Only newer devices can connect to wifi, not older ones.?

Question

Unfortunately this problem has been present for almost 5 years now. We called a good amount of people some experts, some just love computers, to help fix it, but no luck.

Don't really know what triggered it to stop working but it might've been a new device entering & connecting. Now, there is a macbook & any iPhone 5 or over that can connect to the wifi, but under 5 does not & most androids especially older ones cannot. Many older laptops do not either. The acer laptop we have that is only 2-3 years old does not. We tried switching modems, routers, & even internet providers. No help. The thing is, the old devices cannot even see the wifi on their connections list. Sometimes once in a blue moon but it never connects. There have been at most 3 rare times that it started to connect, once was quite random, & another time was when another old android entered the house & randomly connected in the basement, leading a few of the other old devices nearby to connect. It was on & off connection, & eventually stopped. It's honestly very bizarre. It seems like an internal issue, but we don't know what.
If it helps, our modem & router are on the main floor.

Pleeeease! Someone help!

Answer 1

Hello,



I think that you are going to need to get a newer technology faster frequency wireless access point. I use Cisco wi-fi at my house. Never has any issues with this box and works well 200 feet away. (easy to set up as well) Worth every penny for me.



http://r.ebay.com/aDpEU9

Answer 2

One of the possibilities is dual band access point. Some access points can broadcast on 2.4 GHZ which is visible on older and newer devices and additionally on 5 GHz band which is visible only on newer devices. If for some reason 2.4 GHz functonality died or was turned off in the access point then the WiFi would be visible only on 5 GHz capable newer devices.



Any solution would involve a reconfiguration of the existing access point/wireless router or a replacement of it if faulty. The existing access point needs to have 2.4 GHz radio turned on as well as 802.11b/g or b/g/n mode enabled. This is typically done by changing access point's settings. The settings can be accessed from a a browser by going to access poin't web page. For example if access point's IP address is 192.168.1.1 then go to http://192.168.1.1. The device/computer accessing access point's setting page should be connected via LAN. This approach works with many consumer grade access points. A password is typically required and consulting the manual is strongly recommended. Any changes to settings must be done at your own risk as it is possible to accidently wipe out the existing settings.

Answer 3

If you have replaced your modem, router and ISP then you have replaced literally everything that could be causing this problem. Unless you have a wireless access point which you have yet to replace. Either that or you are using your neighbours wifi by mistake and the problem is with their gear.



The iPhone 5 is the first iPhone to have 5GHz wireless n. Log into your wifi router/AP and make sure 2.4GHz is enabled.

Answer 4

If devices want to connect to wifi,they should suppor wifi connection first,maybe the old ones couldn't support wireless connection. If your computer is laptop,you can free download My WIFI Router and change it to be a hotspot directly. If yours is desktop,you need to buy an external USB adapter first