“Unable to join the network” - 5G home broadband issue

[London24]

 

 

Hello,

I have had Three 5G Home Broadband for three months and in the last few weeks I have started to encounter an issue whereby my phone (iPhone) often won’t connect to the network via WiFi. I get a message saying ‘Unable to join the network’ (see attached screenshots). This is also happening for other users of the WiFi network on their iPhones, iPads etc. 

I have restarted all devices (including the router), forgotten then re-added the WiFi network (which sometimes provides a temporary solution, then disconnects again a few hours later) but keep encountering the same issue. 

I understand that up to 65 devices can be connected to the Three 5G Broadband at once. There is a maximum of 7 devices connected to this one (two iPhones, two iPads, two laptops and one speaker system) so it shouldn’t be related to that. 

Has anyone else had this problem and if so did you manage to solve it? Grateful for any advice. 

[BH_D615]

I am also encountering same issue from last 3 days, my TV is not even getting connected through Ethernet and my mobiles are connected but states no Internet.

[PeteG]

Hello.

Oh, that's an odd issue. It sounds like the phone error is highlighting that there's congestion in the area on whichever WiFi channel it's referencing. It's not clear which frequencies it's trying to use either, 2.4, or 5Ghz. 

It might be worth experimenting a bit with the WiFi settings on the Hub. Try choosing a different band/channel manually, or try turning 2.4Ghz off, sticking with 5Ghz only, and the other way around too. If one of the things you test works, it might point you in the direction of what's gone wrong. 

You could also try using a Network Scanner to determine what other wireless networks are operating around you and use this to decide which channels to avoid. 

Pete.

[London24]

Thanks Pete! Sorry I’m not much of a tech expert, would you mind helping me understand how to do that?

[PeteG]

That's alright. 

The link I gave should take you to the free version of the app within the App store. You can download it from there. 

Once you have it, you can open the "WiFi Signal" option which should be in the menu to the left. (Your layout may differ slightly). You may need to give the app a network and/or location permission to be able to scan the networks around you. 

You should start to see a list of the WiFi networks that are detected within the area. The channels they are on are listed at the bottom, with the signal above them. Ideally, you're looking for channels that have no networks showing above them, or if there's no channels, it's best to pick the one that's got the least networks on it. Keep in mind your own network will be showing here too, so you don't need to count that one in your checks. 

There's a button that looks like two Wireless signal icons pointing at each other at the top right, pressing that changes the frequency you're looking at, allowing you to separately check out the 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks. 

Once you've identified the least used channels for the networks, you could try changing the router settings to use those channels instead of using the automatic option. 

Pete. 

[JayJay2097]

Did you get anywhere with this? I also have iPhone having this issue. it only seems to be at the end of the day night/evening. If you forget and re join it works for 24hrs ish. i believe its something to do with MAC addresses or lease times but cant seem to fix it.