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How to Configure Wi-Fi Connection on the Samsung Galaxy S3 ?

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(This is part of the My Quick Start Guide for Samsung Galaxy S3 Series.)

The first thing I did when I got home with my Samsung Galaxy S3 was to configure the Wi-Fi connection.

It’s crucial to have a fast Internet connection before doing other tasks such as contact and app downloads.

Configuring the S3 to connect to Wi-Fi is easy. Let’s see how is done here.

1. Tab the Option Key.

Samsung Galaxy s3 Option Keys

2. You will see a small menu appears from the bottom. Tap the Settings option.

3. On the settings screen, you will see the Wi-Fi being turned on (by default). Tap on the Wi-Fi.

s3 Settingss3 Settings Screen

4. You will see a list of detected Wi-Fi networks. Tap on the one belong to your home.

5. Enter the password and tap Connect.

s3 wifi screenwifi Network Password

Done, you should have a fast Internet connection now. Let’s do a test with the browser.

(This is part of the My Quick Start Guide for Samsung Galaxy S3 Series.)

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Comments

  1. I just got home with my new s3, and everything has WiFi except my s3. The WiFi is strong and safe. BUT, when it fails to connect It says “netowrk disabled, poor connection” and I know that’s not true. I’ve contacted Sprint and they said they’ll call me tomorrow night, but I want my WiFi NOW. What can I do? Cause I have no idea how to contact the WiFi owner or yadda yadda.

    • There’s WiFi-Direct feature on the S3. But depending on what device your connecting to. It might be able to connect but can’t use it for file transfer.

  3. My home wifi is always shown as ‘not in range’ in my galaxy s3.But home wifi connects to other phones.how can i solve this?

    • I’m unable to give any specific solution. You might want to try asking in androidforums.com or some other active android forums. Just make sure you mention the S3 variant.

  4. Hi

    Need help with the Wifi connection. The service provider password was changed and now I cant connect to the Wifi. It only remembers the old passowrd. Can this be changed?

    • Tap and hold the WiFi Network ID, you will see 2 options: Forget network and Modify network config. Select Modify network config. to change the password.

  6. I have done all of the above steps but i still dont get the wifi connection… any solutions please???

  7. The Wi-Fi I use requires you to put an email and click that you have read the policy and are ok with it. In my iPhone this screen would open automatically when I chose the Wi-Fi connection. However with the Galaxy S3 this screen never opens and even though it says it is connected to Wi-Fi it doesn’t transmit or receive data. Do you know how I access the authorization screen? Thank you!

    • Sorry I haven’t had such experience therefore I can’t advise you further. But I have been to a couple of hotels where I need to enter the last name and room number as some form of authentication to access the Internet. Once entered, I don’t really need to enter them again until the credit expired. As soon as, the credit expired, I’ll see the package selection and login screen again.

      • Thanks for your answer Ethan. Just a follow up question, does the screen to enter your last name and room number just popped up or how did it show?

        Thanks!

        • Just use your browser to browse any website (eg. http://www.yahoo.com) if login is needed you will be redirected to the username/password page. I’ve also tested the Enter-Email-Login-Page, it works the same, once you get connected to the Wifi, launch your browser to browse any websites to get redirected to the login page, before using your web chat app or facebook app.

  8. Hi

    Need help with the Wifi connection. The service provider password was changed and now I cant connect to the Wifi. It only remembers the old passowrd. Can this be changed?

    • You can tap on the WIFI network id to get the “Modify network config.” option. This option allows you to key in new password.

  9. i just bought s3 and it appears all wifi around us except my laptop why????u must know that i use wifi of my laptop windows 7

  10. To connect my laptop to the internet I connect to my wi-fi router, which is fine. I then have to enter in another address to connect to my ISP. The problem is I can connect to the wi-fi using my S3, but there is no where in the settings where I can enter in the address of my service provider. How do I do this. I connect using an email address and password.

    • If I understood you correctly, you should ask your ISP to configure the router to do the dialing, means having the username and password configured on your Wi-Fi router. The router will initiate the ISP connection, and your home devices (including S3) access the Internet using the Wi-Fi connection to the router.

  11. I am also Galaxy S3 fan since some months. It was working nice. But after sometime it used to create some problem in wifi connection, Was not working. I had checked my router setting also but the problem was in handset. But now I am glad to say that i got a solution which worked great for me at http://howmobile.net/samsung/2291-wifi-problem-galaxy-s3.html and Now its working amazingly When going through this blog I thought that I should also contribute from my side to help people Who having the same problem I had. Hope The given procedure will work.
    Thanks!

  13. please help, i can not connect my samsung galaxy to wifi, every time i enter a password it says wrong password, how ever i pu the right one? any advice?

  14. I have internet connection when I am at home but can not gain access when I am out. Please help.

    • Are you referring public wifi or mobile data ? if mobile data, ensure you turn it on at home settings > More settings > Mobile networks > Use packet data, else check with your service provider.

