LG TV Wi-Fi Keeps Disconnecting: 11 Quick Fixes

Without Wi-Fi, your smart TV isn’t really a smart TV. The display may still be working, but you can’t binge from your favorite streaming service without an internet connection.

In this guide, we’ll show you a few simple solutions for when LG TV Wi-Fi keeps disconnecting or when your Wi-Fi won’t connect in the first place. Let’s get started.

1. Power Cycle Your LG TV

Smart TVs are basically just computers, complete with many of the same quirks. When your PC is being buggy, you restart it, and that’s exactly what we’ll do with your TV.

Pressing the power button won’t completely reset your TV. Instead, we’ll need to cut off its power source long enough to force a restart.

1. Unplug your TV from the power outlet.
2. Hold down the power button on your TV (not on the remote) for at least 60 seconds.
3. Plug your TV back into the wall outlet.

Try powering on the TV again. If this worked, you were probably just dealing with some random bug. Unless the problem returns, it’s not worth spending any more time worrying about it.

2. Disable the LG Quick Start Feature

LG TVs have a couple of pretty cool convenience features that I would generally recommend taking advantage of. However, they can sometimes cause issues with Wi-Fi connections. In this and the next fix, we’ll turn these features off to see if that gets your internet working.

The first of these features, Quick Start+, changes the way your TV turns off. Instead of fully powering down, it will go into standby mode. That way, it can power back on faster.

Just follow these steps to turn off the Quick Start+ feature on your LG TV:

1. Press the Settings button on your remote.
2. Go to All Settings.
3. Open the General tab.
4. Navigate to Quick Start+ and toggle it off.

Now try your internet connection again. Turning off Quick Start+ will also decrease the energy consumption of your TV, so you may want to leave it off even if this doesn’t solve your Wi-Fi problem.

3. Turn Off Your TV’s Simplink Feature

Just like Quick Start+, Simplink can cause Wi-Fi connection problems on your LG TV. Simplink, which you may know by its more common name of HDMI-CEC (consumer electronics control), lets you control HDMI devices using your TV’s remote control.

These steps will turn off Simplink:

1. Press the Settings button on your remote.
2. Go to All Settings.
3. Open the General tab.
4. Select Simplink (HDMI-CEC).
5. Toggle the On/Off toggle to off.

Test your Wi-Fi connection again. Make sure that you still have Quick Start+ turned off, too, as it could have been either or both of these features causing the problem.

4. Restart Your Router

Wi-Fi routers are finicky. Rather than try to debug every little problem that could be going on, it’s easier to restart the device and let it sort itself out. You’ll generally want to do this once a month or so anyway to keep your network functioning at its best.

Before proceeding, make sure that nobody in your home is actively using the internet. This process will shut down all network and internet connections for roughly five minutes during the reboot.

Okay, let’s get started.

1. Unplug the power cable from your router and modem.
2. Wait 30 seconds.
3. Plug the power cables back in.
4. Wait a few minutes for the modem and router to boot up.

Once the Wi-Fi network appears in your TV’s network list again, try to connect. Most likely, the network issues won’t come back if a restart fixed them. However, we’ve still got a few more solutions left in case this wasn’t enough.

5. Eliminate Wi-Fi Interference

Your TV needs a strong Wi-Fi signal to operate. Dropped Wi-Fi connections often occur because of physical interference from walls or other obstructions or because of electronic interference from phones, microwaves, baby monitors, and other devices in the same frequency range as your Wi-Fi network.

Test your Wi-Fi signal by placing your phone near your TV and connecting to the Wi-Fi network. Even if that works, though, the signal may not be strong enough or constant enough for your TV.

We’ll try a couple of alternative connection options in later steps, so you can return here if those steps end up showing you have issues with the strength of your Wi-Fi signal.

Placing your router in the same room as your TV will definitely solve the problem, but it’s not always possible. Here are a few alternative options for dealing with Wi-Fi interference:

• Move your router to an open, central location.
• Buy a better router. This is definitely a good idea if you’re using a mediocre router from your internet provider. I suggest the TP-Link AX6600 if you plan to have a lot of smart home devices. The TP-Link AX1800 is an excellent budget alternative.
• Switch to a mesh Wi-Fi system. These systems are great ways to get strong Wi-Fi throughout even the largest homes. My recommended system is the Google Nest Mesh Wi-Fi System.
• Use a Wi-Fi extender. If your current network works for all but one area of your home, a Wi-Fi extender can boost the signal in that specific area. The TP-Link AX1500 is a solid option.

