Top 5 Reasons for WiFi Device Setup and Connection Issues

Setup and connection issues are notoriously difficult for agents to troubleshoot, and these calls often take up a large portion of an agent’s day. Lengthy back-and-forths to gather technical information mean more time is spent identifying the root cause of a challenge than resolving the issue. Sound familiar? This traditional process puts both the agent and customer experience at risk and ultimately increases turnover for both parties.

Five common questions

We recently analyzed the health and configuration of more than 100,000 home networks around the world and identified some trends and commonalities that will make traditional troubleshooting a little easier. Here’s what we found:

1: 56% of SSIDs have invalid/special characters

WiFi network names, or SSIDs, allow customers to show creativity when connecting devices and easily identify their network. However, people sometimes get too creative and don't realize that many smart home devices can't recognize certain special characters (such as emojis). If your device falls into this category, the entire network will become undiscoverable when special characters are involved, and your customers won't be able to connect your smart devices to their home network.

2: 53% of people connect to crowded channels

A home network is essentially a highway with data flowing through it. When only a few people are using it, traffic flows smoothly. But what happens when your customers try to use your devices on a WiFi channel where a dozen others are also vying for space? Intermittent disconnects and buffered video or audio. Congested networks are most common in densely populated neighborhoods, condos, or apartment buildings. If your customers live in rural areas, you may need to keep looking for other causes.

3. 42% of routers have problems with their settings

Certain router settings, such as mDNS, UPnP, multicast, client isolation, or blocked ports, can prevent communication between connected devices and affect device discovery, making setup difficult or impossible. Often, these settings are in place due to aggressive firewalls or strict parental controls, and devices will never be able to connect. However, if a device is suddenly undiscoverable after previously connecting, the problem may be with the VPN.

4: 40% of people have devices that are too far away

Wireless routers typically only cover 150 to 300 feet, which is about the size of a single-family home, and physical obstacles (such as walls) can further reduce the range. If the device is too far from the router, setup can be difficult, and over time customers will experience connection issues such as intermittent disconnects and buffered video or audio. Devices that are too close to the router will experience similar problems due to interference.

5: 36% have 5.8GHz/merged networks

While 5.8GHz networks are great for speed, most smart home products are not compatible with them. Likewise, merging networks (the eponymous 5.8GHz and 2.4GHz) often causes problems for networked devices. If a customer tries to set up one of these 2.4-only devices on a 5.8GHz network, it simply won’t connect. However, issues with incompatible frequencies often manifest as intermittent disconnects as some routers try to optimize traffic by switching connected devices to the more “efficient” 5.8GHz network.

Control connection issues

While other issues can cause connection or setup problems, these are five of the most common. Knowing common issues can allow you to respond to connection problems more quickly and effectively.