Forum Discussion

Shipper's avatar
Shipper
Explorer
Sep 13, 2014

Two smartphones-only one connects with park wifi?

My DW and I have identical Samsung Galaxy S4 phones. The park wifi has the same SSID on both phones, both phones show equally strong wifi signals; but one phone connects and the other says it's connected but can't find the server. The IP address is 192.168.4.104 on the phone that works with the wifi; while the phone that doesn't work has a 192.168.4.129 address. I have tried to edit the IP address, but no go.

My laptop works just like the phone that doesn't work, but works fine on my personal Verizon mifi as do both smartphones. This is way above my pay grade. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks!

PS: I've tried holding my tongue differently than DW but no luck there either.
  • We've had issues like this before and turning off then the phone back on works. This has been suggested by a couple of others but no response from the OP if they've done this.
  • There was a post yesterday that talked about IQ. Maybe one smart phone is smarter then the other.
  • There are two phases for connecting to the internet.
    1. connect to the router.
    2. connect to the internet.
    Logically, the router doesn't know one phone from another or a phone from a laptop, or where you are physically at. So having 2 or 3 devices shouldn't make any difference to the router.
    Also, some devices will default the the nearest router if it can't get on the one you have specified. Be sure you are getting on the correct router. There may be more than one in the CG.
    Try this.

    Disconnect all 3 devices from the internet.
    Try the laptop first. It should connect to the router which will give it a IP address. Find that IP by RIGHT clicking the 5 bar icon on the lower right of the screen. Click open network etc.
    Top right of the screen will show how you are connected to the router and if you are connected to the screen. A little further down on the right side will have the name of the router you are connected to. Clicking the router name will give you the info on your IP address.
    If you are NOT on the internet, then instead of clicking the open network, click the troublshoot and let it reconnect to the router.

    As one device works, than try the next device/phone. On phones/tables, sometimes I just turn the wireless of and back on again, see settings to to this.
    Also, if you know who owns the internet, you can call them. A lot of State parks use Tangonet which can be a problem, but they do answer the phone.
  • Must be connected to the router as it assigned an IP address of 192.168.4.129 to the non working Net phone. Could be a hardware issue with the router or ISP.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Try this.. enter the I/P address of the hose, likely one of the following;
    192.168.4.1
    192.168.4.254

    (You can find it on some phones I do not knwo about the S-4

    There is a free app (NETWORK SIGNAL INFO) that if you click on the Wlan tab will show you the gateway IP address, that should be the park router.

    You should get one of two pages.. One is a requestor (User name/passowrd)
    the other is a router info page (you can not modify)

    If you do you are connected to the router.. Beyond that I can not help.... UNLESS (Came to me as I pressed POST)

    Go to your settings pull down and long press WI-FI This will bring up a list of routers you can see the park should be at the top.

    LONG PRESS on it, and choose "Forget network"

    now once it re-scans press that one again (short tap) and choose connect.

    Possible issue: (I have seen this on my laptop) a thousand miles from home my laptop said it had found my home network (Back when had a house) I was fairly sure it had not.. What it had seen was a router with the same MAC ADDRESS so it naturally assumed.. Of course it could not connect to that one since my home system was encrypted with a different key.

    FORGET will fix that.
  • No password required. I'm in Gulf State park in Alabama. No help from the park personnel-their answer is that it's "spotty".
  • If the park is using some type of captive portal software, then they could be issuing a one device use password if required. If so, you could use the password for your laptop, and use a virtual WiFi hotspot utility or Windows built in Hosted Networks to share the one connection with your other smartphones.
  • Could the park wifi have reached it number of devices connect limit?
    Try turning off phone that works and see if you can connect other.
    Also very long shot but the password may only be useable on one device so that people cannot hog bandwidth