Pixel 7 wifi keeps disconnecting and reconnecting

VPN
1

Hi all,

Today all of a sudden, my Pixel 7 started constantly disconnecting and reconnecting to my home wifi. Absolutely nothing has changed in terms of phone or network settings, and it had been working fine since I first got it in October. Problem is definitely not with the network as all other devices manage to connect and remain connected.

I have tried everything that I could think of: Airplane Mode, Restart in Safe Mode, Forget Network, Reset Internet Settings, etc. and problem still persists.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue (is it a known problem?) and if yes, how did they fix it. Thanks!

Edit: Video of the disconnection/reconnection happening without me doing anything. If I leave wifi on, this is what happens:https://imgur.com/a/eGIIVoq

Edit2: Power cycling eero (my mesh wifi system) seems to have fixed it. I had excluded the router/mesh system as a potential cause as everything else in the house was working fine. Only the Pixel 7 was having problems.

2

Mine has been doing this recently but I thought it was because I changed broadband/router.

Been driving me nuts managed to temporarily fix it but it’s still weird.

Not sure if it’s the same issue but for mine the WiFi stays connected fine (strong signal) but internet access freezes for 10 odd seconds once in a while.

When this happens the WiFi symbol is still there and it’s still connected to the router.

Really strange and difficult to pinpoint what it is hopefully it’s something that got broken in the update otherwise it’ll be difficult to resolve!

3

I have the same problem, not sure how to fix it. This thing is slower on every network I try to use it on, than other devices on the same network. My wife’s dirt cheap low end Motorola that I can’t even remember the name of is far faster on our mobile network than this is for me.

4

The tensor chip based phones seem to have a lot of connectivity issues. I had to swap away and haven’t had issues since. Even when it’s good you’re only one update away from unstable.

5

I had the same issue a few days ago. The issue was fixed by restarting my Fios router.

Here are the details.

My Pixel Pro 7 ran into the same disconnecting & reconnecting issue with my Verizon FIOS home Wifi, right after updating the operating system to the latest (Android 13, not sure which subversion is). I tried everything just like you, Airplane Mode, Safe Mode, Forget Wifi, Reset Internet Settings, Factory Reset, Turn off Randomized Mac, and Use Static IP rather than DHCP. It can use FIOS guest Wifi, which is 2.4GHz smoothly, but not on home wifi with 5GHz. Then I thought it was the update that damaged my Pixel Pro 7, I contacted Google Customer Service and initiated a repair. Later that day, I found the same issue on my old Pixel 5a, with no update recently. So I got completely blind and had absolutely no idea what to do, except reboot my FIOS router. It worked. I have no explanation for why it worked.

I haven’t sent my phone to Google for repair. I want to see if it happens again.

6

Since there are many people reporting similar problems, I will post my comprehensive troubleshooting guide again.

tl;dr It’s the router.

This contains detailed troubleshooting steps for identifying and solving WiFi issues. If you are not comfortable, or do not understand, the steps, get someone to help you. Keep detailed notes of anything and everything that you change in your phone, or router, while troubleshooting. Change only one thing at a time, reboot the router and phone, and then test to see if the problem was fixed.

Read everything first, before doing anything. If you do not understand something, get someone to help you.

Before you do anything else, make sure you are running the latest version of Android on your phone and check that you do not have any apps with pending updates. You will have to find a good WiFi connection for that to happen.

Also, contact your cellular provider and have them check that your phone has been properly “provisioned” onto their network and that you have the correct SIM. If you simply moved the SIM from your old phone into a new 5G phone, you will probably experience problems. Every cellular system uses distinct radio frequency bands, and your phone must be properly set up (provisioned) to work. Otherwise, you will experience signal drops or other issues as you move around and the phone searches for a different tower. 5G technology has caused significantly more complex issues.

