Question Super strange 4g router and s10+ connectivity issue driving me insane

[clkd]

Hi everyone,
Im going crazy over this for the last couple of months. I have tplink tl-mr6400 4g router and all the devices I have from laptops to mobile phones connect over wifi to it and have normal internet access, except my phone - s10+. I am not a network expert but i know my way around hardware and software and have tried everything i could think of: factory reseting router and phone, changeing simcards and network providers in the router, changeing every setting I could think of bit the problem remains. It is a weird problem because my phone says it is connected to wifi with internet but i cannot open (almost) any website. Maybe a few websites do open but most of them dont, including google and any other major website. When i run speedtest on my phone i get download around 15mbps but upload is 0mbps. I have tried usong a vpn but no change, except at the very moment the vpn connects my whatsapp messages come trough, but whatsapp doesnt work otherwise... There are more weird examples but bottom line is it seems the phone can download but cannot upload, so nothing or almost nothing works. There is no other wifi network my phone doesnt work on and no other device connected to the router that has any connectivity issues.
I am going insane with this, hope someone smarter than me has some ideas on how to additionaly troubleshoot or fix this...


Update: tried using vpn again after writing this and I could access everything. This was never the case before and i tried it dozens of times...
Seems Thunder VPN and a few other free vpns struggle to work within this network and after working once after installing none of them work anymore... All issue still remain without vpn...

Update 2:
Cannot get anything to work over vpn anymore either. Tried 4 different von apps, 3 free one premium. All of them connect to vpn server and show upload download speed. All of them which have network test or speed test integrated complete the test successfully but sppeedtest app upload still at 0, most pages not opening. On one of the last vps attempts i cpuld for example open google.hr but not google.com

 

[Ralston18]

Being that you have mostly a wireless environment then you can use the netsh commands to take a closer look at your network and devices.

Start with "netsh wlan show all" via the command prompt on a wireless computer.

Here are two starter links for the utility:

https://www.webservertalk.com/netsh-wlan-commands

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-manage-wireless-networks-using-command-prompt-windows-10

You can easily find more information about netsh and specific commands to run with regards to your network and network devices.

Specifically you know or otherwise expect that certain configurations are in place with respect to your phone, devices, and network.

Use netsh to confirm your expectations. If what you find is not as expected then you have a lead to investigate further and in detail.

 

[clkd]

Being that you have mostly a wireless environment then you can use the netsh commands to take a closer look at your network and devices.

Start with "netsh wlan show all" via the command prompt on a wireless computer.

Here are two starter links for the utility:

https://www.webservertalk.com/netsh-wlan-commands

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-manage-wireless-networks-using-command-prompt-windows-10

You can easily find more information about netsh and specific commands to run with regards to your network and network devices.

Specifically you know or otherwise expect that certain configurations are in place with respect to your phone, devices, and network.

Use netsh to confirm your expectations. If what you find is not as expected then you have a lead to investigate further and in detail.

Thank you for your reply. I have tried what you suggested but cannot find anything helpful using the tool. Also the mobile device that doesnt work connects to wifi fine - i can access the router via browser and dhcp gives proper ip and dns. It is strange how for example google.com wont open but google.hr works... i tried numerous different dns providers and it is always the same websites that work and same ones that dont.

 

[Ralston18]

Redirect maybe...?

https://www.modmy.com/how-modify-hosts-file-your-android-device

 

[clkd]

Redirect maybe...?

https://www.modmy.com/how-modify-hosts-file-your-android-device

Hmmm... I will check it out tomorrow when I am at the router locqtion again, however I highly doubt it because when I did a factory reset on my phone that would also be reset and also, I dont see how or why the hosts file would be edited, especially aince my phone is stock fw, unrooted...

 

[Ralston18]

When at the router location, check the router's logs:

https://www.tp-link.com/us/user-gui...r-12-administrate-your-network#ug-sub-title-6

Chapter 12, Paragraph/Section 7.

Connect to the websites in question first using a known working wireless device and then using your s10+.

Determine if the router's logs capture any relevant errors or informational events.

 

[clkd]

When at the router location, check the router's logs:

https://www.tp-link.com/us/user-gui...r-12-administrate-your-network#ug-sub-title-6

Chapter 12, Paragraph/Section 7.

Connect to the websites in question first using a known working wireless device and then using your s10+.

Determine if the router's logs capture any relevant errors or informational events.

Hi again,
just did some more testing while viewing the log and it does not show anything suspicious. Only logs the device connecting to the router and no errors after that, even when trying to open some websites that wont open. One more thing to note, the youtube app works without any issues, with videos loading without a glitch.

https://imgur.com/a/7RdQVDg

 

[clkd]

When at the router location, check the router's logs:

https://www.tp-link.com/us/user-gui...r-12-administrate-your-network#ug-sub-title-6

Chapter 12, Paragraph/Section 7.

Connect to the websites in question first using a known working wireless device and then using your s10+.

Determine if the router's logs capture any relevant errors or informational events.

Hi again,
just did some more testing while viewing the log and it does not show anything suspicious. Only logs the device connecting to the router and no errors after that, even when trying to open some websites that wont open. One more thing to note, the youtube app works without any issues, with videos loading without a glitch.

https://imgur.com/a/7RdQVDg

 

[Ralston18]

Okay.

Did not note anything relevant with respect to websites etc. from the logs.

However that "New sms count is 4" error caught my eye.

Being curious, I googled a bit and found the following links:

https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/87450

https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/170892

Delve into the s10+'s software, firmware, and configuration a bit more.

There are other links as well. Take a look at a few and you may recognize some other behavior or factor that is involved.

 

[clkd]

Yes, i jabe noticed the same thing. That however refers to sms incoming to the sim card that is in the router. More exact, I activated some service and recieved a confirmation sms to the router and that is what the 'error' is. So i believe it is not really an error because the sms did display correctly and happened while the s10 was not connected to the router at all.