Help! My Nexus 7 won't connect with secure networks!

My husband and I just purchased our Nexus 7 a few days ago. Upon getting home and attempting to set them up, we discovered they won't connect at our house. When we attempt to connect, we usually get "Authenticating..." or "Connecting", sometimes followed by "Authentication problem", but usually it just sits and tries to authenticate/connect until we run out of patience and stop trying. We also have a problem whereby the silly thing says we have an "excellent" signal...until we try to connect, and suddenly the signal is "poor".

The same thing happens at my parents' house on their secure network.

Yes, I have double-checked the password. At both houses.

Our laptops have no trouble connecting to the wi-fi with the password we have.

I (keep in mind I'm not a techie at all, hence the name) decided to reset our router, not realizing it would erase our security settings. Lo-and-behold, after doing so I couldn't find the name of our network, but did find an unsecured network that had an awesome signal and got me online no problems. Again, I had yet to realize I'd wiped out our security, and was actually using our network, and chose to disconnect as I wasn't sure about who the network belonged to. My husband reset the security, and now we can't get on again.

We have been able to get them to connect to servers at a laundromat and a coffee shop- connections that needed no passwords to access them. We don't want to have to go out of the house to get online with our new toys (oops, I mean tools). We bought mine with the idea that I would be using at home most of the time.

Please help!

 

Welcome to the forum

It may be the type of security you're using. Android doesn't seem to play well with WEP. WPA/WPA2 would be a better choice. Also possibly a change in the channel on the routers. Install WiFi Analyzer from the Store and check the possibility of a channel conflict.

I have some additional tips on WiFi issues in my signature, below.

 

Hi. Thanks for the advice.

We have WPA-PSK on our router, so it's not that. I'll install the WiFi Analyzer and see if there's a channel conflict. Can you tell me if that's an easy fix?

Thanks again!

 

I use wep on my router never had a problem with any device connecting. Your channel switch should just be a drop down box in your router settings.

 

The WPA-PSK should be fine. As for the WEP, it's a hit and miss depending on the router model and tablet but the WPA should work no matter what. On the channel the WiFi analyzer will display what channels are in use or overlapping.

You also might want to check to see if there is a firmware upgrade for the router. That has helped some people. Worst case is that the router is getting to old.

 

The fact that your Nexus 7 can connect to some network fine indicates that it is working fine.
Are you using MAC address whitelisting in your router's security settings? I do, and one needs to explicitly add the MAC address of any new device to the router's list of permissible devices.
Did you limit the max number of concurrent connections to your router? I do, because I know precisely how many devices are allowed on my router. That can prevent new unauthorized devices from connecting.
I use WPA/WPA2 PSK with an old Linksys WRT54G router. No problems.
Avoid WEP: http://www.esecurityplanet.com/view.../Upgrading-WiFi-Security-from-WEP-to-WPA2.htm

 

Hi. The channels our router was using were clear, so my husband went out this evening and purchased a new router. He got a belkin N450 dual band, despite my telling him we needed to have 2.4 for the Nexus 7. Should I send him back to get one that's single band? I know I've read Nexus 7 does best with routers that are locked in to the 2.4. I'm a little irritated here...

 

Honesty I would have already returned the tablet, sounds like either just your tablet or all Nexus 7 have crappy wifi, to have to buy a special router to get wifi on this device is insane. the tablet should connect to any wifi, if it didn't I wouldn't have any use for it.

 

I wager the new router will work just fine. It wouldn't be the first time someone had that exact experience. Dual band is not a problem.

 

Ok after doing some googleing, Nexus 7 wifi is crappy, recommendations are to use WEP which is what I use or WPA2 but not WPA.

 

Are the results from your Googling statistically significant compared to the number of Nexus 7 tablets out there? My Nexus 7 works fine with my old Linksys router, and I would not use WEP at all. Google the security implications of using WEP and you will find free tools that can crack a WEP key fairly easily.

 

LOL, for you I would suggest you move to a better neighborhood, get to know your neighbors, and the true range of your router. To steal my WiFi you would need to be setting in my yard, LMAO at paranoid people.

 

And that's your solution to the old, security-compromised WEP wifi protocol that everyone in the WiFi industry knows about? Lol!
And not everyone has the buffer of a yard. Have you been to Tokyo, or Manhattan, NY? Picking up 6 or more wifi networks is common.

 

like I said paranoid people make me laugh, without you guys there would be no humor in live, I don't live in tokyo, north korea, cuba, iceland nor do I concern myself with their lives or problems.
focus on real security you know where you live, lol.

 

That's the most inane advice I've heard.



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