Our Xfinity router doesn’t cover our entire home. After about a year of screwing around with mesh and other extenders, I finally bit the bullet and purchased 2 Xfinity Pods. (I purchased direct because Amazon didn’t have the latest release of pods.) The pods work exactly as advertised, by that I mean they are excellent. A bit pricy, but worth it. Very easy to set up. No more dead spots. Everyone’s happy.

However, the other day we had a friend of ours staying with us. Her Windows laptop refused to connect to the pod. Instead, it was tenaciously holding onto that itty-bitty strand of a signal being received from the gateway. Barely a dribble. Not enough juice to maintain a stable video call. The gateway is way on the other side of the house from where her laptop was set up…hence the pod. After bouncing the WiFi on her laptop (turning it on and off), trying to shake the machine loose from the gateway, I assumed (incorrectly) that maybe the pod was out of range. So I moved it. Moved it again. And then deleted, and re-introduced the pod to the network. All within spitting distance of the laptop in question. After all this, I realized I had just committed THE cardinal sin of computer troubleshooting — Never hunt for a solution based on an assumption. Finally, that being said, I settled down and worked out what was really happening. The Xfinity forum was no help on this matter either.

(basically, the quick answer is: 1. make sure the pod is working and 2. Delete and re-add the wifi network connection on the computer or device in question. You should be seeing full-strength WiFi, if not, you’re probably connecting to the gateway.)

Here are the detailed instructions:

1. Make sure you have the Xfinity app on your phone. It’s invaluable for troubleshooting.
2. Open the Xfinity app. Tap Wifi at the bottom.
3. Tap View Wifi equipment. Confirm that your pod(s) are up and running.
4. Confirm that the pod closest to your computer is online. I know sounds obvious.
5. If the pod in question is up and running then…
6. Inside the Xfinity app, return to the Wifi screen.
7. Scroll down till you see Devices.
8. Every device that’s connected to the network is doing so either through the Gateway or a pod. (see Fig A, below)
9. Locate the computer in question. Note which connection point it’s using.
10. If you’re reading this, I’m guessing it’s connected to the Gateway, not the pod.
11. Once you’ve confirmed 1. the pod is live and 2. the computer isn’t connecting to it…
12. Go to your Windows machine, Locate Settings > Network & Internet
13. Select WiFi on the left.
14. Select Manage Known Networks
15. Locate the wifi connection in question. Delete it. As in, FORGET network.
16. Now, this next step is just a habit of mine from years of dealing with Windows machines. Reboot the machine. I do this after just about every system modification.
17. Once the machine is back up and running, go into your Wifi settings, and view Available Networks.
18. Re-Join the Wifi network.
19. Return to your Xfinity app > WiFi. Refresh this page by pulling down from the top and then letting it go. Make sure you do this so that you get an updated listing of connections.
20. Scroll down to your computer in question. Confirm that it is indeed connecting to the pod.

My first clue for deleting and re-adding the Wifi connection came from our Peloton bike. It was for the bike I had set up the pod in the first place. When I unplugged the pod, the bike connected to the Gateway. But when I plugged the pod back in, the bike did not automatically route its connection through the pod–an elementary deduction, based on signal strength. It was holding onto the Gateway until I deleted the wifi network from the bike. Then re-established the connection. (Fig. A is a screenshot from the Xfinity app.)

If you have any issues or questions with this, drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you. Full disclosure. I don’t work for Xfinity. And Yes, this is my first blog post of the year. Yay me!