Why is my WiFi connected without internet?

It happens in every house sooner or later. The WiFi symbol on your phone is full, the WiFi light on the router is on, and nothing loads. The reason is simpler than it looks. Your WiFi and your internet are two different things. The WiFi is the network inside your house. The internet is a separate connection coming into the house from the street. Your phone has joined the first. The second has stopped. When the internet is out and it is not your provider, an internet technician finds where it stops.

What does “connected without internet” mean?

It means exactly what it says. Your device has connected to the WiFi, and the WiFi has no internet behind it. The phone, the tablet or the laptop is talking to the router. The router has nothing coming in to pass on.

Each maker words it a little differently. Apple’s page for an iPhone that can’t connect (opens in a new tab) uses “No Internet Connection”. Microsoft’s Windows page (opens in a new tab) puts “No Internet” under the network name and calls it limited connectivity. Apple’s Mac page describes a no internet version of the WiFi symbol. On Android, Google’s own pages describe the symbol with an exclamation mark, and “Connected without internet” is the phrase Samsung owners quote.

The same fault, as each device reports it

Where you see it	What it says
Android phone or tablet	Connected without internet under the network name, or a WiFi symbol with an exclamation mark
iPhone or iPad	No Internet Connection, under the network name
Windows 11 or 10	No Internet under the network name; Microsoft calls it limited connectivity
Mac	Apple's no internet version of the WiFi symbol, which Apple says appears when a router and IP address cannot be assigned

Your home network still works when the internet is out

Think of the router as doing two jobs. The first is running the WiFi inside the house, which connects every device to the router and, through it, to each other. The second is connecting the house to the internet, through the NBN box and the line to the street. When the second job fails, the first keeps going. That is the whole explanation, and it is why the message says connected.

We see it on call-outs every week. The WiFi light is on, the phone connects, and there is no internet. The house is still connected to a network. It is its own wireless network, so the printer still works and anything else on that network still works. Nobody can get to the internet, because the internet is out.

• Your phone says “connected” because it is connected. It is connected to the router. The router is up, the WiFi is up, and your phone joined it. The message is the phone being honest about which half has stopped.
• The things inside the house still talk to each other. The printer prints: Apple’s AirPrint page asks that the printer and the phone are on the same WiFi network, and says nothing about the internet. The phone’s screen still casts to the TV; Google’s and Apple’s own pages ask for the same thing, the same WiFi network, and neither names the internet. Anything that needs the internet stops: websites, streaming, email, video calls, a smart speaker answering a question.
• The WiFi light on the router only means the WiFi is on. It says nothing about the internet. Most routers have a separate light for the internet side, often labelled Internet, WAN, Online or marked with a globe, and that is the one to look at. What each light on the router means when there is no internet goes through them. Full WiFi bars on your phone say the same thing: the signal to the router is strong, and nothing more.

Pick something to try

Print a page Cast to the TV Open a website Stream a show

Printer TV Phone Laptop Router NBN box The internet Works Works Stops here

Print a page

Works. The printer is on your home network. The page goes from your phone to the router and on to the printer, and never needs the internet.

Cast to the TV

Works. Your phone and the TV are on the same home network, so the picture goes through the router to the TV and never leaves the house.

Open a website

Stops here. The internet is out, so nothing gets past the router. The request leaves your phone, reaches the router, heads out along the cable, and has nowhere to go.

Stream a show

Stops here. A streaming app needs the internet, and the internet is out. The router is up, the WiFi is up, and the line into the house is not.

The 30-second test

You do not need to log into anything to work out which side has failed.

Try something that stays inside the house. Print a page, or cast your phone’s screen to the TV. Then try something that needs the internet: open a website you do not usually visit. If the page prints or the TV shows your phone, and the website will not load, the WiFi is fine and the internet is out. Start at the router and work outwards, not at the phone.

Then the cable test, if you can. Plug a laptop into one of the LAN ports on the back of the router with a network cable, and try the same website. Microsoft’s Wi-Fi page suggests a cable test too, though it puts the cable straight into the modem. If the cable gets online and the WiFi does not, the internet is reaching the router and the WiFi side of the router is the problem. If the cable fails too, the internet is not reaching the router. Many newer laptops have no network port, which is why the print or cast test comes first.

Is it one device, or every device?

Ask this before anything else, because the answer halves the list.

• Every device shows connected without internet. The internet into the house has stopped. The fault is at the router, the NBN box, the cable between them, the line or your provider. Go to where the internet stops.
• Only one device shows it, and everything else is online. The internet is fine. The fault is in that device. Go to the one-device fixes. If a computer is slow rather than offline, check whether it is the computer or the internet.

Where to start

Is it one device or every device?

One device Every device

Does a laptop plugged into the router by cable get online?

Yes, it works No, it fails too

Answer both, and the place to start shows here.

• One device, and the cable works. The internet is fine and that device is the problem. Restart it, forget the network and join again, and check its date and time and any VPN: the one-device fixes.
• One device, and it is the laptop on the cable. Everything else is online, so the problem is still that device. Start at the one-device fixes.
• Every device, but the cable works. The internet reaches the router and the WiFi side of the router is not passing it on. Restart the router: the cable works and the WiFi does not.
• Every device, and the cable fails too. The internet is not reaching the router. Check for an outage, then the router's internet light, the NBN box, the cable between them and the line: where the internet stops.

Every device is offline: where the internet stops

Walk out from the router in the order the internet arrives.

Check for an outage first, on mobile data. Turn WiFi off on your phone so it uses mobile data, and open your provider’s outage page or app. Your provider is the first stop, not NBN Co. NBN Co’s own network status page (opens in a new tab) says that if no outage shows at your address and you still have a problem, you should contact your internet service provider, because there may be a fault on your individual service. How to check for an NBN outage, and what to do during one covers it in full. If there is an outage, nothing at home will fix it.

