5+ Tested Solutions To Fix TCL TV Not Detecting Wi-Fi

Loved the read? Please share or comment, and we'll deliver even better content!

Are you experiencing issues with your TCL TV’s Wi-Fi?

You’re not alone. Many users face challenges, especially when their TCL TVs struggle to detect their Wi-Fi networks.

In this article, I will offer more than five proven solutions to address and rectify your TCL TV Wi-Fi not working issue.

Let’s dive in and get that connection back on track.

Troubleshooting Guide

This isn’t the first time that someone has dealt with Wi-Fi and internet connection issues on their TCL TV. Luckily, TCL has already published a detailed guide with Tips for improving the wireless connection on your TCL Roku TV.

We recommend carefully following all of TCL’s basic troubleshooting solutions to see if any of them resolve your problem. If your TV still can not maintain a strong connection to your router after following TCL’s tip, continue to the solutions listed below.

Enable Network Pings With TV Remote Sequence Combination

Your TCL TV network pings may be disabled, preventing it from connecting to Wi-Fi. Luckily, there’s an easy way to enable them using a shortcut on your remote.

Let’s learn how!

Step 1: Access the System Operations Menu

With your TV on, press the following remote keys as instructed below.

Step 1: Hit the Home key five times.

Step 2: Press the Fast Forward button.

Step 3: Hit the Play button.

Step 4: Hit the Rewind key.

Step 5: Press the Play button.

Step 6: Finally, hit the Fast Forward key.

Step 7: When you see the System Operations Menu on-screen, click on it.

Step 2: Enable Network Pings

Step 1: Once you’ve opened the System Operations Menu, head to the Network Menu.

Step 2: Highlight Disable network pings and hit your remote’s OK button to Enable network pings.

Step 3: Force Restart Your TV

To implement these changes and reconnect your TV to Wi-Fi, you must restart your TCL Roku TV using a remote combination. Refer to our article Why Is My TCL TV Stuck on the Startup Screen? to learn how.

Once your TCL Roku TV reboots it should automatically connect to your Wi-Fi network.

Switch to a Less Congested Wi-Fi Channel in Router Settings

If you live in a crowded apartment building or area and are using the same channel as your neighbors’ routers, your TCL Roku TV may struggle to maintain a connection with your router’s Wi-Fi. This is because the channel has become congested and cannot support more devices.

This Reddit user shared his experience using a simple solution to change his Wi-Fi router to a less congested channel, thereby mitigating his network problems.

Follow the instructions below to switch to a less congested Wi-Fi channel by navigating your router’s settings.

Step 1: Find the Right Wi-Fi Channel to Connect

For the best results, follow the process below using a laptop/computer.

In a web browser on your laptop, head to the Microsoft Store, and install and launch the Wi-Fi Analyzer app.

In the app, head to the Networks tab and refer to the network list to see which Wi-Fi channel your router is currently connected to.

As you can see above, my router is currently using Wi-Fi channel 6 (CH 6).

Then, check the other networks in the area and verify which channels they’re connected to.

From analyzing the other Wi-Fi networks in the area, I found that my neighbors are also using Wi-Fi channel 6.

Since we’ve confirmed that other people are indeed using the same Wi-Fi channel we are, we can check the network list again to find an unused channel. In this case, I’ll pick Wi-Fi channel 7 since no one else in my vicinity is currently using it.

Step 2: Switch Your Router to the Less Congested Wi-Fi Channel

Now that you’ve found an unused Wi-Fi channel, it’s time to switch your router to it.

Find the label on your router including the following information: WEB Link address, WEB user, and WEB password. Depending on where you live and your router brand, this information may be labeled slightly differently.

As you can see above, my router’s WEB Link address is 192.168.1.1.

We can use this address to access our router’s administrator portal by entering it into a browser’s URL bar on a laptop. Again, I strongly recommend only doing this process on a laptop/computer as opposed to a mobile device.

To log into the router configuration page, enter the WEB user and WEB password into the username and password boxes.

Once you’ve logged into your router’s portal, head to the Wireless Setup tab and adjust the Wi-Fi channel to the less congested channel you identified in Step 1. In my case, I chose to change to channel 7.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully switched your router to a less congested channel. I told you it was easy!

In turn, this will make it easier for your TCL Roku TV to connect to your Wi-Fi network.

Disable the MAC Address Filter on Your Router

When your router’s MAC Address Filter is enabled, your TCL Roku TV will only be able to connect to your router’s Wi-Fi network if the TV MAC address can be found in the filter list. Otherwise, your TV will be unable to establish a Wi-Fi connection.

To ensure your TV can connect to Wi-Fi, you can either add your TV address to the MAC address filter or disable this feature altogether. I recommend disabling the MAC address filter as it’s easier and will ensure you don’t have to continue adding your devices to the filter listed.

Follow the instructions below to disable your router’s MAC address filter. Please note these instructions may vary slightly depending on your router brand or model.