Google provides a Help page that includes troubleshooting steps. Work through that next:
Fix Wi-Fi connection problems

Next, reboot your phone into safe mode to see if a misbehaving or incompatible app is responsible.
Find problem apps by rebooting to safe mode

The only way to properly determine if your connectivity problem is caused by your phone or your router is to test the phone at other locations or other WiFi connections. If it can’t properly connect anywhere, the problem is in your phone and you will need to contact the manufacturer’s support team or a repair shop.

If you can connect to the WiFi network, but you can’t get any internet content, you are probably dealing with a captive portal WiFi system. Let us know if that is the situation, and we can give you some techniques that will help you sign in to the portal.

If you can connect properly at other WiFi locations such as a coffee shop or a friend’s house, or with your phone’s hotspot, it’s the router, or router settings.
But all my other computers and my Xbox and my computer work fine.
It’s the router.
But I know it’s not the router.
It’s the router.
But . . .
It’s the router.

See these two Help articles to get started with troubleshooting:
Connect to Wi-Fi networks on your Pixel phone

Fix Wi-Fi connection problems

Be aware that some older routers simply aren’t compatible with the latest phones and computers due to incomplete or obsolete network protocol implementations.Google devices are always being updated to provide the latest and most secure connections possible.

Using a computer with the Chrome browser, run the Chrome Connectivity Diagnostics to help identify the actual problem. You can download that app here if it is not already installed:

If you are having problems with Android apps, but not websites, you may have an improperly configured VPN. Disable it, temporarily, and see if the problem goes away. If it does, consult with the VPN’s support site. Likewise, if you use a private DNS (either through an app or at Settings > Network & internet > Private DNS, disable it for testing.

If you have any “wifi extenders” in your home, they are frequently the cause of WiFi issues. Unplug them and see if that cures the problem. If it does, you need a different (newer, or stronger) router, or move to a modern mesh system such as Google WiFi. If you add a mesh system, but be sure to change your existing router to “bridged mode”. Contact your ISP for assistance, if you are using a router they supplied.

If you have access to your router’s settings, these tweaks often solve the problem:
A firmware update in the router can sometimes fix compatibility issues.
If your router is multi-band (2.4 and 5 GHz, and possibly 6 GHz), assign a different SSID to each band. This will let you choose the band and see if one works better than the other for your location in your house. 5 and 6 GHz does not travel through walls and floors well. Your phone may try to connect to those bands, and then have problems reconnecting in a weaker signal area of your home.
If you have your own WiFi router, and have plugged it into the router provided by your internet service provider (ISP), you should change the ISP’s router to “bridge mode”. Contact your ISP if you need help with that. Having two active routers can cause all sorts of problems.
In the router’s WiFi security settings, make sure that your encryption is set to WPA2-PSK with AES Encryption. Disable TKIP if it is enabled. You may have to select WPA/WPA2. Do not select WPA only, as it is not secure.
If you have a firewall or local DNS server, make sure you are not blocking DNS over TLS on port 853. Most older devices used simple DNS on port 53, but Android 12 also uses 853.
Disable WPS.
Disable IPv6 - unless you are specifically using it. If you are using Verizon FiOS , you really should try disabling IPv6. That has solved problems for other users.
Disable WMM/QoS
Do not use a hidden SSID - it really does nothing to improve security! Some devices will have problems connecting to a hidden SSID.
Check (or temporarily disable) firewall settings to see if ports or sites are being blocked that may impact normal internet use. If you use something like Netgear’s Armor or other router security packages, disable them as a test. Other possible problem packages could be Pi-Hole or filtering DNS resolvers.
Change the name servers from your ISP’s default to Google’s servers, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Make sure that the 2.4 GHz channel is set to only 1, 6, or 11. Other channels can cause problems.
Test for Bluetooth interference on the 2.4 GHz band - temporarily turn off Bluetooth and see if that helps. If it does, change WiFi channel and try again with Bluetooth turned on.
Use a WiFi/Bluetooth analysis tool on your phone (Android or iOS) to look for nearby routers causing interference.
One popular tool is https://sites.google.com/site/farproc/wifi-analyzer
Another great tool is Ubiquitti’s WiFiMan https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubnt.usurvey
Look for other nearby routers operating on the unapproved channels and choose your channel for minimal interference.
See if neighboring routers are on an interfering channel.
Look for Bluetooth interference problems.
If your router selects the WiFi channel automatically, the disconnections you are seeing might happen when the router senses interference and switches to a different channel. Based on the results from the WiFi Analyzer app, select the best channel numbers and manually set your router to that channel.
If you are in a country other than the US, and you have a computer or phone that was produced for the US market, there may be an incompatibility between the router’s radio channel and the device. US devices are restricted to channels 1-11, while channels 12-14 may be in use in other countries. If your router automatically selects channels, it may select channels 12-14, and your device will lose access.
Save the changes and reboot the router
Reboot the phone

