Samsung Galaxy S7 WIFI Does Not Work

[TF]

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S7 yesterday.  Now I wish I had not, and my advice to anyone thinking about it is to wait.  Why?  The wifi on the phone does not work.  I spoke with Telus tech support, they said this was the first they had heard of it being a problem.  I googled it, and got lots of hits - it has been a problem as far back as March and April 2016 in the US.  I found 3 or 4 possible causes in internet forums, and tried all the fixes.  None worked.

Telus recommended I contact Samsung tech support, which I did.  They reviewed the fixes I had already tried, said I had done all the right things, and the only thing to do was wait for an OS patch from Google.  It could be one week, one month, or 6 months, they really couldn't tell me when it would be fixed.

Called Telus back, re-confirmed the problem, and asked for solutions.  Try taking the phone back for an exchange, or wait. Right - 6 months without wifi?  Will Telus give me unlimited data at no charge during this period?  It was not offered.  What about the screen protector I had just put on?  "You can't have anything on the phone when you take it back".  That's not what I was concerned about - what I wanted to hear was Telus would pay for a new screen saver if I had to take back the phone.  Didn't hear it.

So the cut-to-the-chase conclusion is the Samsung Galaxy S7/Google Android/Telus package has a major problem at the moment.  And they are not being upfront with their customers about it.  I wondered why all the sudden they started having all these promotions on the phone, and now I know why.  I don't appreciate this, and I don't like the solutions - if you can call them that - I was given.

Again - if you need wifi, don't buy this phone now.  Wait until there is a confirmed fix.

[sagith1]

Nothing is wrong with TELUS!  Samsung is the one that messed up the phone because they made the phone super skinny and swtich the camera from 16Mp to 12Mp!  The only thing is great about the phone is that the software is better than previous android os.

[sagith1]

Don't argue with TELUS, you should contact Samsung using your Warranty.  TELUS only make their network better and they don't make phone, so TELUS doen't know why the WIFI doesn't work.

[TF]

Looks like we have a few Telus fans here.  Obviously I am a Telus customer and I'm generally pretty happy with them.  But they are selling this phone, and they must be aware of the issues that it has.  It's a partnership between Telus, Samsung and Google ...... all partners need to shoulder responsibility - and we deal with Telus, not Samsung or Google.

I was running some tests, and found that the Telus data network in my area was quite fast, just as fast as my wifi.  So in the spirit of getting this issue solved with the least amount of effort (yes, I'm lazy), I called Telus and suggested they provide me with additional data until this wifi problem is solved. This is a much cleaner solution than returning or exchanging the phone (other than this wifi issue, I like it).  They were very gracious and added another 1GB ( I subscribe to 1GB/month) gratis, and we agreed to re-assess at the end of the month.  I'm not a data hog by any means, and hopefully this will get me by until the OS update/fix is completed. 

[jayman1973 · Accepted solution]

Hello TF,

I own the Galaxy S7 phone.  When I bought the phone at the TELUS Store, the TELUS associate and myself made sure that the phone was working properly including the WI-FI.  There were no issues what-so-ever with the WI-FI.  I even use my phone at home with the WI-FI connection that is hooked up from my router.  Another suggestion would be to backup any or all important information you have stored on the phone to a personal or laptop computer, then try a factory reset on the phone which will wipe it clear.  Hopefully that will solve the issue.  If not then the issue may not be the phone.  It could be a software update.   Best of Luck getting this issue fixed.

[TF]

> try a factory reset<

Hi jayman1973,

Thanks for your reply, I was hoping to hear from other S7 users.  I initially discounted your suggestion, as neither Telus or Samsung suggested it.  But then I thought about your other comment "my wifi worked in the store".  I wondered if mine had as well, and went into the phone records to check data and wifi downloads.  It seems my wifi downloads were over 800 MB on the first night I had the phone, as I uploaded all my usual apps.  So.....the wifi did work - initially.  Some app or setting was conflicting with the wifi, and at some point it stopped working.

So I did the factory reset, grumbling about losing a half day of work, and guess what?  It worked!  Then I started rebuilding my apps and info, carefully checking the wifi as I added apps.  I'm about 3/4 finished, and wifi still works.  I purposely left out any that I thought had potential to conflict with the wifi.  Truth be told I can get by with what I have right now, so I think I'll stop where I'm at for the moment.

Thanks for your help!

[Falcon]

It sounds like one of your apps may have been the culprit. 

I remember I downloaded this one game that interfered with my wifi connection.  Clearing the cache seemed to work.  It might have been something in the cache of one of your apps that was causing the issue. 

This was a couple of years ago and I have an HTC One V.  

[Nighthawk]

Also if the phone is defective, take it back to the store you got it from if you only got it a couple days ago. Samsung takes many months (2-6) to release software patches so you'll be waiting a long time. Plus there's no guarantee it'll fix your issue since the wireless on a majority of S7s works.