Ecobee Thermostat Disconnecting from Wi-Fi? (Fixes to Try)

ByNelson Morgan Troubleshooting

If you’re on this page, my guess is you’re having trouble connecting your ecobee thermostat to your home Wi-Fi. While every other thing works fine, you can’t seem to connect the device permanently to your Wi-Fi. The thermostat just keeps losing its Wi-Fi connectivity at different intervals.

Are you going through this issue? Then, you should keep reading to learn how to troubleshoot Wi-Fi connection problems with your ecobee thermostat.

Ecobee Thermostat Disconnecting from Wi-Fi

As you read this, you’re probably braving the cold or heat because you can’t use your thermostat. To avoid this problem in the future, let’s explore the reasons your ecobee thermostat may be disconnecting from your Wi-Fi:

  • Your router is operating on a 5GHz Wi-Fi network.
  • The Wi-Fi signal strength on your ecobee thermostat is low.
  • Your Wi-Fi encryption settings are incompatible with your ecobee thermostat.
  • Your ecobee firmware version has a bug.

Now, let’s see how you can troubleshoot these issues.

Ecobee Thermostat Disconnecting from Wi-Fi: Try These Troubleshooting Tips

1. Switch to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Network

Your ecobee thermostat may fail to connect to your Wi-Fi if the router is running on a 5GHz network. If your router is fairly new, it is most likely a dual-band router. Being dual-band, the router may automatically switch to a 5GHz band if it seems to be faster than the router’s other network: the 2.4GHz band.

Most ecobee thermostats are only compatible with the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. This means that the device won’t connect to your router if it is running on the 5GHz network. To resolve this problem, you have to manually switch your router to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. If you’re not sure how to do this, refer to your router’s user manual or try googling the model to find the instructions.

That said, there is one ecobee thermostat that works perfectly with both 5ghz and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks. This thermostat is the SmartThermostat with Voice Control. If you are using this thermostat, you don’t need to bother about swapping your Wi-Fi network.

2. Change Your Wi-Fi Encryption Settings

Your ecobee thermostat may not connect to your Wi-Fi if your router’s encryption settings are incompatible with the thermostat.

Previously, ecobee thermostats used to be compatible with TKIP encryption types. But due to a recent update, ecobee thermostats now support WPA/WPA2 AES encryption type only. If your router is set to a different encryption type than WPA/WPA2, you may need to change your security settings to help your thermostat regain its Wi-Fi connection.

Here’s how to adjust your Wi-Fi encryption settings:

  • Log into your router’s web page by entering its IP address into a browser.
  • Look for the Wireless Network tab and click on it.
  • Search for the WPA/WPA2 encryption setting. If your Wi-Fi is already set to this encryption type, you can exit the menu.
  • If not, click on WPA/WPA2 to switch to the appropriate Wi-Fi encryption setting for your ecobee thermostat. Also, make sure that your WPA/WPA2 is set to AES instead of TKIP.
  • Now, reboot your router and wait for it to connect to your thermostat.

3. Move Your Router Closer to Your ecobee Thermostat

If your ecobee thermostat has a low Wi-Fi signal strength, it might be because your router is too far from the thermostat. Most routers tend to produce lower signal strengths the farther they are from a device. That said, you can increase your signal strength by bringing the router closer to your ecobee thermostat.

4. Power Cycle Your Thermostat and Router

Your ecobee thermostat is likely to have Wi-Fi connection issues if you are still using an outdated firmware version. These old firmware versions may contain bugs that can obstruct the connectivity of your thermostat (ecobee would probably fix these bugs in its latest version). So a quick solution to this would mean upgrading your device’s firmware. But unfortunately, you can’t upgrade your ecobee firmware manually. The ecobee thermostat will automatically update its firmware version when the company rolls it out.

However, you can try fixing the Wi-Fi connectivity bugs by power cycling your thermostat and router. Follow these steps to power cycle both devices:

  • Remove your ecobee thermostat from the wall and unplug your router.
  • Leave both devices off for about two minutes.
  • Then, plug in your router first.
  • Once your router is up and running, mount your ecobee thermostat on the wall and give it time to power up.

After your thermostat has completed its booting process, it should connect to your Wi-Fi easily. If not, another fix to try is updating your ecobee app.

As you probably know, running an outdated version of the ecobee app may cause some malfunctions, which could be the reason your thermostat keeps disconnecting from Wi-Fi.

Depending on your mobile device operating system (iOS or Android), check the app store to see if the ecobee app has new updates. If so, update it—and then check to see if the issue is resolved.

Final Thoughts

If your ecobee thermostat is constantly disconnecting from your Wi-Fi router, try these tips to resolve the problem. To recap, here’s what you can do to troubleshoot your ecobee thermostat’s Wi-Fi connection issues:

  • Switch to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network
  • Change your Wi-Fi encryption settings
  • Move your router closer to your ecobee thermostat
  • Power cycle your thermostat and router.

However, if none of the fixes help, try contacting ecobee support for help.

You may also like to see how to troubleshoot Wi-Fi connection issues in Wyze and Honeywell T6 thermostats.