Internet, Networking, & Security Home Networking How to Fix It When There's No Internet Connection Troubleshooting Wi-Fi when there's no connection by Melanie Uy Writer Former Lifewire writer Melanie Uy has 5+ years' experience writing about consumer-oriented technology and is an expert telecommuter. our editorial process Melanie Uy Updated on December 02, 2020 reviewed by Jon Fisher Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek. our review board Article reviewed on Mar 30, 2020 Jon Fisher Tweet Share Email The Wireless Connection The Wireless Connection Introduction All About Wireless What Does Wireless Really Mean? 802.11 Standards Explained The Range Of A Wireless Network Dual-Band Wireless Networking Explained How Bluetooth Works With Wireless Measure It: Wi-Fi Signal Strength What Is A Wi-Fi Hotspot? The Best Wi-Fi Channels For Your Network Access Your Router As An Administrator 5 Tips for Securing A Wireless Network How Many Devices Can Connect To One Wireless Router? How To Connect At Home How to Name Your Wireless Network How to Change Your Wireless Router's Admin Password Change the Wi-Fi Channel Number to Avoid Interference Build a Wireless Home Network Use Wireless Speakers In Home Theater Connect Your Echo & Alexa To Wi-Fi Connect Google Home to Wi-Fi Wirelessly Connect An iPad To Your TV Use a Free Firewall Program How To Connect On The Go How to Find Free Wi-Fi Locations Get 4G or 3G on Your Laptop Connect To Wi-Fi in Your Car Get Wireless Internet Access in a Hotel Use Your Android As A Wi-Fi Hotspot Set Up Personal Hotspot On Your iPhone Connect Nintendo Switch To Bluetooth Headphones Connect To A Wireless Network With Windows Access Your Computer Remotely How to Troubleshoot Wireless Issues 7 Reasons Wi-Fi Connections Drop Disable Automatic Wireless Connections on Windows How to Hack-proof Your Wireless Router How to Fix OS X Bluetooth Wireless Problems What to Do When Google Home Won't Connect To Wi-Fi How to Hide Your Wireless Network Can't Connect To The Internet? Try This What to Do When There's No Internet Connection The Future of Wireless 5G Changes Everything How 4G And 5G Are Different Why 5G Really Is Faster All About 5G Cell Towers 5G Challenges: Why It Isn't Rolling Out Faster Is 5G The High-Speed Replacement for Cable? When 5G Is Coming to the US The 12 Best 5G Phones Coming in 2019 What to Know When you have Wi-Fi but no internet connection, the problem usually lies in your own devices rather than your internet service provider.The most likely culprit is a router and/or modem. The quickest fix is to restart one or both.After restarting if you still have no internet, there are several other troubleshooting steps you can try. This article explains what to do when you have a strong wireless signal but no internet connection. How to Fix It When You Have No Internet Connection Follow these troubleshooting steps when you have Wi-Fi but no internet. Reboot your router and modem. The first step in troubleshooting most tech problems, and especially networking hardware issues, is to restart. Rebooting the router and modem flushes the memory contents and helps reset any background or lingering problems. You'll need to log in to your router as admin. Rebooting is different than resetting. Rebooting just shuts down and then starts back up the router/modem. 1:43 How to Reset a Home Network Router Verify that you're connected to the correct network. Make sure your Wi-Fi device isn't trying to reach a nearby network or a Wi-Fi repeater that isn't fully set up, either of which could be having their own troubles that are blocking your access. In these instances, even if Wi-Fi is on and connected, you might still not have working internet. To verify this, open the Wi-Fi settings and check the network name you're trying to connect to. If you don't recognize it, then it's probably not your network. Sometimes, however, Wi-Fi extenders will use the same network name as your own router. If you think this is happening, reset the Wi-Fi extender or temporarily unplug it to see if you get Wi-Fi apart from that device. If you do get internet, then the issue rests with the extender, and you can troubleshoot from there. Re-enter the wireless password. Some operating systems won't warn you if you put in the wrong wireless password. Your laptop (or tablet, phone, etc.) might show that you have a strong Wi-Fi signal but if the password is incorrect, the router will refuse to properly communicate with your device. If you're using a public Wi-Fi hotspot, you might be using an old password that used to work but has since changed, which is usually the case when trying to connect to a network that you haven't used in a long time. Disconnect from your VPN. Along the same lines, if your device is connected to a VPN service, you might see a full Wi-Fi connection but limited or no internet connectivity. Try a different VPN server, like one in a different country, or disconnect from the VPN completely to see if that fixes the problem. Make sure you're getting an IP address. Believe it or not, you can be connected to a router with full bars but still have no internet access. This is because the problem isn't with your connection to the router but with your router's connection to your ISP. When this happens, your router will work on your network but since it can't reach the internet, it won't have a valid public IP address, meaning that you won't be able to send or request data over the internet. Another reason you might not have a proper IP address is if your device is set up to use a static IP address but the router isn't allowing that IP address on the network, something that can happen if you mix a static IP address with a DHCP network. The easiest way to fix this very specific issue is to leave DHCP enabled on the router and remove the static address from the device. For example, in Windows, you can do this in Control Panel by going into the network adapter's properties and selecting Obtain an IP address automatically instead of the manual assignment option. Theresa Chiechi / Lifewire Open your browser. If you're using a Wi-Fi hotspot, like at a hotel or airport, you might think you can check your email or browse the internet once you have a solid wireless signal, but that's usually not how most hotspots work. When you launch your web browser, a hotspot page should show up automatically with basic information on what company is providing the hotspot and what to do next. Agree to the terms or enter the password you were given by the business. For example, some hotels make you enter a password into the hotspot page to get access, and airlines often charge for internet. Wait for the hotspot page to finish setting up your connection or redirect you to another page where you can access the web normally. Try a different DNS server. If your device is connected to a DNS server that has corrupted data or is offline, then even the strongest Wi-Fi signal is useless for giving you internet access. Locate a different DNS server and then change the DNS server settings on your device to see if the web pages finally load. Check the MAC address filtering. Another reason you might be connected to Wi-Fi but not have internet access is if the router has MAC address filtering set up. This works by blocking devices from connecting to the router unless they have a specific MAC address. So, while your device might have no problem showing that Wi-Fi is connected, any attempt will be blocked to reach the internet or another network device. Since this setup is normally seen only on business networks, your best bet to get around the MAC address filtering is to just ask to have your MAC address added to the approved list. Contact tech support. If none of these troubleshooting steps fix the problem, you need tech support from your ISP, router manufacturer, or computer or smartphone maker. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit