How to Fix Wi-Fi That Connects But Has No Internet Access

"Connected, no internet access" is a symptom, not a diagnosis — it can mean five different things, and each has a different fix. Working through these in order rules causes in or out quickly instead of restarting things at random.

01Check whether it's one device or all of them

Try another phone, laptop, or tablet on the same Wi-Fi. If every device is affected, the problem is your router or modem — skip to Step 4. If it's only one device, the problem is local to that device — continue to Step 2.

02Check for a self-assigned IP address

When a device can't reach the router's DHCP server, it assigns itself a fallback address, which looks connected but has no real routing.

• Windows: open Command Prompt, run ipconfig. If the IPv4 address starts with 169.254, that's the problem.
• macOS: System Settings → Wi-Fi → Details. An address starting with 169.254 means the same thing.

Fix: forget the network, then reconnect. If it happens repeatedly, restart the router — its DHCP service may have run out of leases or hung.

03Rule out DNS specifically

A very common pattern: browsers fail, but games or apps that use a raw IP still connect. That points to DNS, not a dead connection.

Test it directly. Open a terminal and run:

ping 8.8.8.8

If that gets replies but ping google.com fails, DNS is broken specifically. Fix by switching your DNS servers to 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8 in your network adapter settings, or directly in the router's WAN settings so it applies to every device.

04Restart modem and router — in the right order

Order matters here, and it's usually done backwards:

1. Unplug the router first.
2. Unplug the modem. Wait 30 seconds.
3. Plug the modem back in and wait until its lights show a stable connection (usually 1–2 minutes).
4. Only then plug the router back in.

This lets the modem fully re-establish its connection with your ISP before the router tries to use it.

05Check if your ISP is the actual problem

If a restart doesn't help, connect a laptop directly to the modem with an Ethernet cable, bypassing the router entirely. If there's still no internet, the outage is upstream — check your provider's status page or outage line before troubleshooting your equipment further.