Samsung smart TV connection issues (Wireless and Wired)

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lexwebb

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Jun 12, 2014
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We bought a Samsung smart TV about 6 months ago ( i can't recall the model name, but it is relatively new). At first we had no internet connection issues, my family could watch netflix to their hearts content. About 4 months ago the wireless would start to randomly drop out.

For reference, we are using a Sky broadband hub with a 40mb connection.

I checked the settings and signal strength (about 3/5 bars regularly) so i couldn't work out why it was happening.

For my computer room, i use an Ethernet power line adapter (TP-link 200mb if it matters). This connects to an Ethernet switch which goes off to all my devices. I have absolutely NO issues with this connection, and a constant fast speed.

Because of this, i purchased another TP-Link adapter solely for use with the TV. At first, once it was plugged in and synced up to the main adapter, the speed was great, we'd get a constant connection and all was dandy.

Then, the same thing started to happen, we would loose net connectivity. When it was trying to reconnect, the TV would report that it could not connect to the router. I had a look into the automatic IP and gateway settings generated by the TV, and it seemed to be trying to use an external IP address to connect to the router... I.e. 169.567.xx.x. All of the devices on the network need to be connected with the standard local IP range (192.168.0.2-255), so i could not understand why the TV was trying to do this. I manually set up the wired connection using an unused local IP (192.169.0.10) and copied the sub-net mask and default gateway addresses from my PC. This will never connect.

Because of both the wireless and the wireless and the wired connection having issues, do you think that it is most likely TV that is at fault? or are the router and the TV simply not getting along?
 
Solution
If your router is that far away, it seems likely that it is simply too far from the TV. TV's IME have poor WiFi reception. The antenna is usually on the back, wedged between the signal blocking front of the TV and the signal blocking wall.

First step is to get a wifi source closer to the TV, or event an ethernet cable. Many people have good luck with ethernet over powerline adapters. Look on Amazon for choices but buy from a local shop that has a good return policy if they don't work in your particular situation.
One way to check this is to temporarily run a direct ethernet connection between the router and the TV. Just lay it on the floor if needed.

Samsung has a long history on this forum of connectivity problems. While many of the reports sound somewhat differnt form yours, it never hurts to set the DNS lookup on the TV to Google's server at 8.8.8.8 instead of letting the TV get the whatever number is provided by the router.
 


I could change the DNS, but the TV is reporting that it never connects to the router in the first place. So i doubt that would have an effect. One thing i forgot to try is connecting a laptop to the Ethernet line to see if its actually consistent with that. I'm not sure if we have an Ethernet cable long enough to get downstairs from the router, but i'll give it a go. If not i'll have to move the router!

I did not know about the connectivity issues with Samsung TV's googling it a bit more there are a TON of threads out there with similar problems.
 
If your router is that far away, it seems likely that it is simply too far from the TV. TV's IME have poor WiFi reception. The antenna is usually on the back, wedged between the signal blocking front of the TV and the signal blocking wall.

First step is to get a wifi source closer to the TV, or event an ethernet cable. Many people have good luck with ethernet over powerline adapters. Look on Amazon for choices but buy from a local shop that has a good return policy if they don't work in your particular situation.
 
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