Why does my wifi say connected but there is no internet?
Full bars and nothing loading is not a contradiction — the wifi symbol only reports the first link in a chain of five. How to find which of the other four has broken.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 10 min
- Read
- 5 min
Short answer
The wifi symbol measures the radio link to your router and nothing beyond it, so full bars with no internet is normal and tells you the break is further along. Test a second device: if only one device is affected the problem is on that device, and if everything is affected the problem is the router or the line. That single test halves the search in about thirty seconds.
This is the most misread message on any device. People see a strong signal and conclude the wifi is fine, then spend twenty minutes changing wifi settings that were never involved. The signal bars are a report on one hop — your device to the router radio — and there are three or four more hops between there and the internet, any of which can fail while the radio link stays perfect.
Step by step
- Try a second device on the same network.A phone if the laptop is failing, or the other way round. This is the highest-value thirty seconds in the whole process because it splits the chain in half: one device affected means the fault is on that device, all devices affected means the fault is the router or the line.
- Look at the router's internet or broadband light.Every router has one light that reports the connection to the outside world, usually labelled internet, broadband, or a globe symbol. Red, orange or off means the router knows it has no connection, and nothing you do on your devices will help.
- If only one device is affected, forget the network on it and rejoin.This clears the stored settings for that network, including a stale address. On a phone, tap the network name in wifi settings and choose forget, then rejoin with the password.
- Check that device is not on a captive portal or a VPN.A hotel or café network that wants you to sign in produces exactly this symptom. So does a VPN whose server has stopped responding — a connected VPN with a dead server kills all traffic while the wifi stays perfect. Disconnect the VPN and retest.
- Check the device did actually get an address.In the network details, an address starting 169.254 on a computer, or a warning about a self-assigned address on a Mac, means the device joined the radio but the router never gave it a place on the network. Restart the device, then the router.
- If everything is affected, restart the router properly.Power off the router and any separate modem or ONT, wait a full minute, power the modem or ONT first, wait for its lights to settle, then the router. The order matters.
- Check whether the provider has an outage.Use mobile data to check the provider's service status page and their social account. An outage explains a house where every light is normal and nothing works, and it saves you dismantling a network that is fine.
- Rule out your own filtering.Parental controls with a schedule, a device blocked in the router's access list, or a data cap on a mobile hotspot all produce connected-with-no-internet on exactly the devices they apply to and nothing else.
Common mistakes
- Changing wifi settings before testing a second device — If every device is affected the wifi was never the problem, and changed settings then have to be undone before anyone can diagnose the real fault.
- Holding in the reset pin on the router — That is a factory reset, not a restart. It wipes your wifi name and password and every setting, and every device in the house then has to be rejoined — for a fault that a simple power cycle would have cleared.
If it doesn't work
One device only, and it started after a system update
Cause: Network settings left in an inconsistent state — Fix: Reset network settings on that device. On a phone this is a specific option that clears wifi, Bluetooth and mobile settings together and requires you to re-enter wifi passwords afterwards.
Websites fail but apps work, or the other way round
Cause: A name lookup problem rather than a connection problem — Fix: The connection is up and the translation of names to addresses is failing. Restarting the router usually clears it. If it recurs, change the DNS servers in the router settings to a public alternative.
Everything works except one particular website
Cause: The site itself, not your network — Fix: This is not a network fault at all. Check whether the site is down for everyone before touching anything at home.
Works on mobile data, not on wifi, on the same phone
Cause: Something on the home network is blocking that app or service — Fix: Check parental controls and any content filter on the router. Some providers enable a family filter by default that blocks more than people expect.
Comes back for a few minutes after a restart, then stops
Cause: An intermittent line fault or an overheating router — Fix: Note how long it lasts each time. A consistent interval points at the line and needs reporting to the provider with those timings as evidence.
Questions people ask
Why do I still have full signal bars if there is no internet?
Because the bars measure the strength of the radio link between your device and the router. That link is working perfectly. The break is somewhere between the router and the internet, and the bars have no way to report on it.
Does it help to switch wifi off and on on my phone?
Sometimes, and it costs nothing. It forces the phone to rejoin and request a fresh address, which fixes the case where the phone was given a bad one. It cannot help if the router itself has no connection.
Should I change my DNS settings?
Only if the symptom is specifically that names fail to resolve — sites do not load by name but do by address, or some apps work and browsing does not. For a general loss of connection it changes nothing.