Connect to Wi-Fi if Phone Is Blocked: How To?

Here’s how to connect to Wi-Fi if your phone is blocked:

The easiest way to connect to a Wi-Fi network that is blocking your phone is to get permission from the network admin. 

Shy of that, you can try spoofing a different MAC address to get past some security measures, or you can try using a proxy server. 

Keep in mind that these actions come with personal and legal risks.

So if you want to learn all about connecting your phone to Wi-Fi if your phone is blocked, then this article is for you.

Let’s get started!

Connect to WI-FI if Phone Is Blocked: How To? (6 Ways)

What Is Wi-Fi Blocking?

frustrated woman working on laptop in cafe

In essence, there are a few ways to control who can access a Wi-Fi network.

Assuming you have such a network at home, you can imagine how some of this works.

The most common way to control access is to put a password on the network.

Anyone who doesn’t have a password is effectively blocked from the network.

Easy peasy.

But, that’s not what most people mean when they say they have been blocked from a network.

Instead, you might have the right password. 

You might even have successfully connected to the network before, but now, you can’t.

And, the problem might be specific to your phone.

When that’s the problem, you are likely being blocked, and there are specific actions necessary to overcome the block. 

But, before we go down that rabbit hole, it’s worth spending a little bit of time explaining how routers actively block users.

How Does Wi-Fi Blocking Work?

sad woman using computer in coffee shop, cellphone on the table.

It’s good to distinguish Wi-Fi blocking from other potential reasons why you can’t connect to a network.

Beyond that, knowing how blocking works can help you understand ways to get past a block.

In most cases, the behavior that can reasonably be described as Wi-Fi blocking involves MAC addresses.

More commonly, this technique is called MAC filtering.

Your router can discriminate against specific devices.

It does this by noting the MAC address associated with the device in question. 

A MAC address (media access control address) is a serial number assigned to any device that can connect to a network.

Every device has a specific MAC address, including the network adapter on your phone.

So, a router can specifically identify your phone by that MAC address.

Using the specific serial number can deliberately prevent your phone from joining the network.

This is the key to Wi-Fi blocking.

Whitelisting vs. Blacklisting

In general, MAC filtering can work in two ways. You can use MAC whitelisting or blacklisting.

With blacklisting, the router keeps a list of specific MAC addresses that aren’t allowed to join the network.

So, if someone gets on the wrong side of a network administrator, their phone might be blocked from accessing the network. 

The key to remember about blacklisting is that it targets specific devices, as the name suggests.

You can go in the opposite direction and use a whitelist. In this case, only the MAC addresses listed can access the network. 

This is a more comprehensive approach to MAC filtering, and it provides more restricted access to a network. 

A whitelist would make sense for a secure government network that shouldn’t be accessed by random users, as an example.

Remember the differences between whitelisting and blacklisting as you explore ways to get past a Wi-Fi block.

How to Connect to a Wi-Fi if Your Phone Is Blocked? (6 Ways)

An annoyed girl is sitting in a coffee shop and using smartphone.

Now that you know a little bit more about how Wi-Fi blocking works, different methods to overcome it will make more sense.

Before getting into that, we should all stop and review the important disclaimer.

Wi-Fi blocking is done at the discretion of the person who owns the network.

Using techniques or devices to overcome this blocking could be a violation of privacy, terms, and conditions (for public/business networks) or even federal law, in the case of legally secured networks. 

Always be sure that you have legal permission to be on a network before you try to get past any blocks.

Even outside of legal issues, there are ethical concerns with overcoming some applications of Wi-Fi blocking.

It always helps to know why you are blocked in order to determine whether or not you should try to work around the block.

With all of that said, we can get into methods that will help you get back on a Wi-Fi network.

#1 Start With Traditional Troubleshooting

Girl on her phone with a serious look.

Here’s the thing.

If you have not been specifically told that you were blocked from a network, you can’t be a hundred percent sure that blocking is really the problem.

Before you dive into the more complicated solutions listed below, you should start with basic troubleshooting.

See if you can access the network from other devices (the network might just be down).

Also, test if your phone is connecting to other networks. 

You want to be sure that the problem is specific to this particular network before diving deeper.

Assuming this is the only network giving you trouble, double-check that you have the password and network name entered correctly on your phone.

If those don’t work, try forgetting the network and then connecting again from scratch.

Beyond that, you can reset the network settings on your phone.

If fundamental troubleshooting doesn’t net any results, then you can start moving down this list of steps.

#2 Contact Network Administrator

Woman focused on a call using her laptop.

This is by far your easiest course of action, assuming you have contact access to someone who can help. 

