Samsung Galaxy S5 Constantly dropping Wifi

[Jennielee Armstrong]

Getting the same problem using my S5 in Canada using Bell so it's not a network issue.

Tried every possible settings and still have this issue. It has to be device related... Hope Samsung fixes this bug soon.

I have a galaxy s3 it keeps kicking me off my home wifi connection . Verizon replaced my phone thinking it was the problem nope its not new one does it I haveconnection through dish so dish is telling me its my phone Verizon says its thecable idk what to do help

 

[Fifi Monkey]

Mine started doing this yesterday on both work and home wifi. I did this at home today and so far it's working well. Hope this helps.
youtube.com/watch?v=v2DFzr66x-0

THIS WORKS!!

I just did switch off ...couldn't access my keyboard because of those damned wifi popups. I was beside myself because I do NOT want any old refurb..if I drop my phone, or do something stupid, okay..I'll suffer the consequences. But I make a point and I've spent money to protect this phone - it's wrapped in good things and it's treated right! no stupid useage, no installing questionable, no trying anything illegal.

so this shouldn't be happening.

as I wrote to the author of the youtube, I suspect this is a kind of useage "nudge"- where the only way you can use your messaging, is if you shut off wifi and of course, if you're a big user, you'll rack up those extra minutes.

if this were a unique issue, meaning an occasional problem for some users, then it would be understandable. but it's obviously become a relatively common issue because there's a lot of bb discussion on it in various forums.

I recently received a system update 12/23 and after a week, it started happening - not frequenly, just occasionally. then these last couple of weeks, it was up to every 10 seconds. and of course, it upped my usage.

 

[seattle3713]

A few days ago I realized my battery was draining way faster then usual. I noticed it's b/c of the WiFi switching on and off for no reason. Even if I had full bars fir WiFi it keeps switching back and forth. I too have had the smart network switch on since I got the phone almost a year ago and never had a problem before.

Just saw this forum and hope disabling the smart network switch helps. I have T-Mobile and by reading reading previous posts it doesn't seem to be network based, it sounds like a lousy update Android did.

I've had the Galaxy S3, S4, and now S5. This is the first issue I've ever had with their phones.

Hope they fix it soon.

 

[Robin Wilson2]

I've restarted mine each morning and it still does it. I have a good connection when talking on the phone but the constant beeping from my possible drop call warning is very annoying. I'll try contacting Samsung about it.

Turned off the Smart Network switch. It still beeps that I may drop my call but not as frequently. I can deal with that for now.

 

[shockeymoe]

I just turned off "Smart Switch" and set my wifi connection to static rather than through DHCP.
These changes have stabilized my connection. I am not sure which one it is that fixed it but now it is working better. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

 

[Jim Mike]

I believe this problem came about after loading android 5. Likewise, i disabled smart network switch. I just did it so not sure how much it helped but i think it made some difference. Wifi not connecting and disconnecting so frequently. Thanks for the info.

 

[YsLadyMN]

I was looking for an answer to a different wi-fi question when I saw this.
I'm on AT&T with my S5.
Under the Wi-Fi settings I have an option for "Smart Network Switch" which says it Automatically switches between Wi-Fi and mobile networks to maintain a stable internet connection. Anytime a computer says it automatically does something for me; I typically say no thanks. I don't typically like my devices making assumptions of what I like, don't like or want to do. So I have that option unchecked. I never have an issue with the network stability once I've connected to a specific wi-fi connection.

Not sure if that will help you all or not. But thought I'd share.

I TOO determined this was the problem. With ANY fluctuation in signal on my WIFI network, the phone would switch to 4G and then start WIFI scanning. Turn it off, all seems good with the world.

This^^^^

Same here for my S5 and my Wifes S5. Both had this Wifi issue after lollipop. You should NOT have to turn stuff off to fix an issue that started immediately after a major Android update. . I have the network switch off ATM and hoping Verizon comes out with a fix..

