How to Connect Vizio TV to Wi-Fi in seconds

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Because of my passion for technology, a lot of friends and family come to me if they have an issue with their device that they can’t seem to fix.

One such instance of this was a few days ago when a close friend of mine told me that he had recently bought a Vizio Smart TV but could not properly connect it to his home network.

Without an internet connection, your smart TV just becomes a regular old one because not having a working network connection leaves you unavailable to access any of the services that your smart TV provides.

Many different factors can affect your network connection, so I decided to do some research online, looking through different articles and forum threads.

To connect your Vizio TV to Wi-Fi, use the Vizio SmartCast Mobile app while checking the frequency band on your router and the network settings.

In this article, I have gone over the different ways to connect your Vizio TV to your home Wi-Fi network and some troubleshooting tips you can implement if you are having trouble establishing a connection with your network.

Which Platform Is Your Vizio TV On?

Before you connect your Vizio TV to your Wi-Fi, you need to know what platform your TV is running on.

Vizio Smart TVs come on four different platforms:

1. Vizio Internet Apps (VIA) – This platform is found on Vizio Smart TVs released between 2009 – 2013 and allows you to install apps onto it.
2. Vizio Internet Apps Plus (VIA Plus) – The VIA plus platform is on Vizio Smart TVs released between 2013 – 2017 and, like its predecessor, allows you to install apps onto it.
3. SmartCast with No Apps – This platform is found on Vizio HD Smart TVs released between 2016 – 2017 and did not allow you to install apps onto it.
4. SmartCast with Apps – This is the latest platform found on Vizio 4K UHD Smart TVs released between 2016 – 2018 and every Smart TV released since 2018. This platform does not allow you to install apps but comes with a vast library of pre-installed apps.

Each of these different platforms has slight differences in their user interface to allow you to distinguish between them.

If you don’t know which platform your TV is running on, you can look up images online and visually compare the interface on your TV.

Connect SmartCast Vizio TV to Wi-Fi

To connect your SmartCast Vizio TV to your home Wi-Fi network, follow these steps:

• Press the ‘Menu’ button on your TV remote.
• Select the ‘Network’ option and pick your Wi-Fi network from the list that shows up.
• If your Wi-Fi is secured, you will be prompted to type in your password. Once you do, your SmartCast Vizio TV will connect to your home Wi-Fi network.

Connect Vizio Internet Apps TV to Wi-Fi

To connect your Vizio Internet Apps TV to your home Wi-Fi network, follow these steps:

• Press the ‘Menu’ button on your TV remote.
• Select the ‘Network’ option and pick your Wi-Fi network from the list that shows up.
• If your Wi-Fi is secured, you will be prompted to type in your password. Once you do, your Vizio Internet Apps TV will connect to your home Wi-Fi network.

Connect Vizio TV To Your Wi-Fi Router Using an Ethernet Cable

If your Vizio TV comes with ethernet ports on the back, that’s great because it means you can connect to your home network via a wired connection.

To connect your Vizio TV to your router using an ethernet cable:

• Take one end of the ethernet cable and plug it into an available ethernet port on the back of your Vizio TV.
• Plug the other end of the ethernet cable into an ethernet port on your Wi-Fi router.
• Turn off the TV using the power button at the back and then turn it on again the same way. Your TV should automatically recognize that it is over a wired connection.
• Press the ‘Menu’ button on your remote and select ‘Network’ if this doesn’t happen.
• Select ‘Wired Network’.
• You will receive a confirmation message which indicates that your TV is now connected to the internet.

Use the Vizio SmartCast Mobile App To Connect Your Vizio TV To Wi-Fi

Your Vizio remote is important if you want to be able to connect to the internet.

However, if, for some reason, you don’t have the remote, you don’t have to worry.

You can use the Vizio SmartCast mobile app to turn your smartphone into your TV remote.

Here’s how you do it:

• Download the Vizio SmartCast app onto your smartphone (from the App Store for iPhone and the Play Store for Android).
• You can either create an account to use on the app or use the app as a guest. There is also a skip option that appears on the bottom of the screen, which you can use if you want to do neither.
• Once you see the ‘Select Device’ prompt on your screen, select it. This forces the app to search for surrounding devices.
• Select ‘Get Started’ to begin pairing your TV to your smartphone.
• Select your TV from the list on your screen.
• A 4 digit PIN code will appear on your TV screen. Type this code into the SmartCast app.
• Your smartphone will now be connected to your TV, and you can begin using it as a remote to connect to your home Wi-Fi network.

Unable To Connect Your Vizio TV To Wi-Fi? Troubleshooting Tips

Sometimes you might run into some issues while connecting your Vizio TV to your home Wi-Fi network.

This could either be caused due to technical issues with your TV, router, or your internet connection itself.

Some common troubleshooting tips that can help you are:

• Check your internet connection. Try connecting to your home network and accessing the web on different devices. This lets you know where the problem is. If you can access the web on different devices, there is some problem with your TV. If not, it means you need to troubleshoot your Wi-Fi network.

• Toggle the DHCP settings. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows your router to assign IP addresses to the different devices on the network to ensure the smooth movement of network traffic. It is better to keep this setting enabled as it ensures that there is no overlap of network packets. To do this, press the ‘Menu’ button on your remote, select ‘Network’, go to ‘Manual Setup’ and select ‘DHCP’. If it is set to off, use the right arrow to turn it on. If it already is on, turn it off once before turning it on.

• Power cycle the router, modem, and TV. Unplug your router, modem, and TV from power and leave them for about 15 – 20 seconds. Doing this clears the device’s internal memory and thus clears up any software glitch hindering the network connection. Connect the devices back to power to see if they connect to your Wi-Fi network.