Step 1: Head to your router’s configuration portal (see steps in the previous section) on your laptop’s web browser.

Step 2: Navigate to Wireless and then open the Wireless MAC Filter tab.

Step 3: Next to Enable MAC Filter, select No.

Step 4: Click the Apply button to save your changes.

Cannot Detect or Connect to 5 GHz Wi-Fi? Disable the DFS Channel

Some TCL Roku TV users reported that their TVs could no longer discover or connect to 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks, even if had connected to them in the past.

This problem often occurs when your router’s DFS channel is enabled. Naturally, disabling this function should resolve the issue.

Follow the instructions below to disable your router’s DFS channel. Remember that different router brands and models’ settings may vary, so consult your user manual if the steps below aren’t applicable to you.

Step 1: In a web browser on your laptop/computer, navigate to the router’s configuration portal and log in accordingly.

Step 2: Head to Wireless before navigating to the General tab.

Step 3: Open the 5 GHz page before disabling the 160 MHz channel bandwidth.

Step 4: Next to Control Channel, select Auto. Then, un-check Auto select channel including DFS channels.

Step 5: Click on Apply to save your changes.

Use an Ethernet Cable

Wired connections are notoriously more stable than wireless ones. So, if you can bear adding an extra wire to your TV setup, then try using an Ethernet cable to connect your router directly to your TCL Roku TV.

TCL TVs have an Ethernet port on the side of their bezels, so you can plug an Ethernet cable directly into it without using an adapter.

In addition to making your network speed more stable, Ethernet connections may also be faster than their wireless counterparts.

TCL TV Cannot Detect Internet Network Due to Wrong Date and Time Settings

This one Reddit user found that his TCL TV would not detect and connect to his Wi-Fi network when its date and time were incorrectly set.

So, if you notice that your TV’s date and/or time do not match your region’s, it’s best to correct them.

TCL Google TVs have an Automatic Date & Time feature that instantly sets your TV’s date and time to the correct values. Follow the steps below to enable this function on your TCL Google TV.

Step 1: Press your remote’s Settings button and then head to the Settings menu.

Step 2: Go to System and open Date & Time.

Step 3: Click on Automatic Date & Time and select the Auto Synchronization option below.

TCL TV Cannot Connect to Wi-Fi Due to a Blank MAC Address

This Reddit user was struggling to connect his TCL Google TV to Wi-Fi and found that its blank MAC address (e.g. 00:00:00:00:00:00) was the culprit.

So, it’s best to check your TV’s MAC address to ensure it’s not simply a collection of zeros.

Follow the steps below to verify your TCL Google TV’s MAC address.

Step 1: Press the remote’s Settings button. Then, head to the Settings menu.

Step 2: Go to System followed by About and then Status.

Step 3: Now you will see your TV’s MAC address on-screen and can verify if it’s blank or not.

As you can see above, my TV’s MAC address is not blank, but if yours is, then your TV has an internal hardware issue.

Hardware problems can be challenging (and at times dangerous) to sort out at home, so it’s best to contact TCL customer support. If your warranty is still valid, they may replace your TV for free.

TCL Android TV Won’t Let You Enter the Wi-Fi Password

While uncommon, some TCL Android TV users have reported their TV blocking their Wi-Fi password, making it impossible to connect their TV to any network.

In some cases, you may be able to type the Wi-Fi password into the TV network settings but will be unable to submit it.

This one user found that his wireless keyboard connected to the TV was preventing the TV’s on-screen keyboard from appearing.

While this user had no problem typing the password into the text box, he found that the keyboard’s Enter button would not submit it since only the on-screen keyboard’s Enter key supports this function. So, he had to unplug his wireless keyboard and select the Enter button on-screen to submit the password.

Unfortunately, this issue is a result of one of TCL Android TVs’ design flaws which makes using a keyboard with your TV challenging at times, like when connecting to Wi-Fi.

So, if your TCL Android TV will not allow you to input a Wi-Fi password, double-check that any wireless or wired keyboards are disconnected from it before trying again.

Wrapping Things Up

Unfortunately, TCL TVs struggling to connect to Wi-Fi is not an uncommon issue. Luckily, there are several solutions you can try depending on your specific problem.

You may need to enable network pings, switch to a less congested Wi-Fi channel, or disable your router’s MAC address filter. If your TV can’t connect to a 5 GHz network, try disabling the DFS channel.

In some cases your TCL TV’s hardware may be faulty, resulting in a blank MAC address. So, try contacting TCL customer support to inquire about ordering a replacement.

Remember to unplug any external keyboards from your TV if you’re having trouble entering your Wi-Fi password as they block the on-screen Enter button.

What’s your experience troubleshooting TCL TVs’ network connectivity issues? Which one of our solutions helped you finally connect your TCL TV to Wi-Fi?

Let us know in the comments below!

Loved the read? Please share or comment, and we'll deliver even better content!