How I Solved My Wi-Fi Exclamation Problem

TL:DR: Settings > Wi-Fi > Click the triple vertical dots on the upper right of the screen > Advanced and execute the WPS Push Button command. Then you head to your modem/router and press that WPS button.


Salutations,

I’m writing this thread because this method wasn’t mentioned in the other similar threads (general web and fairphone forum). Do please correct me if I am wrong. I did read all of them the last three days since the phone came into my possession.

Before getting into main subject, I recommend you to update your Fairphone OS to the latest version.

Now my problem basically was the dreaded exclamation wifi icon. I could not connect to my modem at home in any way. The other members of the house had no problems with wifi connectivity. I tried everything that I could have read on the internet. Nothing. The Wi-Fi frequency band, the number of channels for the modem, the correct password, the airplane toggle on and off, factory reset the phone, reboot etc. Absolutely nothing. I had to make sure the problem was anything else but the phone’s hardware before deciding to contact the support team. So I went outside to my usual business and the phone did connected to other wifi networks which means the phone was ok. Knowing that, I started looking into modem related problems on this forum and the internet. So the best possible solution would be to log into my modem and tweak some settings. Sadly it did not work. I tried what every other article told me to do but still nothing.

Out of desperation, I tried every command in Advanced Wi-Fi settings of the phone. And I came up to this command and the phone finally connected to the modem. It was right under my nose all these days (click the picture for full size).

To get there you go to Settings > Wi-Fi > Click the triple vertical dots on the upper right of the screen > Advanced and execute the WPS Push Button command. Then you head to your modem/router and press that WPS button (mine was situated at the back of the modem to the very right; very small button). And that was it. Struggled three days to get this working.

Hmm, now that I think of it, I vaguely remember that I saw this method written somewhere but I totally forgot where. Please excuse my clumsiness. I really hope this helps you out and if not, feel free to check other threads around here. Try every method out and if absolutely nothing works, the support team is there to help you.

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Could you share what type of modem you have? This way, other people with the same issue might be able to find your solution easier.

I wanted to inform about WPS not being considered secure. I advice disabling it, and I advice not using it unless you really have to. Obviously, we can consider the latter being the case for you.

Also, could you test if it now works by filling in the password for WPA2?

Yeah, I tried everything. WPS kinda solved it for me.[quote=“JeroenH, post:2, topic:18269”]
Also, could you test if it now works by filling in the password for WPA2?
[/quote]

Just did the test. I pressed “Forget Network” and tried to log in back with the password. I could not connect. Got authentication problem over and over like I was used to when phone got here. I easily solved it with the WPS push button. Now I’m back logged in.

If I de-activate my Wi-Fi and reconnect at a later time, it works. No problem. But if I press “Forget Network” and have to manually log in back by writing the password, I get the dreaded exclamation point and the authentication problem all over again.

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Thank you for the additional information :slight_smile: country might also be of use (UPC is huge).

I assume you got the correct password.

The exclamation mark basically means there is a network problem. It could be anything. One thing you or someone with a similar problem could do is not use DHCP. Set an IP address which is within the DHCP range but not in use. Then see if it works. Another problem could be that you don’t get a gateway assigned. You could solve that by manually adding that, too. It may also be related to IPv6. This is all related to network debugging, but not yet very complex. If its too complex for you, by all means don’t bother if you’re OK with WPS.

FWIW, I get the exclamation mark when I connect to a public WiFi which requires me to sign in on a captive portal. I use an application for automating that (an official app, called KPN HotSpots) so that I won’t have the exclamation mark for long. It saves me money on my data plan.

UPC Romania.

I did entered the password correctly. With caps-lock and all that.

I did tried with static IP addresses but didn’t had that much of a luck. I do admit it’s a little beyond me aswell so I’m not sure if I’ve done anything properly when I did it some days ago. But as of now, I’m using it by default (with the DHCP). I’m ok with WPS for now.

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