A strong Wi-Fi connection makes a Smart TV work way better, letting you use voice commands and stream shows without a hitch. Having trouble with your Smart TV’s Wi-Fi connection? Try out these five handy tips to fix the issue and get back to enjoying your favorite shows.
Why Is My Smart TV Not Connecting to a Wi-Fi Network?
Generally, the reason your smart TV is not connecting to a Wi-Fi network is due to software-related issues or the Wi-Fi network itself. In this section, we have compiled a list of the most common reasons why a smart TV won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network.
Internet connection has been cut off: If this is the case, you will have to resolve this by contacting your internet service provider. Perhaps the ISP has blocked your device or stopped giving you access to the internet. Either way, get in touch with them and see if they are the ones causing this issue.
Network buffering/bandwidth problems: If your Wi-Fi network is connected to too many devices, your smart TV may not connect to the internet properly. This slows the internet down and may cause the network connection to keep dropping out.
Firmware update required: Sometimes, a simple software update is all you need. New apps might have issues communicating with your older firmware, causing your smart TV to have Wi-Fi connectivity issues.
Damaged Wi-Fi receiver: Although it is unlikely, we cannot exclude this possibility. A damaged Wi-Fi receiver on your TV will not connect to the Wi-Fi and will keep showing connection problems no matter how stable your Wi-Fi network is.
Easy Fixes for Wi-Fi Connectivity Issues
A smart TV without a Wi-Fi connection is basically just another plain, old TV. However, before we get into the advanced guides, here are some effective quick fixes you can try out.
1. Reset the Wi-Fi router: It is possible that your Wi-Fi router may be glitching and requires a restart. Therefore, we recommend you unplug the router and plug it back in. If that doesn’t seem to have an impact, you can try performing a factory reset on the router.
2. Check the Wi-Fi password: During the initial set-up, you might have entered the wrong password so try again and make sure it is correct. If you’ve forgotten the Wi-Fi password, you can generally reset the password on a computer or online portal that manages your home network.
3. Switch to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network: Although 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks have more bandwidth, their range is limited. It might mean that some smart home devices have trouble connecting to the router. Try switching your router settings to 2.4 GHz if you are using dual-band routers and having connection issues.
4. Connect using an Ethernet port: Try directly plugging in your Wi-Fi router to your TV. This way, you can bypass the Wi-Fi and not deal with the wireless connectivity. However, your router needs to be closer to the TV so you can plug them together.
5. Log in using cellular data: A quick way to check if the router is the problem is to enable the mobile hotspot feature on your phone and connect the TV to the hotspot. If the TV connects successfully, you can confirm that the issue is with your router and not your TV.
How to Change Wi-Fi Networks
Logging in using a different Wi-Fi network is one solution to bypass your current Wi-Fi network – this helps bypass the previous network to diagnose if the Wi-Fi network is at fault.
If the TV works on a different network, it can mean two things: either the network connection is having trouble connecting to your smart TV or the router has blocked your smart TV from accessing the web.
You can try bringing your Wi-Fi router closer to your TV or use an Ethernet cable to see if your network is working.
If these solutions work, yet your TV won’t connect to that network by conventional means, it means that the smart TV’s physical address is blocked by the router settings or ISP. Therefore, until you resolve this issue, here’s how you can change the Wi-Fi network on your TV to a hotspot or different router.
- First, turn on your TV.
- After that, navigate to Wi-Fi Settings.
- Turn on your mobile phone’s hotspot or a different router.
- Next, connect your smart TV to this hotspot or router.
- Check if the smart TV can access online content by opening up YouTube or any other app that requires the internet.
- You can use your smart TV in this manner until you resolve the blocked IP address by changing the router settings or contacting your ISP.
How to Reset a Wi-Fi Network
Whenever you are facing connectivity issues with your smart TV, it's often the router’s fault. It could be either the internet connection is shut down or it has trouble reaching the TV’s Wi-Fi range.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to reset the Wi-Fi network.
- First, before you reset the router, make sure you have entered the Wi-Fi password correctly.
