RT-AX86U - S21 Ultra phones won't connect properly

[Butters54]

I've got 2 S21 Ultras and both have this issue. When arriving home, the phones will auto connect to the router most times without issue. Once in a while, I'll notice I'm not connected to wifi shortly after coming home and the phone will display "Connected without Internet". I don't have this issue with other devices, so I'm wondering if it isn't a phone problem. I read through a post on here and seen someone mentioned turning off Roaming Assistant. Do you think this would help in anyway? My thinking is maybe the signal isn't strong enough when I pull in my driveway when my phone tries to connect.

I've gone through my wifi history log on my phone and it shows an entry labeled "ASSOC_REJECT" with reason code 1026. The timestamp on it was when I arrived at home so this must be something related to the problem. I have no idea what the reason code is for. Can't find anything on Google about it.

 

[drinkingbird]

I've got 2 S21 Ultras and both have this issue. When arriving home, the phones will auto connect to the router most times without issue. Once in a while, I'll notice I'm not connected to wifi shortly after coming home and the phone will display "Connected without Internet". I don't have this issue with other devices, so I'm wondering if it isn't a phone problem. I read through a post on here and seen someone mentioned turning off Roaming Assistant. Do you think this would help in anyway? My thinking is maybe the signal isn't strong enough when I pull in my driveway when my phone tries to connect.

I've gone through my wifi history log on my phone and it shows an entry labeled "ASSOC_REJECT" with reason code 1026. The timestamp on it was when I arrived at home so this must be something related to the problem. I have no idea what the reason code is for. Can't find anything on Google about it.

It is possible your roaming assistant is kicking the phone off due to low signal when you get home and when the signal gets stronger, for some reason the phone has given up on the connection. Certainly worth a try to disable it. The Assoc_Reject is likely roaming assistant refusing it due to the RSSI being below the threshold.

If you enable developer options you can turn on a more aggressive roaming/scanning. On Google phones it is "disable wifi scan throttling" not sure if samsung will call it the same thing but it should be similar, can try that too.

Another possibility - are you running WPA2 only, WPA2/3 mixed, or WPA3 only? 2/3 mixed has been known to cause issues especially with some phones. If you are doing 2/3 mixed try setting it back to 2 only.

 

[Butters54]

It is possible your roaming assistant is kicking the phone off due to low signal when you get home and when the signal gets stronger, for some reason the phone has given up on the connection. Certainly worth a try to disable it. The Assoc_Reject is likely roaming assistant refusing it due to the RSSI being below the threshold.

If you enable developer options you can turn on a more aggressive roaming/scanning. On Google phones it is "disable wifi scan throttling" not sure if samsung will call it the same thing but it should be similar, can try that too.

Another possibility - are you running WPA2 only, WPA2/3 mixed, or WPA3 only? 2/3 mixed has been known to cause issues especially with some phones. If you are doing 2/3 mixed try setting it back to 2 only.

It's set to WPA2-Personal so shouldn't be any issues there. With the phones being the only devices with this issue, it would make the most sense that this could be the problem. Thanks for confirming. I've disabled the Roaming Assistant. This issue doesn't happen near as often as it used to, so I'll wait a week or two before digging into the dev options.

 

[nicknick]

I've got 2 S21 Ultras and both have this issue. When arriving home, the phones will auto connect to the router most times without issue. Once in a while, I'll notice I'm not connected to wifi shortly after coming home and the phone will display "Connected without Internet". I don't have this issue with other devices, so I'm wondering if it isn't a phone problem. I read through a post on here and seen someone mentioned turning off Roaming Assistant. Do you think this would help in anyway? My thinking is maybe the signal isn't strong enough when I pull in my driveway when my phone tries to connect.

I've gone through my wifi history log on my phone and it shows an entry labeled "ASSOC_REJECT" with reason code 1026. The timestamp on it was when I arrived at home so this must be something related to the problem. I have no idea what the reason code is for. Can't find anything on Google about it.

I have the same problem with a S21 ultra and a pair of XT9. My phone loses connectivity while being connected to wifi with good signal and without moving, same "Connected without internet". Problem happens with smart connect enabled and disabled, haven't been able to find a clue.

 

[CaptainSTX]

I've got 2 S21 Ultras and both have this issue. When arriving home, the phones will auto connect to the router most times without issue. Once in a while, I'll notice I'm not connected to wifi shortly after coming home and the phone will display "Connected without Internet". I don't have this issue with other devices, so I'm wondering if it isn't a phone problem. I read through a post on here and seen someone mentioned turning off Roaming Assistant. Do you think this would help in anyway? My thinking is maybe the signal isn't strong enough when I pull in my driveway when my phone tries to connect.

