 5.0 Ghz connection was unstable. I switched to the 2.4 Ghz network, and everything worked flawlessly. Then in October 2014, a ton of issues erupted on the router. Best Buy was kind enough to exchange the router, but right out of the box, the new router demonstrated many of the same issues (issuing duplicate IP addresses to client devices, intermittent reboots, etc.). Long story short, working with NETGEAR tech support, all those issues have been resolved. I signed a non-disclosure agreement, and am now on my third or fourth beta version of their firmware (V1.0.4.20_1.1.54). The Galaxy S4 5.0 Ghz connection is the only outstanding difficulty I am having.

So, earlier today, I went to my local Best Buy to see if my phone would connect to their 5.0 Ghz WiFi network. Lo & behold, my phone demonstrated the same issues it did on my home network, leading me to conclude that the problem rests with the phone. Disabling my 5.0 Ghz network security does not solve the problem. Even though the phone is in the same room with the router, the phone shows the 5.0 Ghz network intermittently as "Not in range." I am now working with Samsung via their live chat tech support to see where that gets me.

 

[CJohnStanchina]

Just a quick update...after thoroughly reviewing this entire thread, I decided to try connecting to my 5.0 Ghz wireless network by actually touching my GS4 to my Nighthawk R7000 router. Nothing like the "freedom" of wireless, right? Lo & behold, with my phone actually touching one of my router's antennae, it connected to the 5.0 Ghz network for the first time in months! Just as soon as I moved the phone just a couple of feet from the router, the phone showed the following message under the 5.0 Ghz connection: "AP currently not in use. Internet connection slow." It then dropped the 5.0 Ghz connection and automatically reconnected to my 2.4 Ghz WiFi network. This clearly seems to be a hardware issue.

 

[Rukbat]

I am now working with Samsung via their live chat tech support to see where that gets me.

No new posts, so I assume that Samsung is being its usual "interested in being helpful" self. Have they fixed (or are they even aware of) their TKIP problem?

 

[jv59]

I had this issue with both my S4 and my Note 4 and Tab S Tablet. I have an ASUS router and found a solution to the 5GHz wireless dropout.

There are 2 settings that if available on your router you should change.

Network Key Rotation Interval = 0
Control Channel = Set this to an non-used channel. Do not use auto.

I have been on 5GHz Wifi for several weeks now without any issues.