This guide is meant to help faculty, staff and students troubleshoot their wireless (WiFi) connection. This guide will refer to wireless routers, WiFi access points, and all other WiFi emitters as WAPs (wireless access points).
Fostering a reliable WiFi connection
Before changing any settings on your devices, there are a few good practices to follow with wireless connections:
Your WAP can change location in your house! Place your WAP with intention:
Keep your WAP in the open and not hidden by plants or furniture. The fewer the obstructions, the better the signal.
Placing your WAP higher in your room, where there are less obstructions, may improve performance.
Your WAP does not need to be in the center of your house. Depending on your home's construction material, the WAP will have varying difficulty penetrating your walls.
Remember:
The 5Ghz network will give you better speeds (bandwidth) but cannot penetrate walls as well as the 2.4Ghz channel.
The 2.4Ghz network will have better range and therefore better reliability than the 5Ghz channel but will have lower speeds (bandwidth).
While working from home, you may find benefit in moving your WAP closer to your working space and sacrificing some connection strength in other parts of your house.
While working closer to your wireless router will give you better performance and reliability, try to stay at least a few feet away.
Troubleshooting Device WiFi settings
Windows
Click on the WiFi icon that sits in the right end of the Taskbar
Find your network in the list and make sure you are connected. If you are connected, your network name will be displayed above the status of Connected.
If your situation does not match up to this guide so far, you may right-click on the same WiFi icon and choose Troubleshoot problems.
If that does not fix your issue, you can try disabling your WiFi adapter and re-enabling it. This is equivalent to restarting your computer but localized to the WiFi hardware.
Again right-click on the WiFi icon and choose Open network & Internet settings.
Under Advanced network settings, click on Change adapter options.
Right-click on the appropriate network adapter; it will likely have "WiFi" in its name.
You may try the Diagnose option before restarting the adapter.
Chose Disable and wait for the computer to process the change.
Next, right-click and choose Enable to turn the adapter back on.
If you were unable to follow any of these steps within Step 4, you may also restart your device to have a similar result.
If above steps did not solve your issue, you can check that your device has been properly assigned a network address.
In the same menu that was used in Step 4, right click on the WiFi adapter and chose Properties
In the popup window, double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) to open the properties.
Make sure that both automatic options are chosen. This allows your network's router to assign your device an IP address in order to send/receive data. Note: the non-automatic choice is used to connect directly to specific devices over the network without the help of a router.
Click Okay and then Okay again to close the popup windows. The network adapter will automatically restart in order to apply your settings.
If you're still having issues, please visit techsupport.uconn.edu to participate in a live chat or to open a ticket (email correspondence) and let them know that you have followed this guide to expedite your experience.
MacOS
iOS
My WiFi network doesn't appear in the WiFi settings
Check that WiFi is turned on
Open the Settings app. You can search for it by swiping downwards while on the home screen.
Tap Wi-Fi to open the WiFi settings.
Verify that the slider next to Wi-Fi is green indicating it is turned on.
Toggle WiFi on/off
Oftentimes, switching the WiFi antenna off and back on will resolve WiFi issues.
Open the Settings app. You can search for it by swiping downwards while on the home screen.
Tap Wi-Fi to open the WiFi settings.
Turn off the wireless antenna by tapping the slider next to the Wi-Fi heading.
Wait a few seconds for the wireless antenna to turn off, then tap the slider to turn WiFi back on.
Wait a few seconds for available WiFi networks to appear.
If you still need assistance, please visit techsupport.uconn.edu to participate in a live chat or to open a ticket (email correspondence) and let them know that you have followed this guide to expedite your experience.
Forgetting a WiFi Network
If you are unable to connect to a WiFi network that you were previously connected to or are connected to WiFi but the internet isn't working, try forgetting the WiFi network.
Open the Settings app. You can search for it by swiping downwards while on the home screen.
Tap Wi-Fi to open the WiFi settings.
If you are connected to a WiFi network, you will see its name near the top of the screen with a check mark next to it. Tap the 'i' icon next to its name.
Tap Forget Network.
You will be brought back to the WiFi settings page. Tap the name of the network you wish to join and enter your network credentials if prompted.
Android
Check that WiFi is turned on
Pull down the top menu to see your Settings shortcuts. This guide will include screenshots of Android 11 for reference.
Look for the Internet/WiFi settings. Please note that depending on your phone, tapping on the button may toggle WiFi on/off while holding the button will bring you to the Settings.
Firstly, check that WiFi is turned on.
If you're still having issues, press on the cog icon to go to the WiFi settings. You can also press and hold on the Internet button shown in Step 2 to quickly find the WiFi settings.
You will now see the nearby WiFi networks listed on your screen. Choose your desired network and enter your password if required.
Click on Saved networks if you're still having issues. In this menu you can choose to Forget your WiFi network. Doing so will reset all the settings associated with that network and can help you get reconnected.
If your issues persist, please try rebooting your device. This is usually done by pressing and holding the lock button on the device. This is the same button that turns your screen on and off when pressed quickly.
If you're still having issues, please visit techsupport.uconn.edu to participate in a live chat or to open a ticket (email correspondence) and let them know that you have followed this guide to expedite your experience.
When is it time to replace/upgrade hardware?
While WAPs can degrade over time, you are more likely to be hindered by outdated technology/protocols than the aged internal components. WiFi uses precise timing in order to send/receive signals to/from your devices, avoid collisions, and even triangulate your device's location (with newer WiFi 6 protocols) for more efficient transmission. It is possible that the timing component, usually a crystal oscillator, can degrade over time due to an aging power supply or a very RF (radio frequency) noisy environment. Nevertheless, it is likely outdated technology/protocols that are slowing down your connection and not the physical health of your WAP.
You should consider replacing your WAP when the number of devices increases, or your use increases and you are having trouble staying connected or your speed is much slower than a wired connection.