Samsung Galaxy A12 home wifi issues

[Carlux]

My wife has a Samsung Galaxy A12 phone and after months of wifi connection issues I searched the internet for a solution. I discovered that others had the same issues. The phone is 2.4G only and does not auto connect to home wifi when in range. After a manual forced connection it randomly switches back to mobile data. This very quickly used up data allowance that was capped at £25. The phone has no issues with other routers such as Sky. I found an article on the internet about extending wifi using an old router. I reset the old router and changed IP address, turned off DHCP, setup as 2.4G only and changed ISS name. Then I connected LAN cable to THG3000. After connecting the phone to the new ISS name all issues have gone. Can someone explain what has happened and why.

[Jayach]

The only thought I have is that the THG3000 was occasionally using channel 12 or 13 for the 2.4Ghz band, and the A12 couldn't use them, although as long as it is UK spec, it should be able to.

[Cynric]

.@Jayach I believe that the A12 does 'see' 12 & 13.

[Jayach]

@Cynric 

I wasn't sure, having never owned one, and just thought it may be a "grey" import.

It would be interesting if @Carlux could set the secondary router to channel 13 and see if the phone still connects.

[Carlux]

Thanks guys the HHG2500 second AP was set to Ch 4 Auto and was changed to Ch13. The phone is still connecting properly. It certainly points to something nasty with the THG3000, which happens to be using Ch 8. There is a strong signal on Ch 8 from a local Google device (hidden SSID) that could be interfering with it, but Vodafone in their wisdom removed the ability to change channels. Is the auto channel selection confused by hidden networks?

[Carlux]

Hi Guys after giving this some thought and looking at the wifi anyliser, could the problem be interference from Chromecast devices with guest mode ON. I have some on 2.4G and switching Guest mode OFF removed the wifi signal. They seem to follow the main whatever channel they are on. What do you think?

[CrimsonLiar]

Unlikely.  If a Chromecast is set up to enable guest access it still only has one radio per band and so is ALWAYS going to be on the same channel that it's listening to the router on - it can't do anything else!

[Jayach]

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@Carlux wrote:

Thanks guys the HHG2500 second AP was set to Ch 4 Auto and was changed to Ch13. The phone is still connecting properly. 

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Well you have proved it's not due to the channel.

Although, as you have a "work around" why bother chasing it any more? The THG3000 must be on it's "last legs" by now (it hasn't had a firmware update since Nov '21, and is based on a 2018 design) (AFAIK).

It's unlikely Vodafone will cure any "short comings" it may have. 

[Cynric]

.@Carlux The THG3000 is not the best router and looking through this forum you will see similar behaviours. It may be something as simple (and annoying) that the chipsets in the THG router the 'old router' are different and the phone works better with one of them. It may also just be the 2.4 GHz channel number, and going into the THG settings and picking a different channel may help.

Interestingly, putting "Galaxy A12 wifi problems" into the Google search also gives a lot of results.