Why do some of my devices connect to WiFi but others don’t?

When your laptop (or other device) can’t access your home WiFi network, you have to find out if the problem is your device or your modem.

The first thing you should try is testing the wireless network without the computer/laptop. Try any device that uses WiFi such as a smartphone or tablet. If that other device can access your WiFi, the problem is with your laptop.  If it is an older laptop/device it may not support the latest wireless encryption (WPA2). Blackfoot modem default settings have the wireless security at the highest level, but can be adjusted to allow older devices to connect by changing the encryption to WPA/WPA2 PSK if needed.

Make sure that the laptop’s WiFi is turned on. There’s probably a little hardware switch somewhere. Find it, and switch it. Windows will tell you if you turned it off or on. If you turned it off, try turning it back on.If that doesn’t fix the problem, try to reboot your device.

That didn’t fix it, either? Okay, time to make sure you’re connecting to the correct wireless network and using the correct password. Click the WiFi icon in the notification area on your laptop for a list of available networks. You should see BlackfootXXX. Attempt to connect to the wireless network making sure you have the correct password found on the bottom of your modem.

When typing the password, be careful about letters and numbers that look alike. It’s easy to mistake the number 1 with a lowercase L or an uppercase I. And an uppercase O can be mistaken for the number 0.

A few other things you can try:

• Look at the bars next to the network’s name to make sure you have a strong signal from the modem. If you don’t, try moving to a room near the modem.
• Make sure you have the latest wireless network card drivers loaded  (Windows update or Manufacturers driver support site).
• Use Windows’ diagnostics. Right-click the network icon in notification area and select Troubleshoot problems. Then go through the wizard.
• Turn off your firewall—temporarily, of course—and try again. If it works, figure out what’s wrong with your firewall settings.