The router’s internet light. Look past the WiFi light to the internet light. If it is off, or a colour the router’s label says is wrong, the router is not getting a connection from the NBN box, and the next checks are where to look.

The NBN box. Most NBN connections have two boxes: the NBN connection box, sometimes called the NTD, which the line from the street comes into, and your own router, which plugs into it. The box can be offline while the router broadcasts happily. What the NBN connection box lights mean goes through each type of box. Make sure the router is plugged into the right port on the box, and that both ends of that cable click in.

The cable between them. A loose, kinked or corroded cable between the router and the NBN box, or the wall socket, leaves the WiFi up and the internet down. Push each plug in until it clicks, and swap any cable that looks damaged.

Restart both, in the right order. The NBN box first, then the router, and give them a few minutes to come up fully. How to restart the modem and NBN box in the right order has the order for each connection type; Microsoft’s page gives the same order for a modem and router, about 30 seconds unplugged. A restart clears a glitch. It does not fix a fault that comes back.

The line and the wiring, on copper connections. On the NBN types that still use the copper phone line into the house, which are fibre to the node, fibre to the curb and fibre to the building, the wiring inside your home is part of the connection. An old phone socket still joined to the line, which is a bridge tap, poor cable or a faulty socket can drop the connection in a way nothing on the router will show you. Finding that takes testing, which is what an NBN technician does on your side of the line.

If the cable works and the WiFi does not

The internet is reaching the router and the WiFi side of it has stopped. Restart the router. A router can lose its WiFi after old firmware or a changed setting: check its settings page for an update, and if settings have been changed, log into the router and put them back. If the WiFi keeps dropping, or never reaches the back rooms, the router and the WiFi can be checked and set up properly.

Only one device is offline: fix that device

If everything else in the house is online, the internet is working and the problem is in the device. Between them, the makers’ own pages come down to the same short list: restart it, forget the WiFi network and join it again, check the date and time, and turn off any VPN. The paths are the makers’ own.

• iPhone or iPad. Apple’s page says to check that Settings, then Wi-Fi, shows a tick beside your network, make sure Aeroplane Mode is off, and turn off Connectivity Assist. If you still see “No Internet Connection”, check the router, remove any VPN or security software and restart. Apple also says a Private Wi-Fi Address can stop a device reaching the internet after joining: update first, then turn it off for that network (Settings, Wi-Fi, the More Info button beside the network, Private Wi-Fi Address, Off). Resetting network settings is Apple’s last step.
• Android. Google’s Pixel page (opens in a new tab): turn WiFi off and on, Aeroplane mode on and off, then restart the phone. Forget the network (Settings, Network and Internet, Internet, Saved networks, your network, Forget) and join again with the WiFi password from the router. Then Settings, System, Date and time, and turn on “Set time automatically”.
• Windows 11 or 10. Microsoft’s page: run the Network and Internet troubleshooter in Get Help, check Aeroplane mode is off, forget the network (Settings, Network & internet, Wi-Fi, Manage known networks, Forget) and reconnect with the password. Network reset is Microsoft’s last resort; before it, Windows’ own network reset commands are worth running.
• Mac. Apple’s page: restart the Mac, which renews its address, make sure the date and time are set correctly, check for VPN or other security software, look for Wi-Fi Recommendations in the WiFi menu, and hold the Option key while clicking the WiFi symbol to open Wireless Diagnostics.

If a laptop or tablet still will not stay online when everything else does, tech help at home sorts out the device itself. If the one device is the television, why a smart TV won’t connect to WiFi goes through it. And if the printer has dropped off while the websites load, that is the other way round: a printer that says offline has its own checks.

How to fix connected without internet, step by step

Work from the top. The early steps are quick and settle most cases.

1. 1

   Check for an outage, on mobile data

   Turn WiFi off on your phone and open your provider's outage page or app. If there is an outage at your address, nothing at home will fix it. If there is none, keep going.

2. 2

   Try something inside the house

   Print a page, or cast your phone's screen to the TV. If that works and a website will not load, the WiFi is fine and the internet is out. Start at the router, not the phone.

3. 3

   Test with a cable

   Plug a laptop into a LAN port on the back of the router with a network cable. If the cable gets online, the internet reaches the router and the WiFi side is the problem. If it fails too, the problem is the router or beyond it.

4. 4

   Restart the NBN box and the router, in order

   Unplug both from the power, wait about 30 seconds, then plug in the NBN box first and the router once the box's lights have settled. Give them a few minutes to come up fully.

5. 5

   Check the cables and sockets

   Every cable on the router and the NBN box, both ends pushed in until they click. Look for kinks, fraying and loose plugs, and contacts that are dull or green rather than shiny.

6. 6

   Fix the one device

   If only one device is offline, restart it, forget the WiFi network and join it again, check its date and time are set automatically, and turn off any VPN for a moment to test.

7. 7

   Get it tested

   If every device is still offline and your provider says there is no outage, the fault needs proper testing: the line, the socket, the cabling or the equipment.

When it keeps coming back

A one-off is usually a glitch, and a restart fixes it. A fault that returns every few days, or every time it rains, is telling you something is wrong with the line, a joint, a socket or the equipment, and restarting only resets the clock. Why an internet connection turns unstable goes through what the pattern points to, and a speed test on a cable at the modem, run when it works and when it does not, gives you a record.

If you have a mesh system and it is the mesh that keeps losing the internet, why mesh WiFi keeps disconnecting covers the link between the units.

If your provider says the fault is inside your home and you are not convinced, it can be tested. An independent technician checks your side of the connection properly and tells you, in writing, which side the fault is on. That is a different thing from being told over the phone.