Wi-Fi won't connect? Here's the fix, in order.
Most Wi-Fi problems come down to one of five things. Work through these in order and you'll almost always land on the fix before you reach the end.
Work through these in order
Restart your router and device
Unplug the router and modem, wait a full 30 seconds, then plug the modem back in first and let it fully boot before powering on the router. Restart the phone, laptop, or tablet you're connecting from too. This clears out the temporary glitches that cause most drop-offs, and it's the single most effective fix on this list.
Forget the network and reconnect
Open Wi-Fi settings, find the network, and choose "Forget" or "Remove." Then search for the network again and enter the password fresh. This fixes the common case where your device saved a corrupted or outdated connection profile and keeps failing silently instead of asking for the password again.
Double-check the network and password
If your router broadcasts both a 2.4GHz and 5GHz network, make sure you're connecting to the one you intend to — 5GHz is faster but has shorter range. Also confirm the password character by character; look-alike characters like a capital "O" and zero are a common culprit.
Check DNS settings
If you're connected to Wi-Fi but pages still won't load, the issue is often DNS rather than the connection itself. In your network settings, try switching the DNS server to a public option like 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 8.8.8.8 (Google). If that fixes it, your default DNS server was the problem. Need help with DNS beyond this? →
Update router firmware
Log in to your router's admin page (usually at an address like 192.168.1.1, printed on the router itself) and check for a pending firmware update. Outdated firmware causes exactly the kind of intermittent drops this guide is meant to fix.
Check for interference and distance
Thick walls, microwaves, baby monitors, and cordless phones can all interfere with a Wi-Fi signal. Move closer to the router if you can, or consider a mesh extender if the problem only happens in specific rooms.
Still not connecting?
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