The Wi-Fi says connected but nothing loads
Fix the commonest fault in the house — a device joined to the Wi-Fi that cannot reach anything — in about four presses.
When a phone says Connected, it means one thing only: it is talking to the box across the room. That is a statement about thirty feet of air.
It says nothing about whether the box can reach the street, whether the provider is up, or whether the website you want exists. Two entirely different questions, and the phone only ever answers the first one.
The action is identical everywhere. Let go of the network, then take hold of it again.
Key points
- Explain what Connected does and does not promise
- Turn Wi-Fi off and on to force a device to start again from scratch
- Ask a network for a fresh address with Renew lease
- Use a second device as a test, and know what its answer rules out
What to remember
- Turning Wi-Fi off and on is not superstition. It forces the phone to ask the box for everything again.
- One device affected: mend the device. Every device affected: leave the devices alone.
Try this
Find the Wi-Fi switch on each device in your house tonight — phone, tablet, laptop — and note where it lives. Hunting for a switch is much harder when the page you wanted is not loading and somebody is waiting on the telephone.
Practice: The Wi-Fi says connected but nothing loads. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.