TV connection dropping

[poppy21]

Hi there,

A few weeks ago my Samsung TV started to lose Wi-Fi  connection and now it is happening constantly. I can get it to connect to the hub and it will either stay connected for a few minutes or disconnected immediately.

I called BT and they sent me a new router which I have setup today.  This was working fine and I was able to stream Netflix for approx 10 minutes before the connection dropped again and now the same thing is happening.

I don't believe this to be an issue with the TV because I have been able to use my phone as a Wi-Fi hot spot and the connection works just fine.

Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks in advance.

[poppy21]

Just to add the Wi-Fi signal is strong and the PS4 works absolutely fine as do all my other devices...

[c64z86]

How far away is the Smart Hub 2 to the Smart TV? Is it close enough that you can use Ethernet instead?

Also how congested are your WiFi channels? Have you tried changing the WiFi channel to one that is free?

Have you made sure it's connecting to 5ghz instead of 2.4ghz?

[poppy21]

Thanks for your reply, the hub is upstairs and there is no port to plug it in downstairs so I can't try the ethernet cable.

It is connected to 5ghz.

There are no new wi-fi devices nothing has changed in 3 years it has just stopped randomly working. Do you mean to change the wi-fi channel in the hub settings?

[c64z86]

Yes, I mean try to change the 5ghz channel in the Hub's settings from auto, to one that is not so congested.

You can download a wifi scanner app from your phone's app store to see which wifi channels are free or congested around you.

If they are all in use, just try out the one that is the least congested.

If it doesn't offer up an option to change the channel, try clicking "rescan" instead.

If that doesn't work, I would suggest to try out changing the Wifi mode next:

What is the wireless mode feature on my BT Smart Hub? | BT Help

If none of these suggestions do the trick, please put everything back on auto and the default modes and report back here and we'll see what we can do next. Maybe someone else will have a better suggestion.

Please also note that changing these settings will cause your other wifi devices to disconnect while the new settings are applied. 

[rbz5416]

5GHz is faster but has less range than 2.4GHz, so I'd be inclined to turn 5GHz off on the router to force it onto 2.4GHz & how it performs then. The down side is that 2.4GHz is more congested than 5GHz so if still an issue, try a WiFi analyser as suggested above.

[OldDog]

Wow @poppy21 

I say Wow, because I was coming online report something that sounds remarkably similiar. 
For the last 11 years, my Samsung television hasn't moved, nor has my personal computer or router.  The router is in the study, wired to the Fibre Broadband via the standard half metre cable.  My PC is wired to the router, using a half metre LAN cable.  The TV is in the lounge, with just one wall between it and the router.

It has worked this way for years, without problems.  Living in the countryside, we frequently have short power cuts; it happens, we're used to it, but about 10 days ago the power cut did something really unusual. 

Since that incident, if someone is playing games on the PC, whoever is watching the TV can't use online apps like BBC iPlayer or Netflix.  As soon as the gaming stops, the online apps become available.

I couldn't have expected as quick a reply, but it seems @c64z86 has answered my question, before I even asked it 🤣 I must try this solution, although I still don't understand how a power cut could have instigated the problem!

Thanks

[poppy21]

@c64z86 Thanks for your tips - I have tried all of these as well as @rbz5416 suggestion to disable the 5ghz band and neither have worked.  The TV was streaming for about 50 minutes earlier and then everything disconnected again and now it connects a few minutes randomly sometimes up to 10 minutes and disconnects again. 

I have used a few mobile wi-fi scanners and all the channels appear congested.  

If it is any help when I stream on the Playstation everything works fine and it streams fine.

When I connected the TV to my mobile phone 5G and stream it works fine. 

Just not sure what else to try? Any more tips would be so gratefully appreciated.

[c64z86]

I've got one more suggestion!

Is it's firmware up to date? An option for updating the firmware can usually be found in the system settings of the TV. Are all the apps up to date? You might be able to get a connection long enough to download the updates, if it finds any.

Apart from that, I don't know what else to try, short of trying another router in place of the SH2, I'm sorry. 

If you do get another router, and you are sure that you do not live near any radar stations or airports, you could get one that supports the DFS channels. These wifi channels are higher than the usual 5ghz channels you will find on many routers, including the SH2, so they are less congested than those. But even that is not much help if you live near any radar as those channels work in the same frequency. Even then it's not a guarantee as Wifi is just a fickle beast by nature.

[OldDog]

So I've tried switching wireless modes from 1 to 2; tried switching wireless channels on both modes, but to no avail.  I can log into a game online, but not play it and the television still works, but as soon as I start playing a game, nope it starts the buffer wheel on the televison.  Which in my mind, shouldn't happen with 500Mb Fibre Broadband.  I'm totally lost 😫