FWIW, mine was going this before the Lollipop update... turning off the smart network optimizer seems to do the trick short of beating Sansumg over the head for a fix. I talked to them for over a half hour today working through issues... and as usual the answer is the factory data reset. Wish I could send them a bill at my standard hourly rate for almost 5 hours of screwing around to get my phone useful after the update... but like I said, mine was doing this from day one. Which I bought mine on September 1, 2014 when it was loaded with KitKat.

 

[howie0093]

i went in and made sure the smart network box was unchecked under my WiFi settings and i haven't had the issue occur since... And I never had any problems with the WiFi until AFTER update.. just FYI

 

[hybucket]

FYI - I'm on a new Galaxy 5 with AT&T on 4.4. The wifi dropping issue was driving me nuts (well, nuttier...) til I found this thread. I disabled the SMART NETWORK SWITCH and now all is well. I always had the switch turned on with my Galaxy 3 and still do on another S3 with no problem, so this has to be a Samsung bug. Obviously, it was not fixed even with the Lollipop update. As others have said, you should not have to disable a feature to get the phone to work properly.

 

[t_wysocki]

My wife and I have two new Verizon S5's and they both have the same exact problem - dropping the wifi connection even though they say they're "CONNECTED". They're not pingable from my network. The smart network switch does no good on either one. If I "forget" the connection and re-establish it, it works for a short time only. And they wonder why people buy the iPhones.

 

[SaraT81]

I have been having this problem for 2 weeks now even replaced my phone. I am beyond pissed but it worked to turn off the smart switch. Samsung needs to fix this now!

I factory reset and warranty replaced mine. A lot of time wasted resetting everything up and on the phone with tech support. I agree they should pay us!

 

[kk1l]

Folks,

I was having the same trouble on my home network. The android devices would disconnect and reconnect several times an hour and as much as once a minute. On my wireless access point I had "WMM" (WiFi Multimedia) turned on with acknowledgements turned off for better throughput. Turning acknowledgments back ON cured my connection problems. Steady now for quite a while!! I had tried lots of things before reaching this conclusion.

Ron <><

 

[Colebra Friz]

I had this same problem and could get no help. I was told it was working fine. i was so mad. i read all i could find to no avail. After a week of playing with the settings I have found and fixed my problem.
* OPEN SETTINGS
*GO TO SECOND SECTION (QUICK SETTINGS)
*PUSH WIFI BOTTOM
*PUSH 3 SMALL BUTTONS IN TOP RIGHT CORNER, (TO OPEN MENU)
*SELECT ADVANCED OPTION
*UN-SELECT SMART NETWORK SWITCH.
I hope this help you as much as it did me.

 

[JenJen00au]

I think my experience is along the lines of this thread, they have to be connected somehow.
We have 2 Samsung S5's, an S3 & an S2. The S2 is banned from having mobile data on, so fingers crossed he's not an issue. But the other 3 have been losing 1MB at a time, 3 - 4 times a minute, random minutes through out the day. Upon studying our usage that lists the times of each transaction, it apparently started when we first got the phones - but I didn't look into it enough to see the activity, I just thought they were teens, they needed lots of data. But since December things seem to have ramped up. The phone chipped away at our data so much that my son lost 1.7GB of data in one day, all in 1MB lots. It made 1437 entries on our statement. We are still trying to work out why the phones are behaving like this and what has changed for them to increase their activity. Have switched off the feature that allows the phone to switch between wifi & data, have restricted background app activity, and have to keep turning off our mobile data after each use. Forget, and you pay. It's rampant.
I have data usage notifications in place, but none of the phones triggered these. It wasn't until our provider sent emails saying we were almost out of data - after 3 days, that we were alerted to it. I rang Samsung, who then told me that their data usage app, that monitors your data usage, actually only monitors data you physically use - ie play a video, go on FB, etc. It DOES NOT record the data consumed by background apps. So in effect, their 'data usage' app, can not be relied upon, because it doesn't mean ALL data usage.
I was livid. False advertising, putting people into a false sense of security.It's not till you get your massive bill, do you see the problem. So we are still unable to use our phones unless we are in a wifi area, and mobile data is off. We have uninstalled many apps today, and will find out later if that has made a difference. There is no way of knowing which app is doing it. Is it a factory app? I have installed Onavo, but it also seems to be showing less usage than our provider does. HELP???? In Australia.

