Troubleshooting Steps for WiFi Connectivity Issues

WiFi Assist: Simple Troubleshooting Steps

Power cycling is the most effective troubleshooting step by experience. This helps in releasing any static build-up on any devices. Like any other, computers/machines get tired as well. So, you have to power cycle both the frame and your router.

These are some basic steps that can help you overcome connectivity issues:

1) Make sure that the SSID and network password are correct.

SSID and Network password is commonly known as "WiFi Network and password" for your WiFi network. WiFi Network (SSID) is the name given to your network on its initial setup. A password (or passphrase) is to secure your own WiFi network from any intruders, thus, preventing your connection from being hacked, etc.

Note: A WiFi password is case-sensitive. "Abcd1234" is different from "abcd1234". Make sure that you are entering the CORRECT password for your WiFi Network Password.

2) Are there any devices connected to the WiFi other than the Nixplay frame and the computer you are working on?

Check for other devices that are connected to your network. This is to make sure that internet is really accessible from your network. Also, be aware of the signal strength of your WiFi. The further the distance, the lesser the bars you get, the weaker the signal quality will result. If this is the case, try to position the Frame closer to the WiFi Router and avoid any obstacles, walls, metal bookcases, etc. between the router and the frame.  When Routers are located above or below the frame on different floors of a structure the closer the frame is directly above or below the router the resulting signal strength will generally be better.

3) Router Firewall and MAC Address Filtering

Some routers have built-in firewalls preventing other devices from being connected to the network. This is the same case as MAC Address filtering. From the word itself, "filtering", the network is selective of which devices can connect to it. In this case, you have to check these settings on the router itself.  By default this feature is not used and should only be a concern if the router has had extra security measures implemented on the router.

4) Try to connect to other WiFi hot spot.

This can be done if there is any other WiFi hot spot available in the area. One way of isolating the issue, is to connect over a different WiFi connection. If the frame still cannot connect with other networks, let us say a WiFi hot spot, that means that the frame may likely be where the issue should be addressed.  On the other hand, if you are able to connect the frame using another WiFi network, your own WiFi connection needs to be looked at for settings adjustments.

Here are some settings adjustments we find work on some WiFi routers:

Set the Mode to B/G

Some newer routers emulate modes (N  Mode w/B&G) to gain antenna signal strength and this works for signal strength but in the emulation of the N standard the N, B & G are not precisely utilized.

WiFi Channel Set to 1 or 6.  You may be more stable not running this in the Auto option.

WiFi channels can overlap if within 5 channels away and can interfere with other channels.  When your WiFi router is set to Auto the router or other routers may interfere with each other.

Frame's Compatibility Setting

Our Cloud Frames currently use HTML5 technology utilizing Web-sockets to gain a higher level of Internet and Infrastructure efficiency.  If you use a desktop browser on a laptop that is on the same WiFi network, visit the websocketstest.com website to determine if your ISP has deployed web accelerators that can interfere with web-sockets on Port 80 or Port 443.  Some Satellite ISPs will deploy web accelerators and they offer a disabling option to facilitate apps that are having their network traffic impacted.

We have added a feature for greater compatibility for those ISPs  wishing to deploy web accelerators.  If when you visit the websocketstest.com site survey you don't have a "Connected" status ("No") for Port 80 but you do have a Connected Status for Port 443 ("Yes"), then you can go into the Frame's Main Menu>Settings>Compatibility Settings>  and set this value to Port 443.  If your frame is to be newly setup, you will need to connect initially to a different WiFi Network to get the latest software update supporting this compatibility setting feature.