I can’t connect to my WiFi. What should I try?

“It was working yesterday.” It almost always was.

WiFi problems are frustrating precisely because nothing visible has changed. Work through these in order — most are solved before step four, and doing them in order saves you repeating yourself.

First, narrow it down

One question settles half the possibilities: is it just this device, or everything in the house?

Check a phone or tablet. If everything is offline, the problem is the router or the broadband line. If it’s only one device, the problem is that device.

That single check tells you whether to ring your broadband provider or look at the computer — and it saves an hour on the phone to the wrong people.

If it’s only one device

1. Check WiFi is actually on. Obvious, but laptops have a physical switch or a function key that disables it, and it gets knocked. Look for an aeroplane-mode icon too.
2. Forget the network and rejoin it. In your WiFi settings, select the network, choose “forget”, then reconnect and enter the password afresh. This fixes a surprising proportion of cases where the saved settings have become corrupted.
3. Restart the device properly. A full shutdown and restart, not just closing the lid.
4. Check the date and time. Odd but real: a clock that’s badly wrong prevents secure connections, and the symptom looks like a network fault.

If nothing in the house can connect

1. Look at the router lights. Most have a light for broadband or internet. If it’s red, orange or flashing when it should be steady, the line is down — not your computer. Your provider’s app or status page will usually confirm an outage.
2. Restart the router properly. Switch it off at the plug, wait a full thirty seconds, switch it back on, and give it two or three minutes to settle. The wait matters; a quick off-on often doesn’t clear the fault.
3. Check the cables. The one into the phone socket works loose more often than anyone expects.
4. Try a cable. If a computer plugged straight into the router works but WiFi doesn’t, the broadband is fine and the wireless side is the problem.

Connected, but no internet

This one confuses people. Full WiFi bars, nothing loads. It means your device has reached the router but the router can’t reach the internet — so it’s a broadband or router problem, not your laptop.

Restart the router first. If it persists, ring your provider; there’s little you can do at the computer end.

The one people miss

If it’s a laptop that connects everywhere else but not at home, or works in some rooms and not others, you may not have a connection fault at all — you may have a coverage problem. That’s a different fix, and we’ve written about dead spots separately.

When to bring it to us

Come in if one device still won’t connect when everything else does, if it drops out constantly, if it’s slow only on your network, or if it stopped after an update. Those point at the device — adapter drivers, a failing wireless card, or settings left in a mess by an update.

We can also look at the router side: whether it’s positioned sensibly, whether it’s simply too old, and whether you need better coverage rather than a new laptop.

Ring 01753 884700 or bring it into the workshop on Station Road. Bring the router too if the whole house is affected — it’s often the quickest way to get to the bottom of it.