I've gone through my wifi history log on my phone and it shows an entry labeled "ASSOC_REJECT" with reason code 1026. The timestamp on it was when I arrived at home so this must be something related to the problem. I have no idea what the reason code is for. Can't find anything on Google about it.

I don't know if the issue is the same on an Android phone as I experienced when I upgraded from an Iphone 6 to an I Phone 14 but I had to using the settings for each individual Wifi network on my phone and set Configure DNS to manual and list both my router and 8.8.8.8 as DNS choices. This solved my connectivity problem when using an AX86S. If you have the option you can always try it and see if it helps with your issue.

 

[Butters54]

I have the same problem with a S21 ultra and a pair of XT9. My phone loses connectivity while being connected to wifi with good signal and without moving, same "Connected without internet". Problem happens with smart connect enabled and disabled, haven't been able to find a clue.

Mine doesn't ever disconnect randomly, only happens when trying to auto reconnect to wifi.

 

[Butters54]

I don't know if the issue is the same on an Android phone as I experienced when I upgraded from an Iphone 6 to an I Phone 14 but I had to using the settings for each individual Wifi network on my phone and set Configure DNS to manual and list both my router and 8.8.8.8 as DNS choices. This solved my connectivity problem when using an AX86S. If you have the option you can always try it and see if it helps with your issue.

I'm pretty sure I've tried this in the past and didn't have any luck with it. Strange issue. Never experienced this in the past with other phones I've had.

 

[drinkingbird]

It's set to WPA2-Personal so shouldn't be any issues there. With the phones being the only devices with this issue, it would make the most sense that this could be the problem. Thanks for confirming. I've disabled the Roaming Assistant. This issue doesn't happen near as often as it used to, so I'll wait a week or two before digging into the dev options.

I actually have the opposite problem, I have an outdoor AP and my Pixel will not give up on wifi soon enough so as I'm driving down the road and tell google to "navigate to...." it sits there attempting to do it over wifi. So I set my outdoor AP minRSSI (ubiquiti's version of roaming assistant) pretty aggressive to take care of that.

If you still have problems, give the developer options a shot. Usually that helps when roaming between two APs, makes the handover quicker, but in theory could also help it retry/reconnect sooner too.

You could also attempt to reduce the power output of your router, if there are areas where you get signal but signal can't get back, that's essentially telling you that your router is set too high.

But I think you're on the right track/theory that the phone picks up the wifi, tries to connect, roaming assistant says "nope", the phone gets all offended and pouts about it. No that's not sarcasm, just how I visualized it for whatever reason.

 

[Butters54]

I actually have the opposite problem, I have an outdoor AP and my Pixel will not give up on wifi soon enough so as I'm driving down the road and tell google to "navigate to...." it sits there attempting to do it over wifi. So I set my outdoor AP minRSSI (ubiquiti's version of roaming assistant) pretty aggressive to take care of that.

If you still have problems, give the developer options a shot. Usually that helps when roaming between two APs, makes the handover quicker, but in theory could also help it retry/reconnect sooner too.

You could also attempt to reduce the power output of your router, if there are areas where you get signal but signal can't get back, that's essentially telling you that your router is set too high.

But I think you're on the right track/theory that the phone picks up the wifi, tries to connect, roaming assistant says "nope", the phone gets all offended and pouts about it. No that's not sarcasm, just how I visualized it for whatever reason.

Haha yeah that's how I imagined it too.

I guess I do have the same issue as you too. I'll get halfway up my road trying to load something on my phone and realize it's still connected to wifi.

The auto reconnect problem seems to be happening more now that I've turned off Roaming Assistant. Not getting the ASSOC_REJECT errors now though.

If I disable wifi scan throttling in the dev options, should I turn the Roaming Assistant back on in my router settings?

 

[drinkingbird]

Haha yeah that's how I imagined it too.

I guess I do have the same issue as you too. I'll get halfway up my road trying to load something on my phone and realize it's still connected to wifi.

The auto reconnect problem seems to be happening more now that I've turned off Roaming Assistant. Not getting the ASSOC_REJECT errors now though.

If I disable wifi scan throttling in the dev options, should I turn the Roaming Assistant back on in my router settings?