7

My Pixel 7 have been consistently disconnecting and reconnecting to my home’s wifi since day 1. It somehow believes LTE is better even when I barely have any data signal. The only way to reduce the amount of this happening was to force my phone on the 5ghz network only on my mesh wifi. Basically it comes down to the poor performance of the tensor chip. None of my qualcomm phones have this issue and I also tested this with a friend’s pixel 7 that visited recently and the same thing was happening.

8

Ok, to add more information to the pile.
Pixel 7 Pro. Started to experience issues after an update applied on February 23, 2023. Other devices including laptops, pixel 4a, google tv no issues.

Things done with no success:

  1. restart network equipment.
  2. I factory reset the phone (noticed wifi issues during initial config after factory reset).
  3. I tried wifi forget and restart, no luck.
  4. I tried safe mode and was getting wifi, and even held off for a bit upon return to regular mode.

Issues seem to be less frequent with the following settings:

  1. private dns off
  2. adaptive connectivity off
  3. IP settings set to static and not DHCP
  4. uninstalling the latest updates to the following components:

a. Carrier Services
b. Android System Intelligence

9

Seems the Pixel 7 behaves this way when DNS is unavailable as well. Had a power outage and only the Pixel 7 and 1 of many wifi outlets refused to connect until they could refresh DNS. Always check your pihole after power outage!

10

Have you tried disabling adaptive connectivity?
I believe since the February system update and google play system update the phone connectivity is shit or maybe an app in the play store got updated recently that broke it.

11

I was having a similar issue and it seemed to be that WPA3 was the problem. When I disabled it on the router the disconnects stopped.

12

Just happen to me this morning on my pixel 6 with the beta update, i had to restart my phone and the router and got fixed

13

My P7Pro does this now…. Although when I enable my Surfshark vpn app on my phone it then connects to Wi-Fi fine… it’s the only client on my tri band ASUS router XT8 out of 20 clients that do this. So annoying

14

I found a solution to my issue. It came down to the function in some routers and APs (in my case ubiquiti) to transmit the same SSID in both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. The latest update to the pixel does not know how to handle this and keeps on bouncing between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. I set the AP to only 2.4Ghz and the problem is gone.

15

After change my router to use only 5GHz and WAP2, not 2.4/5 GHz and WAP2/3, my P7P and P8P both work better.

Even my other entry level Xiaomi phones can do better then flagship Pixel in terms of wifi connection. Sigh…

16

I’ve had the same problem since the January update. I had some success changing the password on the router which gave me a week of better connections until it began dropping again. Please share if you find a true solution.

17

I recorded a video of what the phone does with wifi, edited the original post to add a link:

https://imgur.com/a/eGIIVoq

18

7 Pro does the same thing too. I have to reboot about three to four times a week. Frustrating

19

I hope Google fixes it before it happens to me. I just got this replacement phone a week ago. My first phone the volume rocker switch fell off and disappeared.
Oh what I have to look forward to!

20

Honestly, my Pixel 6 keeps randomly connecting to my Bluetooth headphones which are off and I need to sit there for like 5m connecting, disconnecting and repeating just to get the Bluetooth in my car on. The Pixel has been my worst experience with connectivity