Why does my TV keep dropping Wi-Fi?
A Smart TV that falls off the Wi-Fi mid-stream is one of the most common and most maddening faults, and it is almost always the connection between the TV and the router, not the TV itself. Here is the order to work through, from the quick wins to the last resort that always works.
Start with the five-minute resets
Before anything clever, do the dull, reliable things first. Switch the TV fully off at the wall for a minute, and do the same for the router; a proper cold restart clears more glitches than any setting. Then, on the TV, forget the Wi-Fi network and join it again from scratch, retyping the password. That rebuilds a connection that can go stale after a software update. Nine times out of ten one of those two settles a TV that has suddenly started dropping out.
It is probably the signal, not the TV
A TV that streams happily for a while and then drops is usually running short of signal. Wi-Fi weakens quickly through walls, floors and distance, and a big TV in the far corner from the router is the classic sufferer. Look at the signal strength in the TV's network menu; if it is low or wavering, the answer is about getting more signal to the set, not about the TV. Moving the router higher and more central, or adding a mesh node near the TV, helps more than any menu option.
The 2.4GHz and 5GHz trap
Most routers broadcast two Wi-Fi bands, and they behave very differently: 5GHz is much faster but its range is short and it hates walls, while 2.4GHz is slower but reaches far further. A TV across the house from the router will often hold a rock-steady 2.4GHz connection where it kept dropping 5GHz. If your router lists the two as separate networks, try joining the TV to the 2.4GHz one. It caps your speed a little lower, but a steady 2.4GHz connection beats a fast 5GHz one that keeps falling over.
Router-side causes
Sometimes the TV is fine and the router is the weak link: An ageing router, too many devices fighting over it at once, or a congested Wi-Fi channel in a block of flats. Restarting it helps, and so can changing its Wi-Fi channel in the settings, or turning off "band steering" if it keeps shoving the TV onto the wrong band. The tell is simple: If everything in the house drops at the same moment, not just the TV, the router or the broadband line is the culprit.
When the TV's own Wi-Fi is just weak
Some TVs, budget ones especially, simply have a poor Wi-Fi antenna tucked behind a metal back panel. If you have ruled out the signal and the router and it still drops, the surest fix is to stop relying on Wi-Fi at all. A network cable (Ethernet) from the router to the TV never drops and is not touched by walls or interference. Where running a cable is impractical, a powerline adapter, which sends the network over your mains wiring, or a Wi-Fi extender in the same room as the TV, gets you most of the way there.
Questions people ask
Why does my TV disconnect from Wi-Fi but my phone does not?
Position and antenna. Your phone moves around the house and has a good antenna, while the TV sits in one fixed, often distant, spot, frequently with a weaker antenna behind a metal back. The TV is simply seeing far less signal than the phone in your hand, even on the same network.
Should I use Wi-Fi or Ethernet for my TV?
Ethernet, if you can run a cable to it. It never drops, is unaffected by walls or interference, and gives the steadiest 4K streaming. Wi-Fi is perfectly fine when the signal is strong, but a cable is the reliable cure for a TV that keeps dropping out.
Does a weak Wi-Fi signal cause buffering as well as dropouts?
Yes. The same weak or wavering signal that drops the connection also throttles the speed reaching the TV, which shows up as buffering or the picture falling to a lower quality. The TV Internet Speed Test measures what is actually getting through to the set.
To see the real speed reaching the television, run the TV Internet Speed Test from where the TV sits. If streams look soft rather than dropping out, the internet speed for 4K streaming guide covers how much you actually need.