  17. just switched off the Unlimited and now I need to know the answer to this:
    I know we can disable the Mobile data. However, if we select auto-connect to WiFi and we’re home, will all of our data go through my home network?

    • If there’s a wireless connection it should use the wifi. It works this way all the time on my international model.
      I did bump into a minor issue with this setup, while my Internet connection is down, the phone will still try to access the internet via the wifi since the phone is connected to the home wifi. I’ve to manually turn off the wifi to force internet traffic uses mobile data connection.

  18. I had the same problems, I tried everything, even updated the firmware for my DIR-655. The answer to fix it was easy. Tell the S3 to forget the network, then go back to where it shows the network on your S3 and long press it. Then select “connect to network” then Advanced settings and select the first box WPS which is Wifi Protected Services. enable Wifi Protected services on the router ini DIR-655 it was on the Advanced>Wifi Protected Service menu. Select the bottom “ADD WIRELESS STATION” button, then use the press BUTTON option on both the phone and the router, you press both and the router configures the phone wifi settings for you! Worked perfectly after that.

    • By the way, I use DHCP auto assign IP setting on the router, it is set to WPA2 only and AES security settings. i think you can avoid all the above #0011# type settings if you just use the Wifi Protected service to connect. Now, there is one thing, if you just click on the router name in the wifi network list on your phone, you won’t see WPS as an option on the advanced settings…this is because WPS only appears if you long press the router name in the available wifi networks then select connect to network…it shouldn’t be so hidden!

  19. Thanks Ethan,

    I followed your last advise, But still I can’t connect to wifi.
    I can see any New network on my wifi list, But when I chose connect, the S3 trying to connect But Nothing changed !!
    Hope you have some advised.

    Regards,
    Rafed…

    • Unfortunately, there isn’t a straight forward solution for this wifi issue after seeing lots of threads in the forums talking about this issue. Some solved it by fine tuning the router settings and others had it fixed with the *#0011# trick. Therefore, you might need to do a bit of reading on these forums.

      Go to Google search and type in the below search phases (try one after another), and click on the search results to read how others solved their similar issue.

      site:androidforums.com “galaxy s3” + “wifi”
      site:forum.xda-developers.com “galaxy s3” + “wifi”

      If the problem still persists, I guess you might want to seek help from the service provider or Samsung to get a replacement.

  20. ….i had already connected my sgs3 ..but wi fi is not continue… it ll b disconnected after few sec. and..says ~time out~ that to do???

    • I found quite a few forums discussed about this Wi-Fi intermittent connection issue. Many were able to solve it with below suggestion. I hope it works for you too, else you might want to seek help from Samsung tech support.

      1. Go to phone dialer.
      2. Dial *#0011#
      3. A ServiceMode screen will appears.
      4. Press the Option Key.
      5. Tap WiFi.
      6. Change WIFI Power Save Mode to OFF.
      7. If you already have the Access Point (AP)/router profile on the phone, “Forget” it. Turn off/on the WiFi and reenter AP info again.

  21. okik i did it ,,,,

    in the router configuration

    Encryption: check Disabled

    and for ,,,Allow New Devices

    choose , new stations are allowed ( automatically )
    though i used via registration but it kept
    connecting for ever ,,,,
    i hope this will help,,,
    ,,,,,,,,, thx Ethan

  22. Ethan says:
    June 24, 2012 at 5:55 am
    Make sure you type the right password, you can tick the Show password checkbox to help you on this. If things still don’t work, I will restart the phone and try again.

    If your home router has some advanced security settings such as WPS button or WPS PIN, the above procedure is not applicable.

    so what should i do here ,,,,, plz need help

    • I have a wps at my office and it will not let me connect, i had my old iphone connected and my laptop is as well. please help me connect this phone!

      • The official Samsung galaxy s3 user guide does show you the step-by-step on how to connect your phone to AP that’s using WPS PIN and button. If that doesn’t help I guess the next step is to seek help from the related forums. I find http://androidforums.com/ has a quite a lot discussions going on about S3.

  23. Can I use the internet on the go then when I am out and about with this phone?
    Slightly confused…

    • When you’re on the go, you will be using the 3G/4G data connection to go online and not the Wi-Fi.

  24. When I follow these steps and type the password for my own home network, the “connect” button doesn’t highlight and I can’t click on it at all. Basically it looks like the last picture in the article with the gray connect button. Any suggestions?

    • Make sure you type the right password, you can tick the Show password checkbox to help you on this. If things still don’t work, I will restart the phone and try again.

      If your home router has some advanced security settings such as WPS button or WPS PIN, the above procedure is not applicable.

  25. I configured it but now I dont see the list anymore,
    I want to change it to other network When I am in office or when I am outside in starbucks,There is no internet :(,

    • Once configured, the WiFi name (SSID) should be in Wi-Fi networks screen. If you’re out of the coverage, it just shows “Not in range” status.

      But when your S3 is within the range it will connect automatically.

      Yup, you can configure as many as you want, Office, starbucks …