If it’s a friend’s network, ask your friend about it. 

If it’s your work Wi-Fi, talk to IT. 

If you’re a guest on a business network, you can go through any available channels and get technical help.

Whether you are blocked or just having troubleshooting issues, the network administrator is your most powerful ally.

They can easily ensure that you do, in fact, have permission to be on the network.

If you are being blocked, they can simply remove the block.

If the administrator is unavailable or that’s not really an applicable option, then you can move on.

#3 Change Your MAC Address

male hand using cellphone

As you already learned, most Wi-Fi blocking is built around MAC addresses.

Since these are assigned to physical devices, they are great for blocking specific users.

The challenge, of course, is that you can’t just go into your settings to change a MAC address.

Instead, you would either need to change the network adapter on your phone, or you would need to spoof a different MAC address.

The second option is much more accessible.

You can use apps and/or software to spoof a different MAC address for the phone, and then you can try again to connect to the network.

There are a few things to note about this. First, the best spoofing options are only available if you root or jailbreak your phone.

If you don’t want to go that far, spoofing might not be the best route. 

You can look for apps to take care of this on your phone’s app store, but you’ll get mixed results at best.

Another important note relates to the blocking mechanism.

A MAC address spoof will likely get around a blacklist. 

Such a list blocks individual devices from joining, so if the network can’t recognize your MAC address, it will let you on.

Conversely, this does nothing to get around a whitelist block.

The only way in there is to have a listed MAC address.

Technically, you could spoof the right MAC address, but that would require you to know which devices are allowed on the network in the first place. 

Even with that knowledge, if two devices with the same MAC address are trying to connect at the same time, it can create networking issues. 

In a worst-case scenario, your spoofed MAC address might be flagged for suspicious or unwanted behavior, and your problem just got worse.

If it seems like the network is protected by a whitelist, your best resource remains the network administrator.

#4 Use a Proxy

A beautiful young woman in a yellow shirt sits on the floor on a carpet with a laptop.

Instead of changing your MAC address, you can just use a proxy server or proxy device. Here’s how it works.

You connect your phone to the proxy device.

As an example, you could use a laptop in the same room for this function.

So, your phone is connecting to the laptop, and the laptop is connecting to the Wi-Fi network. 

Ultimately, you’re using the Wi-Fi network to download things or browse on the phone, but the laptop middleman is an important factor. 

As far as the Wi-Fi network is concerned, only the laptop is connected, and the laptop’s MAC address is used for any blocking or filtering.

It’s a simpler approach, and it offers potential ways to get past both blacklists and whitelists.

If you can connect to a whitelisted laptop, you’re good to go.

Once again, let’s all go back over the disclaimer.

Depending on why your phone is not allowed on the network, this course of action could be a violation of an agreement or even illegal.

#5 Change Router or Network Settings

Laptop connected to a wifi router.

What if you’re blocked from your own network?

It might sound a little odd, but it does happen.

In such a case, you (or perhaps a roommate) are the network administrator, so blocking is up to you.

You can change the router or network settings in order to fix the blocking problem.

The exact steps will vary depending on your hardware and setups, but here’s the gist.

Connect directly to your router.

You do this by opening a browser on a device that is connected to the router. 

Type in the router’s specific IP address (often listed on a sticker on the router itself).

That should pull up a screen where you can log into the router. 

You will need the router’s username and password.

Again, the defaults are often on a sticker.

If there is no such sticker, you can look up the default login information for your specific model by going to the manufacturer’s website.

Once you log in, you will have access to administrator controls for the router. 

The exact setup varies from device to device, but there should be options relating to security and/or user access. 

In one of these menus, you will find the controls for blocking users or MAC filtering. 

You can either turn those settings off or add your phone’s MAC address to the whitelist (or remove it from the blacklist).

With that done, the blocking issue should be resolved.

#6 Contact Your ISP

Customer support staff explaining on a call.

In some cases, you might be renting your router from the ISP (internet service provider). 

Or, you might have a setup where they handle Wi-Fi administration for you. 

If that’s the case, you can still resolve this issue, but you’ll probably need to talk to tech support for the internet service provider.

Contact tech support or customer support. 

Explain to them that you cannot connect your phone to the Wi-Fi network, and they should engage in troubleshooting with you. 

If the problem is related to Wi-Fi blocking, they can ultimately take the steps necessary to unblock your phone.

Author

  • Theresa McDonough

    Tech entrepreneur and founder of Tech Medic, who has become a prominent advocate for the Right to Repair movement. She has testified before the US Federal Trade Commission and been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, helping influence change within the tech industry.