topic Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why? in Broadband & Landline

Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

Cliff_G — Wed, 27 May 2026 20:07:45 GMT

A strange and very annoying thing has suddenly happened over the last 2 days - both our mobiles in the house have been dropping off the Wi-fi.

The Router is a ~3 month old EE Smart Hub Plus. To satisfy some older devices I have both 5 and 2.4 GHz bands available on both the Main Wi-fi and the Compatible Wi-fi. The phones are both Samsung A20e on Android 11. It is only the phones that we have problems with, our Samsung and iPad tablets and a Dell and HP laptop are all fine. We have older devices such as Kindles which also seem to be ok, just tested my Kindle and it connects fine. The router is strategically situated in the centre of the house upstairs but at the top of an open stairwell, a position we've used for 15+ years with good spread to the farthest rooms.

Originally the phones were attached to the Main Wifi 5 GHz and worked fine for around 3 months. 2 days ago they both started receiving very weak signals and dropping off the wifi. I moved them both to the Compatible wifi (which has 2.4 and 5 GHz) and thought this had sorted it, 2.4 GHz in theory being stronger through walls/floors etc. This seemed to work but they started dropping off again. Rebooting the router would re-connect them for a while but after some hours they would drop off again. Rebooting the phones does not help.

A strange thing is that the phones will now not detect the Main wifi even with the router just rebooted and the phones right next to the router.

I use an Android App called Wifi Analyser on my tablet and it appears the 5 GHz signals are actually stronger, around -40 dBm, with the 2.4 GHz weaker at -60 dBm. The 5 GHz's are on circa channel 106 the 2.4 Ghz's on channel 1, occasionally channel 10. The only other Wifi signal around is a very weak one from a neighbour, at ~ -90 dBm on channel 2.

We have DECT "landline" phones but have always had these.

The phones have not had a software update during this time, they are both the same version, and to have a hardware problem on both phones at the same time seems unlikely.

So I can't work out whether the router is faulty in some way (warm/failing? but we're in Scotland and have not seen the high temperatures in the south) or the phones have both had something happen at the same time.

Driving me nuts, as we depend on Wifi Calling on the phones (we're out in the sticks with no mobile signal). Thankfully we have a Home Phone installed, which works fine.

Any ideas, anyone? Thanks

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

JimM11 — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:19:17 GMT

@Cliff_G Which Plus do you have, the 6 or the 7 version? 6 has just recently been in a FW update push...

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

Cliff_G — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:49:34 GMT

Hi Jim

Hmm, that's the sort of thing that could explain it. Thanks.

Not sure about 6 vs. 7, (that's the wifi version, I presume) how do I tell? We are FTTC which seems to be what 7 is about.

The firmware is given as r4.26.1-R-1860948-PROD-83002 and "Firmware updated: N/A"

The router baseplate label it gives "SmartHub SH31B" and "Model F-5394-CP EE"

I guess trying WPS might be a test, though hopefully not a permanent solution for security reasons

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

Cliff_G — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:59:53 GMT

Looking at the thread on the (similar?) Google Pixel problem on 7, I note changing to WPA3-Personal-Transition was a solution.

Our router is currently set to WPA3-Personal-Transition for the Main and WPA2-Personal for the Compatible.

IS it worth trying changes here?

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

XRaySpeX — Thu, 28 May 2026 11:49:35 GMT

You have the SH 6 +. The SH 7 + doesn't do FTTC.

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

JimM11 — Thu, 28 May 2026 12:47:59 GMT

@Cliff_G There is nothing to lose trying the WPA2 compatible Feature, your device just may not like working in Transition mode.

Your EE Smarthub 6 Plus has just been updated to the latest so you are aware also.

Your old Samsung is a WiFi 4, WPA2 device as that is a far as that one goes. The phone may struggle to get up on the 5Ghz at channel 100, what is the Comp network 5Ghz channeling at?

Comms

WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct
Bluetooth	5.0, A2DP, LE

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

Cliff_G — Thu, 28 May 2026 13:30:29 GMT

My phone is (now back) on the Main wifi at 2.4 Ghz, channel 11. It tells me the security is "WPA2/WPA3-Personal". I presume that means the handshake determined it could not do WPA3 and fell back to WPA2. ... and now has dropped off entirely, no wifi signal found at all, Main or Comp

I have tried connecting to the Compatible Wifi, let it choose whether 2.4 or 5, and although initially ok it didn't ultimately help - the Wifi analyser app shows the strength of the Compatible is 20 dBm lower than the Main.

The Compatible 5 GHz seems to be channel 107 though the Wifi analyser app is a bit confusing on that.

You said "EE Smarthub 6 Plus has just been updated to the latest". The firmware version is r4.26.1-R-1860948-PROD-83002 and the router admin page says "Firmware updated: N/A". So I'm not clear if I'm already on the latest or have just not received an over the air update yet.

Thanks for the continued help

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

JimM11 — Thu, 28 May 2026 14:03:44 GMT

@Cliff_G You are on the latest, it was getting pushed out around the 25th onwards, from a previous OP that posted.

Try switching the power off on the hub, but leave it off for 5 minutes at least, then see what happens when back on...

The N/A is bogus so forget about that... Samsung does not publish what Frequency the phone works at so there is NO way off knowing, my A54 works fine on channel 100 (114) 160Mhz wide, but it is only two years old and syncs at 1200Mb/s.

The lowest -db is the best for signal strength, close to the hub you would find that they would be close, will find the page and link for you. Forget the sky name, i have kept that going for years and years, now connected on Vodafone FF OR ONT.

2nd link is my wifi Analyser captures from a while back in time, nothing has changed in any way!

Re: Wifi issues - Page 3 - The EE Community

Re: 'Compatible Wifi' issues with new Smart Hub Pro and Smart Wifi Pro - The EE Community

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

Cliff_G — Thu, 28 May 2026 15:46:05 GMT

Thanks.

It seems to me that this firmware update is what has caused the problem, now that I know the N/A is bogus. Essentially nothing else has changed. I will contact EE to ask their advice & tell them of the problem in the hope of a future fix.

Re. my old WiFi 4 WPA2 Samsung phone, another frustrating thing is that my even more absolutely ancient Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 on Android 7 is as happy as Larry, never a connection problem, on the Main Wifi, 5 Ghz, on WPA2 PSK.

Do you know what the "Hidden" channels are for?

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

Cliff_G — Thu, 28 May 2026 16:41:24 GMT

Powered off the router for 20 minutes. Now all working perfectly. That and the firmware update points directly at the Router.

Re: Phones suddenly dropping off the Wi-Fi - why?

JimM11 — Thu, 28 May 2026 17:04:35 GMT

@Cliff_G The hidden channels are all for a wireless wifi backhaul when you are using a Smart Wireless extender, until the extender is in play they sit there doing hee-haw, would have been better not on until an Extender is connected, but it is what it is, the other one you will be seeing if you look is EE WIFI, that is the free one that any BT/EE account holder can jump on and use you bandwidth free of charge.

Some devices do not complain working through the WPA3-T and work away as normal, some just throw in the towel at times.

Could be something just did not gel with the update, and the on/off has made it apply correctly what EE intended, glad it's all going well for you now.🙄😶👍👍