Sign-in Required for Wi-Fi

[SBrand]

For around a year or so, whenever my broadband connection drops then comes back online, my phone does connect to the router but in the Wi-Fi network list it says "sign-in required" under my BT Wifi and I have to manually tap it for the Wifi to actually work (don't have to do anything other than tap it).

But before hand, for years, the WiFi would just automatically start working again without having to tap anything or "sign in".

I've tried every setting I could find on my phone with no success. Is there a setting on the BT router that can avoid this need to "sign in" whenever the connection drops then comes back online?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@SBrand 

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail phone and broadband customers.

It looks to me that your phone is trying to connect to your public BTWifi hotspot instead of your main home hub wireless connection.

Assuming your phone is using the BT Wifi app, there is an option on the app to always give your home hub wireless priority. 

[SBrand]

Thanks for the reply.

I don't have the BT WiFi app, just connecting the normal way.

I'm 90% sure it's the proper hub I'm connecting to rather than a hotspot. It's called BTHub5-3F3F .

[Keith_Beddoe]

Look at the saved wireless networks on your phone, and see if there are any entries which say BTWifi. If there are, then "forget" them. That should stop the phone trying to connect to your public hotspot.

[SBrand]

There aren't any other saved networks apart from my hub.

Are you sure that signing in to the hot spot would only require tapping on the bthub entry in the WiFi settings list and nothing else?

I really don't think that the hotspot is the issue here.

[Keith_Beddoe]

There could be an issue with the hub or the phone.

The first thing to do would be to try a factory reset of the home hub, as its possible there are conflicting connections.

This can happen if your phone is configured for MAC randomisation instead of the phone MAC address, as this fills up the entries in the home hub`s internal connections table.

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/how-do-i-reset-my-bt-hub-to-its-factory-settings

[SBrand]

Thanks a lot, I'll try that.

Funnily enough, the most recent thing I tried was changing my phone from random MAC to phone MAC so hopefully this reset will work and that setting change will prevent it happening again.

Fingers crossed.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Its unfortunate that the home hub fail to expire any unused connections, so eventually it runs out of connections, which can cause issues. Only a factory reset removes them.

Randomised MAC addresses make it worse, as each new MAC address requires a new internal IP address to be allocated. 

[gg30340]

Does your phone automatically re connect when you come back into your house after having been out side away from your home network?

[SBrand]

Yeah when I come home it automatically connects and switches to WiFi without me having to do anything, it's only when the internet connection drops for 5 minutes then comes back online (which happens a couple of times a day).