topic Broadband Connectivity in Archived Posts

Broadband Connectivity

Billfred12 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 08:15:58 GMT

Good morning community.

I'm just wondering if anyone is having issues connecting non-EE devices to their Home Hub? The last few days there has been a problem connecting my partner's phone (3 Mobile) and the XBox yet my phone connects just fine.

The WiFi device is listed but there doesn't seem to be an actual connection.

Many thanks in advance.

Re: Broadband Connectivity

XRaySpeX — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 08:31:07 GMT

For an EE Smart Hub, but not an EE Smart Router, try separating the wireless bands/SSIDs. On the Advanced > Wireless Settings page of the SH there is a button near the top to Separate the Bands. Turn it ON. Then the 5GHz SSID will appear starting with "5GHz-" & the 2.4 GHz SSID not starting with "5GHz-". Then connect your devices to the 2.4 GHz SSID if they can't do 5GHz. The Smart Router doesn't allow this.

Apples in particular are not happy with combined WiFi bands.

Re: Broadband Connectivity

mikeliuk — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:03:03 GMT

Hi @Billfred12 ,

Hope it's ok that I ask a sanity check question. By "doesn't seem to be an actual connection", do you mean that a) certain devices do not appear to connect via that WiFi SSID at all (e.g. password rejected), or do you mean that b) the WiFi connection is successful but that there appears to be no subsequent functionality such as access to the internet (e.g. news.bbc.co.uk cannot be visited despite a successful WiFi connection)?

Re: Broadband Connectivity

XRaySpeX — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 08:50:32 GMT

@mikeliuk : The latter is what the OP said in his OP.

Re: Broadband Connectivity

Billfred12 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:52:04 GMT

Hi There,

It's the second option: "b) the WiFi connection is successful but that there appears to be no subsequent functionality such as access to the internet (e.g. news.bbc.co.uk cannot be visited despite a successful WiFi"

I've no idea what XRaySpeX said in plain English but I'll give that a go too.

Re: Broadband Connectivity

mikeliuk — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:29:07 GMT

Hi @Billfred12 ,

In light of b), the first thing you wish to check is that your connected device receives an IP address (e.g. look in settings and search online for help to locate this). In a typical home, such a private IPv4 address typically looks like 192.168.x.x.

If your connected device does receive a private IPv4 address, you should then try to access the management page (using a browser) of your router (from your device which connects by WiFi but doesn't have internet access) which will be something like 192.168.0.1 , 192.168.1.1 or similar. The management page of your router should also be at the IP address of your gateway which is your gateway out to the internet.

When testing a mobile phone with a Three SIM inserted, it may be helpful to put into airplane mode when debugging the WiFi to reduce complications (e.g. having two routes out to the internet).

Re: Broadband Connectivity

XRaySpeX — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 11:09:57 GMT

I pointed out to @mikeliuk that you had already said that in your original post (OP).

Re: Broadband Connectivity

mikeliuk — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 11:16:53 GMT

Hi @Billfred12 ,

Splitting the radios/bands is more likely to help in situation a) than in situation b) but there's no harm in trying.

Re: Broadband Connectivity

Billfred12 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:23:15 GMT

@mikeliuk how I do I do this?

Re: Broadband Connectivity

Mustrum — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:41:35 GMT

@Billfred12 look back at post 2 from @XRaySpeX

Re: Broadband Connectivity

Billfred12 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 21:10:48 GMT

@XRaySpeX tried your suggestion and it didn't work. It says "connected" on the device and on the 192.xxx page but there's no internet going from A to B

Re: Broadband Connectivity

XRaySpeX — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 21:13:09 GMT

OK, thanks for trying.

Re: Broadband Connectivity

Mustrum — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 21:18:15 GMT

@Billfred12 which router do you have, and what have you tried?

Have you managed to split the bands? If so do your devices see the 2.4 or 5Ghz bands, or both?

Re: Broadband Connectivity

Billfred12 — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 10:26:09 GMT

@Mustrum I've split the bands and tried to connect the TV to each. The 5ghz connected but there was no internet and the 2.4ghz failed.

I managed to "cast" from my phone to the TV which is strange because both devices need to be connected to the wi-fi in order for this to work.

I have the smart hub. I only got set up this month so it's pretty much brand new

Re: Broadband Connectivity

mikeliuk — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 10:53:42 GMT

Hi @Billfred12 ,

Successful casting means there is some functionality in your internal/LAN network which is normal and expected, and confirms the WiFi connection is successful. With the casting test performed, there is no need to check access to the router management page which only confirms the same thing, that there is internal/LAN functionality.

On a device which can successfully connect to WiFi but claims it has no internet access, I would recommend to visit the IP address 142.250.187.238 in a browser which should be one address which google.com resolves to (shown below).

There are two primary ways a device will check whether internet is present, it may check that it can ping a well-known IP address (e.g. Google DNS 8.8.8.8), or it may check it can ping some domain name (e.g. connectivitycheck.alive.com) which also requires successful resolution of the name to an IP address before it can perform the check. By taking the above advice to access an IP address directly, you side-step the need to perform name resolution.

[x@x ~]$ nslookup google.com Server: 192.168.x.1 Address: 192.168.x.1#53 Non-authoritative answer: Name: google.com Address: 142.250.187.238 Name: google.com Address: 2a00:1450:4009:819::200e