- After that, try performing a soft reset on your router by unplugging it for 5 minutes and plugging it back in.
- Try connecting the TV to your Wi-Fi network. If that doesn’t work, try performing a soft reset on your TV as well.
- Try again, and if it still fails, open up the TV’s menu.
- Go to Settings and select the General tab.
- After that, update the firmware on your TV.
- After that, navigate to Network, then Network Status, and confirm the option to Network Reset.
- Change the DNS server address to 8.8.8.8.
- After that, update the firmware on your TV.
- Tap on Update.
- After that, switch off the router’s firewall – you will have to refer to the instructions based on your router.
How to Reset a Wi-Fi Network on a Samsung-specific smart TV
If the router is fine, it means that the issue is coming from the TV. If you are confident that your Wi-Fi network is stable, you can try to reset your Samsung TV’s network settings.
Here is how you can reset your Samsung TV’s internet settings.
- First, perform a factory reset on the TV.
- After the reset is complete, open up the menu and try connecting to the Wi-Fi by switching between automatic and manual IP addresses. You can change this setting by clicking on the Manual IP setting and changing the DNS server address to 8.8.8.8.
- Try these two different settings, and if the error persists, try switching the router’s 2.4 GHz channel to 1 from its previous Automatic setting.
- After that, open up the IP settings on your TV and change the setting called IP settings and DNS settings to Obtain Automatically.
How to Update Your TV's Software Version
Something that many users tend to put off is updating their smart TV’s firmware. Many people find it to be a hassle and consider it unnecessary.
There are two methods you can update your TV’s firmware. You can either directly use the TV’s settings, which require the Wi-Fi connection to be working perfectly. The other solution is to update the firmware using an external USB device.
In this guide, we’ll be covering both of these methods.
- First, open up the settings on your TV.
- Select the tab called Customer Support. It might also be named Product Support, or Setup.
- After that, select the option called Update.
- The following steps will show you how to update the TV using a USB stick. You need a computer or laptop to perform this guide.
- First, access this link using your computer.
- After that, select the model of your TV.
- You will be given the option to download the firmware and download it to your computer.
- Insert a USB drive and make sure there are no files on it. You can try formatting the USB drive, but back up your files if it’s not empty.
- Rename the firmware file and delete any extra symbols or numbers your computer adds to it – when you download a file twice, it might rename the file as: “filename(1)”.
- Copy the firmware file to your USB stick, take it out, and plug it into your TV.
- Now, open up the TV’s menu, select Support, and tap on Software Upgrade.
- After that, select the option called By USB and confirm the changes.
- Finally, wait for the update to finish.
Common Questions Relating to Smart TVs Not Connecting to Wi-Fi
Will resetting my TV also reset the network settings?
Yes, but you will only restore the settings back to their default state when you perform a factory reset. Simply turning the TV on and off will not delete any saved settings.
How can I diagnose a faulty router?
The easiest method to identify a faulty router is by connecting to the Wi-Fi using your smartphone or computer and trying to access the internet. If you cannot access the internet using a separate device such as this, it means the router (or ISP) is at fault.
Can I use a Samsung Smart TV without Wi-Fi?
Yes, you can still watch your TV normally without a Wi-Fi connection. However, you cannot use online features such as watching YouTube or Netflix directly via the TV.
Can I downgrade the software on my Samsung Smart TV?
Unfortunately, you cannot downgrade to a previous software version. Most modern updates are free of bugs, and you would rarely face an issue where the new software update is more buggy than the previous one.
The Verdict
Smart TVs require a constant connection to the internet to utilize all of their smart capabilities. With a smart TV, you don’t need to connect to any other external devices to watch YouTube, Netflix, or browse the web.
However, even the most advanced technology will always be susceptible to faults and errors, for instance, when your Smart TV is unable to connect to a Wi-Fi network. Fortunately, there are many fixes for this issue such as resetting your internet connection to the TV or the router. This way, you will never be left wondering what to do when your Smart TV is not connecting to Wi-Fi.
These solutions are guaranteed to resolve connectivity problems, most of the time, and help you find out why your smart TV is not connecting to a Wi-FI network.