My Device is not Connecting

If one or more of your devices is unable to connect to the internet, please see this article for some simple steps that may help resolve the issue.

As a note, it is outside the scope of our support to troubleshoot personal devices, so this article gives general pointers, but if you are unable to resolve an issue with a device, we would recommend that you consult any third party of your choice, such as an IT professional or the device manufacturer. 

Step One: Narrow Down the Issue

To start, please try connecting to the internet on different devices.

If you can connect to the internet on any of your other devices (make sure you’re connecting to our service and not a cellular connection on devices like phones), that is a sign that internet is reaching your home. We do not block the internet signal to individual devices or websites, so if some devices are connecting but others aren’t, then that would reflect an issue with those devices rather than an issue with the internet connection itself.

If you cannot connect on any of your devices, that may indicate a bigger issue. Please see this article for general troubleshooting steps.

Step Two: Things to check when troubleshooting

(Feel free to check and see if your device is connecting to the internet after each step.)

Power cycle the device

Power cycle your device by turning it completely off for at least 10 seconds (make sure it is completely powered down, not just put to sleep) and then turning it back on. 

• For computers, tablets, and phones, please restart or reboot them. 
• For TVs, please unplug them from the power source for a full minute.

Forget and rejoin the network

Once that is complete, if you are still not connected, go to the network settings on your device, locate your WiFi network, and press “forget network.” Then, you can re-connect to the network as if connecting it for the first time by entering the wifi password again.

See if your device needs an update

Check your device for updates and install any updates that are needed.

Double-check parental controls

If you have set up parental controls on your router, please check to make sure that parental controls are not stopping this device from connecting. Sometimes parental controls can be set to block a device completely, and other times they can be set to give a daily time limit of internet access to specific devices, so double-check in your router app to see if any of these settings apply to your device. 

Split your wifi bands

Some cameras, security systems, printers, vacuums, and other smart devices need to connect to the 2.4 GHz band rather than the 5 GHz band on your wifi. Most routers (including our rental routers) broadcast both bands simultaneously and devices will connect to whichever band they prefer. However, certain devices can still struggle to connect unless you separate the bands. Separating the bands means giving each one a unique wifi name or SSID. You can configure this in your router app (look for “band steering” settings if you have a router app, or contact our support team if you are using one of our older routers and don’t have an app to do this yourself). 

Hardwire your device

A hardwired connection will always work faster and better than a wifi connection, especially for TVs. Hardwiring the device means running an ethernet cable from any empty port on the back of the router to an ethernet port on the device. Sometimes the wifi hardware in a device can stop working, but you can still get a connection via an ethernet cable. If your device does not have an ethernet port but it does have a USB port, there are ethernet to USB adapters that you can buy so that you can still have a hardwired connection. 

• As a note, most TVs, even high-quality ones, often have weaker wifi antennas than other devices, so a TV far away from the router may have trouble connecting. If TVs that are closer to the router are streaming fine, that can point to your TV’s wifi antenna not working well. You can test this by holding a phone, tablet, or laptop near the TV that is struggling to see if that device is getting a wifi signal when the TV is not. This can help to confirm if a wifi signal is reaching that part of your house. If you think your TV might be struggling to connect to wifi, feel free to contact support to eliminate other possible factors, but you might want to consider hardwiring your TV to the router or adding a mesh system or extender for a better WiFi connection.

Step Three: Contact Support

If you are still experiencing connection issues after performing these steps, please contact your device’s manufacturer to troubleshoot your device connection. 

If your device manufacturer cannot connect your device, or if they identify an internet issue, you can reach out to our customer support team by email (support@lightgig.com) to tell us what steps you tried and what the results were, and we'll be happy to continue troubleshooting with you!  You can also reach us by phone (970-460-8004) between 7 AM - 5:30 PM, M-F. 

(Please note that if we isolate the problem to be a device issue, we will only be able to help troubleshoot our own equipment, but unfortunately won’t be able to help resolve your device issues.)