 

[Glen Zammit]

I had this same problem and could get no help. I was told it was working fine. i was so mad. i read all i could find to no avail. After a week of playing with the settings I have found and fixed my problem.
* OPEN SETTINGS
*GO TO SECOND SECTION (QUICK SETTINGS)
*PUSH WIFI BOTTOM
*PUSH 3 SMALL BUTTONS IN TOP RIGHT CORNER, (TO OPEN MENU)
*SELECT ADVANCED OPTION
*UN-SELECT SMART NETWORK SWITCH.
I hope this help you as much as it did me.

Ive just had the same problem starting from last night and this one worked for me.

 

[JenJen00au]

I did that Glen - a very important little function that they don't advertise. However, I DID discover what the problem was. The provider was the problem, on two counts. In the last few months, they decided to charge for all social media usage which had previously been free. On top of this, it became news to me that no matter what you did in a session on the net, they round up the billable amount to 1MB. So each time my phone connected to the internet (3 times a minute) they deducted 1MB off my data. Even if my phone only used a few kb's(sent an sms or got a weather update), they'd round it up to 1Mb. So basically they are stealing my data. So you think you are connected to home wifi, and for some reason your phone thinks it can get a better signal from mobile data, it will jump back and forth between the two (if you have not turned off Smart Network Switch) and so each one of these 'jumps' counts as a session. You could easily think your download is free, until you get the bill. Needless to say, we are now moving our 4 numbers over to a carrier that bills in kb's, not Mb's.

 

[Rae Johns]

Great thank you! That fixed my problem!
I'm glad because I have been looking for the optimizer connection as mentioned in an earlier post but couldn't find one.

 

[alipan]

I think I have a fix for my Galaxy Note 2 - I have also been tearing my hair out for the past 6 months and that is following 18 months of no problems.
I had tried all the usual tips and advice to no avail but today I happened across an entry in your forum.
However I lost the kind person's contact item who inserted it - He (or She) is a life saver.
This problem seemed to arise after receiving my new BT type 4 modem and contract even though I set up the new modem as per the book and I am able to receive a good wifi signal.
Unfortunately it not only keeps losing a connection but demands that I reconnect even though it has remembered the PW it is still not a workable situation.
Well, it seems to work for me now even when there are no signal bands at all it still does not disconnect now - HALLILUYA.
Here's the fix: Go to SETTINGS, WIFI, select bottom left menu button and select "WPS BUTTON".
A blue bar starts timing and then before it 'times out' press your MODEM WPS BUTTON for a few seconds (to make sure).
Your phone should start searching and should eventually "LOCK ON" to the signal.
Seems OK all day so far - hope it works for you as well - good luck.

 

[s milverton]

im getting the same happening to me in Australia on the optus networrk. But he wifi unit is literally about 2 ft from the phone most of the day. It is dropping connection hundreds of time s a day. And now the camera stalls the whole phone and i need to reboot it when i activate the camera. The phone is only a month old.
I thought the S5 was meant to be a good phone. Never had any trouble with my old HTC. Wish i was still using it now

 

[Mars Binika]

Samsung galaxy s5, bought about 4 months ago, started to have the same problem, it doesnt stay on wifi, drops as soon as you sign on, tried everything and all suggestions on the net , but it doesnt work, brought to the Samsung rep at the Best Buy, where I bought it from, the rep did something to the settings and claimed that it will work,but it is having the same problem, all other devices working on the wifi are working perfectly, without ever having a problem, it seems like a device problem and Samsung should rectify it

I found that turning off mobile data and having only WiFi on helps.