Android / wifi oddity - not connecting to some services

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xurizaemon

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#245026 14-Jan-2019 20:23

My normally well-behaved Android (OnePlus 5, Android 8.1, stock current OxygenOS ROM) has started acting weird.

Specifically: some apps (WhatsApp, Google Photos, and maybe this feature or that of other apps) think there's no internet, and the phone can't see Chromecast devices on the LAN. Otherwise, fine. Sometimes, WhatsApp is fine but refuses to run backups. When I'm away from home, it seems to behave OK.

My phone behaves sometimes (ie when at the office), but not at home. We're on 2Degrees with a FritzBox router in (I think) the default config. What can I do to track the problem down? Other devices on the same LAN can see Chromecast and use WhatsApp, so it doesn't feel like an ISP issue.

I'm suspecting it might be some networking support / config (ie can't connect to Photos or WhatsApp servers over $feature, where $feature might be IPv6 for example). But I'm not sure how to trace the problem down from here.

Suggestions (or wild guesses) most welcome :)

timmmay

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#2161191 14-Jan-2019 21:17

Does the phone completely lose network connectivity, or just some apps? Does turning WiFi off then on again help?

xurizaemon

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#2161218 14-Jan-2019 22:17

Only some apps, other things work fine at the same time.

turb

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#2161340 15-Jan-2019 09:33

Do you have a DNS service running at the router?

I have DNS4ME set up at router level, and get similar issues when DNS4ME needs the IP address updated.

Interests: HTPC, Web App authoring.

xurizaemon

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#2161347 15-Jan-2019 09:38

OK, that's interesting - have been playing around with Pihole, but I recall the misbehaviour with WhatsApp and Google Docs starting before I added that to the mix.

Useful datapoint though, thanks!

Gordy7

gordy7
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#2161461 15-Jan-2019 12:05

Check your phone is on the correct WiFi network..

Check your phone is on the correct LAN IP... ie correct subnet as your modem/router

To find your Android IP: Settings, About Phone, Status... should see your IP.

I had an interesting situation recently with my wife's laptop... She could only get some web sites and not all her usual ones.

Did a Tracert and found that the laptop had hooked into WiFi on a bridged router and using an incorrect LAN subnet (on 5GHz WiFi) and not my VDSL modem/router.

This was still using the correct WiFi login parameters for my VDSL WiFi router login.

The bridged router was finding a partial WiFi link back to my VDSL router.... really did not get to the bottom of it all.

Anyway, I disabled the some AP settings in the bridged router and the laptop successfully finds the correct WiFi on my VDSL router every time.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.