The S26's Wi-Fi story is Wi-Fi 7, and the reports are consistent. Owners say the S26 is acceptably fast on Wi-Fi 6E, but with Wi-Fi 7 turned on it runs for a few minutes and drops, shows Connected, no internet, and needs a reconnect about once an hour. Some see sudden slowness and timeouts that clear only after a restart or a flight-mode toggle, and Wi-Fi that switches itself off. The workarounds that owners share are specific: switch off Smart Connect on the router, so it stops steering the phone between 2.4 and 5 GHz; switch off Wi-Fi 7 in the Connection Labs settings; and in Developer options turn off Wi-Fi non-persistent MAC randomization and Wi-Fi scan throttling. A handshake optimization for Wi-Fi 7 is reported to be in progress.
Differential
Likely causes of “Samsung Galaxy S26 will not connect to Wi-Fi or keeps disconnecting”, and how to tell them apart
- 1
Wi-Fi 7 on the S26
What separates it The phone connects, then drops after a few minutes or shows Connected, no internet
How to confirm Switch Wi-Fi 7 off in Connection Labs under the Wi-Fi settings, or put the router on Wi-Fi 6E for now
- 2
A router's Smart Connect
What separates it The phone drops when the router moves it between 2.4 and 5 GHz
How to confirm Turn Smart Connect off and give the two bands different names
- 3
MAC randomization or scan throttling
What separates it Brief timeouts that clear after toggling flight mode
How to confirm In Developer options turn off Wi-Fi non-persistent MAC randomization and Wi-Fi scan throttling, and toggle between Phone MAC and Randomized MAC
- 4
A handshake bug that Samsung is working on
What separates it The same router is fine for other phones
How to confirm Install the newest patch, which is reported to carry a Wi-Fi 7 handshake optimization
- 5
Wi-Fi switching itself off
What separates it The switch turns off by itself
How to confirm Restart, forget the network and rejoin
Before you touch a setting
Record this first — changing settings destroys the evidence
- The router make and model, whether it is Wi-Fi 7, and whether Smart Connect is on
- How long it stays connected before it drops
- Whether the fault changes on Wi-Fi 6E
- The One UI version and patch date
Try in this order
0 of 6 completedSwitch Wi-Fi 7 off for a test
ReversibleIn the Wi-Fi settings open Connection Labs and switch Wi-Fi 7 off, or set the router to Wi-Fi 6E, and see whether the drops stop.
Turn off Smart Connect
ReversibleGive the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands separate names on the router and join one of them.
Try the Developer options toggles
ReversibleSettings, Developer options: Wi-Fi non-persistent MAC randomization off, Wi-Fi scan throttling off. Undo them if they do not help.
Switch between Phone MAC and Randomized MAC
ReversibleIn the network's Advanced options flip the MAC address type and rejoin.
Forget and rejoin
ReversibleForget the network and join with the password typed fresh.
Install the newest patch
ReversibleA Wi-Fi 7 handshake optimization is reported to be coming in a patch.
Model-specific
What is true of this model and not of its siblings
- What owners compare
- S26 owners say it is slower than the S25 Ultra on the same Wi-Fi, and acceptably fast on Wi-Fi 6E.
- Developer options
- The MAC randomization and scan throttling toggles are hidden until you enable Developer options by tapping the build number.
Stop boundary
When this stops being a self-service repair
- !If the S26 drops on a Wi-Fi 6E router too, send a Samsung Members error report with the router models
- !If every network fails in Safe mode and after Reset network settings, book a hardware check
- !If only a new router fails, update that router
Evidence ledger
Sources behind this answer
Samsung's Wi-Fi checklist.
A long thread of S26 owners with Wi-Fi 7 drops and slow speeds.
Workarounds for slow Wi-Fi on the S26.
Per-model battery, charging, chip and display for the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra.
Exact questions
Common questions
Why does my S26 disconnect on Wi-Fi 7?+
Owners report drops after a few minutes on Wi-Fi 7, and no internet messages. Turning Wi-Fi 7 off in Connection Labs is the common workaround.
Should I turn Smart Connect off?+
Owners found that the S26 dropped when the router steered it between bands, and separating the bands stopped it.
Is the slow S26 Wi-Fi a hardware fault?+
Reports point at software and router interaction; a permanent patch is reported to be coming.
Where is Connection Labs?+
In the Wi-Fi settings.