Have you ever had this problem with your Android when you’re out and about? Let’s say you’re walking down a sidewalk as you pass McDonald’s or Starbucks. You check your phone and see and see – your data connection has apparently dropped!
It can be extra frustrating but most of the time it is not your cellular connection that is acting funny. Chances are your phone automatically connected to a free Wi-Fi hotspot (like the one provided for free by carriers like AT&T) but it’s too weak or slow to do any work.
To prevent this from happening, here are some tweaks that you can try on both Android and iPhone.
Android
Samsung phones have an option called “Smart Network Switch” that can prevent your device from connecting to bad Wi-Fi networks, however, this setting can also lead to similar issues.
To turn it on or off go to Settings >> Connections >> Wi-Fi >> Advanced >> and then toggle “Smart Network Switch”.
Similar to the iPhone, if your Android phone keeps connecting to hotspots in certain areas, you can try to turn on your Android phone’s Wi-Fi radio by swiping down from the top of the screen for the quick access menu. Huh.
Again, I know this will sound like the most obvious advice – if all else fails, just turn off your Wi-Fi.
iPhone:
1. Turn off Auto-Join on Specific Networks
Introduced in iOS 11, this welcome option can prevent your iPhone from automatically connecting to Wi-Fi networks with poor signal.
More importantly, it allows you to not auto-join your iPhone to specific networks, for example, those dreaded AT&T and Xfinity hotspots that seem to be everywhere.
Don’t get me wrong, these hotspots can be useful when you’re in a pinch but I’ll decide for myself whether I want to use them or not.
2. Quickly Toggle Your Wi-Fi
Sometimes even with auto-join off, these free Wi-Fi hotspots can still get in. Instead of manually turning off auto-join for each one you encounter, try this obvious step – turn off your Wi-Fi.
One trick you can try is to quickly turn your iPhone’s Wi-Fi off and then on again immediately. Most of the time, this is enough to force your iPhone to prioritize your cellular data connection instead of a bad Wi-Fi network.
You can do this quickly from the Control Panel (swipe down from top-right on the iPhone X, swipe up from the bottom on other iPhones) then tap the Wi-Fi icon to turn it off (color turns white).
If your iPhone still keeps connecting to a bad Wi-Fi hotspot, simply turn off its Wi-Fi while it is in range. IMPORTANT: Remember to turn it back on when you’re back in range of your preferred Wi-Fi network!
3. Turn on “Ask to Join Network”
If you are traveling and are in an area that is saturated with these Wi-Fi hotspots, here is a temporary solution you can try – turn on “Ask to connect to network”.
Setting this option to On will prevent your iPhone from automatically connecting to any new Wi-Fi networks and instead prompt you with an alert.
However, the big downside with this approach is that you’ll get a popup every time your iPhone senses that a new Wi-Fi network is in range. It’s incredibly annoying when you’re out and about since you’ll be constantly bombarded with popups from your iPhone.
However, combined with iOS’s auto-join tweaks, which automatically clean up networks with bad connections and those you specify, these popups can be greatly reduced.
I’d rather set “Ask to Join Network” to Off, but this is a viable temporary fix if your cellular data connection keeps dropping in a certain area and you don’t want to turn off your Wi-Fi every time. Huh.
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