6. Disconnect USB Devices from Your TV

Some LG TVs have issues with USB devices interfering with Wi-Fi connections. If you have anything connected to your TV’s USB port, go ahead and disconnect it.

See if the Wi-Fi connection works without your USB devices attached. Unfortunately, there is no long-term fix for this problem as far as I’m aware. You may just need to leave that USB device (or potentially all USB devices) disconnected from your TV.

7. Fix Your TV’s Time Zone and Date

Your TV’s time and date settings need to be in sync with those of your router, and it needs to be set to the same time zone.

The reason for this is somewhat technical, but the short version is that your router puts a time limit on the addresses it assigns to each device in your network. If your TV’s time is set wrong, it may inadvertently be telling your router that the connection should have already expired.

1. Press the Settings button on your remote.
2. Go to All Settings.
3. Open the General tab.
4. Select Time and Date.
5. Make sure the date and time are set correctly based on your time zone.

Now go ahead and connect again. Your router will immediately see the new timezone information, so there’s no need to restart any devices for this test.

8. Test Your Connection With a Hotspot

A mobile hotspot isn’t a good long-term solution for your TV, especially if you stream in HD or 4K. However, it can help us to determine whether the problem is with your TV or your network. It will also let us download some updates in a later step.

1. Make sure cellular data is turned on on your phone (ignore this if you’re using a hotspot router).
2. Activate the hotspot on your phone or hotspot router.
   1. On iPhone, go to Settings -> Personal Hotspot and toggle Allow Others to Join. While on the Personal Hotspot screen, make a note of your hotspot network name and password.
   2. On Android, you can activate the hotspot by swiping down on the screen to open the quick settings drawer. To get the network name and password, though, you’ll need to go to Settings -> Hotspot & Tethering -> Wi-Fi hotspot.
3. Press the Settings button on your remote.
4. Go to All Settings.
5. Open the Network tab.
6. Select your hotspot network by name and enter the password.

Stay connected to the hotspot network for now if the connection works. If your TV won’t connect to your hotspot, you can try to debug that connection, but it’s probably easier to just proceed with the next fix.

9. Try Connecting With an Ethernet Cable

Wi-Fi isn’t the only way to connect your TV to your router. Hardline connections using an ethernet cable are faster and more stable than Wi-Fi connections.

However, an ethernet connection is only practical if your router is close to your TV. You can buy cables as long as 100 feet, but they get to be expensive and unruly at that length.

If possible, connect your TV to your router directly via an ethernet cable. You may need to temporarily move your router or TV to make this work. You could also use a powerline adapter to establish an ethernet connection through your home’s electrical wires.

Hopefully, the ethernet connection works at least long enough for the next step. If it’s a convenient enough solution, you could even leave it connected long-term instead of relying on Wi-Fi.

10. Update Your LG TV Firmware

Firmware updates often contain fixes for network problems and other LG TV issues. Usually, I’d have suggested updates as the first fix, but installing firmware updates requires an internet connection. Since your TV’s Wi-Fi isn’t working, you probably see the dilemma we’re in.

If either of the above two fixes worked, you should be connected to a hotspot or ethernet connection. You can use that new connection to download your updates according to the following steps.

1. Press the Settings button on your remote.
2. Go to All Settings.
3. Open the General tab.
4. Select About this TV.
5. Click Check for updates.
6. Once the update is installed, power cycle your TV following the instructions above.

Now let’s talk about what to do if you can’t connect to ethernet or a hotspot.

You can download your LG TV’s latest firmware manually and install it using a USB drive. LG has lengthy instructions for that process, so I won’t repeat them here. This manual install is more involved, so definitely try the above steps first if you can.

With the latest firmware installed, go ahead and try your Wi-FI connection again.

11. Contact LG Support

We’re tried all of the steps that we can do on our own. You’ll likely need to file a service request with LG for further help.

Make sure you have your warranty and purchase information handy. Even if you’re not under warranty, Wi-Fi issues are often software issues or defects rather than hardware problems. That makes repairs a lot cheaper or potentially even free.

What’s Next?

These fixes should help you deal with most LG TV Wi-Fi connection problems. If nothing else works, though, this probably isn’t a big enough reason to get a new smart TV.

Instead, consider adding a Fire TV Stick or Roku Stick to replace your TV’s missing internet features. You could even get both Roku and Firestick so that you have access to the apps from both services and have an extra streaming stick for travel. Any of these solutions is cheaper than replacing a TV that still has a working display.