Xfinity Wi-Fi Settings Turning Wi-Fi Off (but not On)

[requa]

For the past few days, I've been discovering my Wi-Fi is off on my Galaxy S9. I typically keep Wi-Fi, data, and BT turned on all the time and have been fine with battery life. When I drilled into the advanced wi-fi settings, I found an entry in Wi-Fi Control History saying that Xfinity Wifi Settings had turned off my wifi shortly after I arrived at work this morning (no wifi available there). I was at home by the time I saw this, and had been there and using my phone long enough for it to have discovered my home network and the Xfinitywifi signal. I don't mind the phone's attempt to save my battery by shutting that antenna down, but I thought it was also supposed to turn it back on for a known signal. What settign am I missing either to turn it back on automatically or stop turning it off? I'm concerned I'll start racking up actual data usage for a change.

[requa]

I think I sorted this out partially, but still have some confusion. I have always kept Turn On Wi-Fi Automatically enabled in Advanced Wi-Fi settings. This week, Xfinity WiFi turned off my WiFi at work, but didn't turn it back on at home. In my troubleshooting, I disabled Turn On WiFi Automatically thinking it might be involved. After posting, I caught this and enabled this setting again. Xfinity still turned WiFi off at work, but my phone did turn it back on when I got home again.

Also, I found the setting to prevent Xfinity from turning the WiFi off in the first place in the app's information panel, so I have now disabled that.

The lingering question is why this would have occurred in the first place -- before I started testing these settings, Xfinity turned WiFi off and the phone did not turn it back on. I only noticed when I was updating an app in the Play Store and it took onger than usual to download, so I checked my WiFi connection and had none. I guess I can enable both and just keep an eye on it. 

[pminaa]

Same problem.  Very frustrating.  Hopefully Xfinity can fix their app.

[requa]

I agree it's frustrating, but I'm not sure Xfinity's app is to blame. Xfinity's app, if allowed, is turning off WiFi and does so properly. Is that the same app that should be turning the WiFi back on? The setting is in a different place, and may be coming from android or Samsung for all I know.

[FoxtheWhite]

Same situation here. I think it's the latest software update that caused this issue to appear. 

For me, it's ok for weekdays because I have wifi coverage both in office and at home. But over the weekend when I was using my phone without wifi coverage, the app keeped poping up a window asking for permission to turn off wifi. If I allowed it to turn off wifi, it would then pop up for permission to turn on wifi in just a few seconds.

[NatchGreyes]

Where are these settings? Have the same issue. Galaxy S10e. 

Prior to the latest updates, Wifi was always kept on and would connect on my home network, work network, and wherever Xfinity Wifi was available. Now, the phone is randomly turning off Wifi...I don't care if it depletes my battery, I always have Wifi and want to use it.

[requa]

I'm seeing settings in two places. First, in Settings/Connections/Wi-Fi/Advanced, I disabled "Turn on Wi-Fi automatically," which actually says it will turn Wi-Fi on and off. On the same screen, scroll to the bottom, tap View More, then scroll further and tap Wi-Fi Control History. This shows a list of apps that have turned it on or off. Tap one of those and enable or disable it's ability to control.

Having done all of this (turning off the main setting and the individual app settings), I'm still getting the popup asking me if I want to let Xfinity Wifi Settings take action. This app doesn't take a hint.

[Nealbws]

having the same issue.

[Chicago-user]

I also posted the below in another thread in this same forum. I saw the last comment with possible resolution to turn off  'change system settings' within the Xfinity Wifi app settings. Let us know if this works. I'd prefer that whatever changed is updated within the app and pushed to all Xfinity customers (very soon). We shouldn't have to use work-arounds. 

Here's my post from the other thread: I have 3 Samsung S9s on my account, and this just started happening to all 3. Not a coincidence. I believe the timing on this is tied to a recent Android update received sometime around the first of November. Spent a couple hours on the phone with Xfinity today. Very nice, but they're not aware of this issue. At one point a warranty replacement was suggested. This is not a Samsung issue. All 3 of my phones are fine and they did not conspire to all stop working properly on the same day. I have screenshots showing that it's the Xfinity Wifi Settings app causing this malfunction. Xfinity, please fix this!

Xfinity, if you need further proof that this is a much larger issue than you may currently realize or admit, look at the reviews blowing up on Google Play Store for the Xfinity Wifi Settings app. You can see that around the start of the month hundreds of your customers are complaining about the same issue. Some are also suggesting that this was an intentional change by Xfinity to cause your customers to use more data (resulting in more $$ for Xfinity). I personally don't believe that's the case, but you can see that if this isn't resolved quickly, it's going to morph into something that WILL damage your brand image.

[FoxtheWhite]

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@Nealbws wrote:
On my S10, here is what I have done:
Wifi settings - Advanced
scroll down and select more
Wifi Control History
tap on Xfinity wifi settings
On the next screen, tap on Xfinity wifi settings again.
Scroll down to the bottom and set Change system settings to not allowed.

Since then, no more turned off wifi or annoying pop up.

