Connecting your devices to Wi-Fi

Most devices connect to Wi-Fi in the same three steps: find the network, enter the password, done. This guide covers those basics and then the devices that are less straightforward.

The standard process

1. Open the device’s Wi-Fi settings. On phones this is under Settings; on computers it’s the network icon in the taskbar or menu bar.
2. Find your network name. It’s printed on the router label unless you’ve changed it. If you see two similar names, one ending in “-5G” is the faster 5 GHz band.
3. Enter the password exactly. Wi-Fi passwords are case-sensitive. Watch for the classic confusions: capital I versus lowercase l, and zero versus the letter O.
4. Wait for it to connect. A few seconds is normal. If it says “connected, no internet”, the password worked but something further up isn’t — check the router lights.

Smart TVs and streaming boxes

TVs are usually the heaviest consumers of bandwidth in a home and are often the furthest from the router.

• Use a cable if the TV is near the router. An Ethernet cable is more reliable than Wi-Fi and removes the TV from your wireless airspace entirely.
• Otherwise prefer 5 GHz if the TV supports it and is within reasonable range.
• Entering the password on a TV remote is tedious. Many TVs let you use a phone app instead — check the manufacturer’s app.
• If streaming buffers, reduce the streaming quality setting first as a test. If that fixes it, the issue is bandwidth or signal rather than the app.

Games consoles

• Cable is strongly preferred. Online gaming is far more sensitive to latency and jitter than to raw speed, and a cable eliminates both problems.
• Schedule game updates overnight. Modern games download tens of gigabytes; running that during the evening will affect everyone else in the house.
• If gaming feels laggy but speeds test fine, the issue is latency rather than bandwidth — see high latency and lag.

Smart-home devices

Smart plugs, bulbs, doorbells, cameras and speakers are the most common source of “it won’t connect and I don’t know why”.

• Most only support 2.4 GHz. If your router presents both bands under one name, you may need to temporarily disable 5 GHz during setup, or connect your phone to the 2.4 GHz network first.
• Set them up close to the router, then move them to their final position once connected.
• They need a stable, not fast, connection. A smart plug uses almost no bandwidth — but it does need consistent signal.
• Security cameras are the exception. Cameras uploading continuously can consume a significant share of your upload capacity. Check the resolution settings if you have several.

Visitors and guests

Rather than sharing your main Wi-Fi password with everyone who visits, set up a guest network. Visitors get internet access without reaching your computers, printers or network storage, and you never have to change your main password because too many people know it. See setting up guest Wi-Fi.

When a device refuses to connect

1. Forget the network and rejoin. On the device, choose “forget this network”, then connect again from scratch. This clears a saved password that may be out of date.
2. Restart the device. Genuinely fixes a surprising proportion of cases.
3. Check whether other devices work. If everything else is fine, the problem is that device rather than your network.
4. Move closer to the router. If it connects nearby but not in its usual spot, it’s a coverage problem — see improving your Wi-Fi signal.
5. Check the device limit. Some routers cap the number of simultaneous connections. If you have thirty devices, you may have reached it.
6. Restart the router. Unplug for 30 seconds and try again once it’s fully up.

If none of this resolves the problem, log a fault with our technical team and we’ll take it from there.