• Enable WPA-PSK [TKIP] in your router’s security settings. Vizio’s Smart TVs are known to work best when the WPA-PSK [TKIP] encryption is enabled. To enable this setting, enter your router’s default gateway IP address into your browser’s URL bar. This will open up your router’s admin panel. Log into it using your credentials to access your router’s settings. If your router is provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), you will need to call them and ask them how to change the security settings on your router.

Check the Frequency Band Of Your Wi-Fi Router

Most routers these days come with dual-band wireless signal enabled (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz).

Some models of Vizio TV will not be able to see the 5 GHz band, which is quite normal with older TVs as they lack the antenna to communicate with the 5 GHz band.

If this is the case, try switching your router to 2.4 GHz and reconnecting your TV to your Wi-Fi network.

It is also possible that while you can connect to both bands of your Wi-Fi, one of the bands will provide you with significantly better performance than the other.

In this case, identify which frequency band works better with your TV and simply connect your TV to that Wi-Fi band.

Check The Wi-Fi Credentials

Ensure that you enter your Wi-Fi credentials correctly when connecting your Vizio TV to your home Wi-Fi network.

Entering the wrong password will prevent you from connecting to your Wi-Fi network unless you forget the network connection on your TV and begin the connection from the start.

Another common issue occurs when you change your Wi-Fi network’s SSID or password and forget to update it on your TV.

Once you change the credentials of your Wi-Fi, your TV will not be able to identify it until you forget the old Wi-Fi network and establish a new connection with the updated one.

Check Network Settings

As seen earlier, toggling your DHCP settings and changing your router’s security settings to enable WPA-PSK [TKIP] are some troubleshooting tips that could help fix your network issue.

Another setting you might want to look at is if you accidentally blacklisted your TV on your Wi-Fi network.

Most routers have a blacklist option where you can add a device’s IP or MAC address to a blacklist, and the router will then proceed to block all communications that the device tries to have on the network.

This setting is usually under your router’s security settings.

If you know your TV’s IP or MAC address, you can check the blacklist to see if your device is on there and remove it if it is.

However, if you do not know your TV’s IP or MAC address, you can try removing any devices on the list one by one and then checking if your TV can connect to the network.

Make sure you note the devices you remove so that you can add them back once you fix your issue.

Reset Your Vizio TV

If none of the above troubleshooting tips worked, the only option left is to reset your Vizio TV.

Resetting your TV helps because it reverts any changes in the settings that you may have accidentally made, causing issues with your network connection.

However, it is important to remember that resetting your TV will delete all your customized settings and data.

To reset your Vizio TV:

• Press the ‘Menu’ button on the Vizio remote.
• Using the arrow buttons, highlight ‘System’ and press ‘OK’ on your remote to select it.
• Select the ‘Reset & Admin’ option and find the ‘Reset TV to Factory Defaults’ under it.
• If you have not manually changed the parental code, enter 0000 when asked for the password.
• Select the ‘Reset’ option and wait for the TV to turn off.
• Once the TV turns back on, you can proceed with the Setup App process.

With SmartCast TVs, you can reset the TV by pressing and holding the input and volume down button on the side of the TV for about 10 – 15 seconds until a banner pops up on the screen.

The banner will prompt you to press and hold the input button to reset your TV to its factory default settings.

Contact Support

If resetting your Vizio Smart TV did not work either, it means there may be some internal issue with the TV.

In this case, the only thing you can do is reach out to Vizio’s Customer Support Team.

Vizio TVs come with free lifetime technical support, and so you can reach out to them either by calling the customer support number or by visiting Vizio’s tech support website.

If your TV is still under warranty, you can get it serviced or replaced.

Final Thoughts on Connecting your Vizio TV to Wi-Fi

If you don’t have your Vizio remote for any reason, you might find it difficult to connect to your home Wi-Fi network as you won’t have any way to navigate through the different menus.

However, there is an ingenious solution to this problem.

You can connect a USB keyboard to your Vizio Smart TV to help you navigate the different menus.

All you have to do is reset your TV, plug the USB keyboard into the back of your TV and begin using it.

You can also use a universal remote to navigate through the menus as Vizio supports many different remote brands and models.

After you’ve connected your Vizio TV to Wi-Fi, you’ll want to get an internet browser on your Vizio TV.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can you update an old Vizio Smart TV?

Vizio Smart TVs usually update automatically when the TV is turned off, provided that it is connected to the internet.

However, you can manually update it by pressing the V key on your TV remote, going to ‘System’ from the Settings menu, and selecting ‘Check for Updates’.

If there are any updates available, you will be prompted to confirm that you want to update, doing which the TV will first download the new update, restart, install the update and restart again.

How do I change the Wi-Fi on my Vizio TV without a remote?

You can change the Wi-Fi on your Vizio TV without a remote by using the SmartCast Vizio TV smartphone app to use your smartphone as your TV remote or by using a universal remote.

You can even plug a USB keyboard into your TV and use it to navigate through the different menus.

Can Vizio Smart TV connect to 5 GHz?

While the newer models of the Vizio Smart TV can connect to the 5 GHz frequency band without any issue, the older models may have difficulty connecting to the 5 GHz band as they might not have the antenna needed to communicate with this frequency.

Does Vizio Smart TV have Wi-Fi Direct?

Yes, Vizio Smart TVs do come with Wi-Fi Direct enabled and the process to connect any device to your Vizio Smart TV over Wi-Fi Direct is the same as you would with any other Wi-Fi Direct enabled device.