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Did it on my S9, didn't work....

[jimbi1]

I am glad others are having this issue because I thought it was just me. I noticed this shortly after the latest update. This issue has cost me more money this billing cycle because of wifi being turned off without my knowledge. If I turn someone on or off I want it to stay that way until I decide to change it.

[enochbenjamin]

I am also having this issue after the latest update. Has anyone found a fix?

[jb1960ish]

Having the same issue with two S10s since the last 2 software updates. Blew thru a gig of data in 2 days when we hardly ever go over a gig in a month.

[Silentbobclone]

Having the same issue. I can keep Xfinity from turning wifi off through the app panel as noted above, but I get 50 notifications a day requesting permission to turn it off even when it is connected to my home Xfinity wifi. Argh, this is annoying

[rjsimons15]

I think I may have found a workaround. The following "fix" for my Samsung Galaxy S9 has resolved this issue for me over the last three days.

Tap on SETTINGS

Tap CONNECTIONS

Tap WI-FI

Tap ADVANCED

Scroll down to NETWORK SETTINGS and DISABLE the AUTO-CONNECT TO XFINITY WI-FI setting

This turns off connecting automatically to Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots but you can still manually connect if you need to. All other Wi-Fi networks continue to work as before including any saved networks that you have set to auto connect when they are available.

This has been working for me for a few days now and since I rarely use Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots I don't miss the capability to auto connect to them.

[WKG]

Same issue, will credit be isssued?

[Nealbws]

I disabled auto-connect to Xfinity wifi as rjsimmons15 suggested above.
I also went to settings - apps - show system apps, went into Xfinity wifi settings and disabled permission to phone and location.
Haven't seen problems since.

Does nobody from Xfinity read the forums? Heading into two weeks with no acknowledgement. Not awesome customer service.

[Eric4427]

I talked to support today, they say its a technical issue being worked on.

And they did refund the charges that have occured because of this.

I don't really want to stop connecting to Xfinity hot spots, so I will just pay attention until I see an app update.

[WKG]

Agent did not know about issue. Pria was name given.

[WKG]

Transfered to Courtney, a supervisor

[requa]

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@Nealbws wrote:
I disabled auto-connect to Xfinity wifi as rjsimmons15 suggested above.
I also went to settings - apps - show system apps, went into Xfinity wifi settings and disabled permission to phone and location.

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I'm leaving the auto-connect to XfinityWiFi enabled, but I followed your suggestion to disable the location permission for this app, figuring the phone permission was probably not involved. It makes sense if the app is turning WiFi off and on based on the phone's location near known signals, rather than based on detecting the signals themselves. Once I got through the app's first popup asking me to re-enable this permission (denied and don't ask again), I don't think I've seen the other popup for over a day, and my WiFi antenna is remaining on whether or not I'm near a known signal. I agree that we shouldn't have to disable potentially useful features, but at least I'm not getting the annoying popups now.

[fred2179]

I used more mobile data than expected, and I was offered a refund, though tech support had no idea what the app was, or what the problem is.
I have gone to Settings/Apps/show system apps/xfinity wifi settings and I have done a "Force Stop" to make it go away.  It comes back when I reboot, but a Force Stop will keep it from turning off my wifi while I am at home!!!! 

[FoxtheWhite]

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@requa wrote:

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@Nealbws wrote:
I disabled auto-connect to Xfinity wifi as rjsimmons15 suggested above.
I also went to settings - apps - show system apps, went into Xfinity wifi settings and disabled permission to phone and location.

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I'm leaving the auto-connect to XfinityWiFi enabled, but I followed your suggestion to disable the location permission for this app, figuring the phone permission was probably not involved. It makes sense if the app is turning WiFi off and on based on the phone's location near known signals, rather than based on detecting the signals themselves. Once I got through the app's first popup asking me to re-enable this permission (denied and don't ask again), I don't think I've seen the other popup for over a day, and my WiFi antenna is remaining on whether or not I'm near a known signal. I agree that we shouldn't have to disable potentially useful features, but at least I'm not getting the annoying popups now.

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This method works for me.

[fred2179]

I have to wonder why the app ever turns wifi off?  I can see managing which network you might connect to. I have my own router on an Xfinity cable internet, so maybe that confuses it - but there's an Xfitity signal from next door which it occasionally connects with.  Anytime the wifi is turned off, my phone is using the cell network, and Xfinity is incurring data charges from Verizon.  Weird.

[WKG]

How are credits for this problem being handled?

[fred2179]

Just call Tech Support and complain.  It helps if you used some cellular data recently.

[Nealbws · Accepted solution]

I chatted with a tier 2 rep last evening and the information he gave me was that they are now aware that the cause of this was Samsung using an unsigned version of Xfinity Wifi Settings app in their recent updates for the S9 and S10. The app was not ready for release and obviously has a bug. He said that Xfinity is working with Samsung now for a fix. In the meanwhile, he said that the steps revoking permissions that we've been talking about here is our best fix. He said Xfinity would be reaching out to customers when a fix was implemented.