Yeah if it isn't roaming assistant causing the issue you should be able to re-enable it (so it "lets go" when you drive away easier). Alternatively you could try playing with the power level on 2.4ghz to see if maybe the phone doesn't attempt to reconnect prior to having a good enough signal. Not all routers actually work properly with the power level setting but I think the newer ones do.

Some other things you can try other than disabling scan throttling -
On the phone you can do a network reset, it is in the same place as factory reset but usually called like "reset wifi, bluetooth, and cellular" or something. Just note that:
1. You'll lose your paired bluetooth devices and have to re-pair them
2. You'll lose saved wifi networks and have to reconnect
3. If you have custom APN stuff for cellular you'd need to re-enter that, not very common though.

You can also just try to "forget" and re-join the wifi on that phone and see if that does anything, instead of the full reset above, but generally the full reset is more likely to clear out any gremlins.

 

[terribell]

Was someone able to sort this issues?
I've got the same problem with a RT-AX86S using a Galaxy S23+ and a Galaxy Tab S8.

Tried all the above and updated to the latest firmware but still have this issue multiples time a day.

 

[Butters54]

Was someone able to sort this issues?
I've got the same problem with a RT-AX86S using a Galaxy S23+ and a Galaxy Tab S8.

Tried all the above and updated to the latest firmware but still have this issue multiples time a day.

I still have not solved this. It's been getting worse. If I go to my front door and open it and step into the doorway for a second, then come right back in and close the door, my phones wifi will start acting up.

I contacted Asus a while back and they ran some troubleshooting steps which did not solve the problem. One of our laptops has connection issues, even being hardwired to the router. These routers suck.

 

[Adooni]

a lot different issues here - did you try/ have set up
1. Connections>Wifi>Advanced Wifi Settings>and under MAC Address Type, to select "Phone MAC"
2. WAN >Internet Connection > Special Requirement from ISP > Spoof LAN TTL value to OFF
3. set fixed wi-fi channel that is not DFS channel.

 

[Butters54]

a lot different issues here - did you try/ have set up
1. Connections>Wifi>Advanced Wifi Settings>and under MAC Address Type, to select "Phone MAC"
2. WAN >Internet Connection > Special Requirement from ISP > Spoof LAN TTL value to OFF
3. set fixed wi-fi channel that is not DFS channel.

#1 did not change anything. Did not try #2. #3 did not change anything. I think the issue has worsened since I manually selected the Wifi channels.

 

[glens]

Just a WAG on my part. Any chance you've on the router bound a LAN IP address to the phone's (in use at the time) MAC address, but you haven't disabled the phone's "MAC randomization" for your network? Am thinking it could be grievous if the phone when trying to associate is asking for "its" IP address while declaring a "fake" MAC, and the router says "well, your credentials are good, but that address is reserved for someone else." Like I said, just a WAG.

[edit: add:] I understand that by enabling "developer options" on the phone (if Samsung hasn't messed with that amongst all the other stuff they modify from "stock" android [am a fan of Motorola especially in that regard]) and thereafter disabling "wifi scan throttling" you'll sacrifice some battery life and be a bit more disruptive to the network.

I understand later android has reduced the scan interval available to apps to 2 per minute and that option reverts or removes that limitation. I often disable the throttling while using WiFiAnalyzer, but restore it for general use. Don't know how or whether it affects the phone's wifi connection /control/ schemes as it does with "apps".

 

[terribell]

#1 did not change anything. Did not try #2. #3 did not change anything. I think the issue has worsened since I manually selected the Wifi channels.

"I think the issue has worsened since I manually selected the Wifi channels." This is also my experience.
Tried all the suggested approaches and nothing seems to solve it.

"Just a WAG on my part. Any chance you've on the router bound a LAN IP address to the phone's (in use at the time) MAC address"
I didn't put any bounding and the phone is using it's own MAC to connect, was one of the proposals on this thread.

Really out of ideas on what to try and don't know if it's the router or Samsung, as this only happens on 2 Samsung devices, and not the other devices connected to WIFI.

 

[micaaronfl56]

as of two days ago i am experiencing the same thing- connected without internet on 2 of my S22 and a S21, but not on an old s5. I posted a separate thread on this and im also out of ideas.

 

[NikL]

Had an issue with Samsung devices, not connecting properly or disconnecting randomly. Disabled "Target Wake Time" option helped to fix it.

 

[micaaronfl56]

i tried googling to find the settings, which is that under?

 

[Jbennett360]

i tried googling to find the settings, which is that under?

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