How to Fix Slow WiFi on an LG Smart TV: DNS, Band Selection, and webOS Network Reset Fixes

Your LG Smart TV passed every picture quality test, but the WiFi speed is another story — apps take forever to load, 4K streams stutter, and the Home screen feels like it’s running through molasses. The culprit is almost never the TV’s hardware. It’s usually one of a handful of network configuration issues that are straightforward to fix.

Step 1: Rule Out Your Internet Plan

Before touching any settings, run a speed test directly on the TV. Go to Settings → All Settings → General → Network → Network Status and select Internet Connection Test. webOS will report your IP address and gateway reachability, but for an actual throughput figure, open the browser app and navigate to a speed test site. Netflix recommends at least 25 Mbps for a single 4K HDR stream; Disney+ and Apple TV+ require a similar floor. If the speed test shows you’re well above that threshold but streams still buffer, the issue is latency or packet loss — not raw bandwidth.

If the TV reports low speeds even on a wired Ethernet connection, the bottleneck is your ISP plan or modem — not your WiFi. Plug in an Ethernet cable, retest, and compare. Wired speed vastly higher than WiFi speed confirms the fixes below will help.

Fix 1: Switch to the 5GHz Band

LG Smart TVs support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi. The 2.4GHz band has more range but is shared with microwaves, baby monitors, and every neighboring router, making it congested and slow in most homes. The 5GHz band is faster and far less crowded.

To switch bands:

1. Go to Settings → All Settings → General → Network → Wi-Fi Connection.
2. Disconnect from your current network.
3. Look for the 5GHz version of your network (often labeled with “5G” or “-5GHz” if your router broadcasts separate SSIDs). If your router uses a single “Smart Connect” SSID, see Fix 2 below.
4. Reconnect to the 5GHz network and retest.

If the TV is far from the router and 5GHz signal is weak, use a WiFi extender or mesh node closer to the TV, then connect the TV to that node’s 5GHz radio.

Fix 2: Disable Band Steering (Smart Connect)

Most modern routers broadcast a single SSID and use “Smart Connect” or “band steering” to automatically assign devices to either 2.4GHz or 5GHz. The algorithm works well for phones and laptops that move around, but TVs are stationary and the router may persistently assign them to 2.4GHz.

The fix is to create separate SSIDs for each band in your router’s admin panel:

1. Log into your router (typically 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1).
2. Disable “Smart Connect” or “Band Steering” — the exact name varies by brand.
3. Name them something like HomeWiFi-2G and HomeWiFi-5G.
4. On the TV, connect explicitly to the 5GHz SSID.

For a deeper look at why band steering can backfire on media devices, see our guide on WiFi band steering.

Fix 3: Change the DNS Server

When your LG TV uses your ISP’s default DNS server, every app launch and stream start involves a DNS lookup against those servers. ISP DNS servers are notoriously slow or unreliable in some regions, causing apps to take 5–10 seconds to open even when the underlying internet connection is fast.

Switching to Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1) typically cuts that delay significantly:

1. Go to Settings → All Settings → General → Network → Wi-Fi Connection.
2. Select your connected network and choose Edit.
3. Switch IP Address Setting to Manual.
4. Fill in your current IP, subnet mask, and gateway (found in the automatic settings screen), then set DNS Server to 8.8.8.8.
5. Save and reconnect.

LG’s official support documentation confirms this process for all webOS versions from webOS 3 onward.

Fix 4: Choose a Less Congested 5GHz Channel

Even on 5GHz, channel overlap with neighbors can slow things down. Log into your router admin panel and set the 5GHz radio to a specific channel rather than “Auto.” Channel 36 (the lowest UNII-1 channel) is a safe choice in most regions because many consumer routers default to Auto and land on higher channels, leaving 36 relatively clear. If you have a WiFi analyzer app on your phone, scan nearby networks and pick whatever channel has the fewest competitors.

Fix 5: Disable Quick Start+

LG’s Quick Start+ feature keeps the TV in a low-power standby state so it boots faster. Over time, this can cause the TV’s network stack to accumulate stale connections and slow down. Disabling it forces a full network stack reinitialisation on each power cycle:

1. Go to Settings → All Settings → General.
2. Find Quick Start+ and toggle it Off.
3. Power the TV fully off, wait 30 seconds, and power back on.

Fix 6: Update webOS Firmware

LG regularly releases webOS updates that patch networking bugs. Go to Settings → All Settings → General → About This TV → Check for Updates. If an update is available, install it. webOS 23 and webOS 24 both included under-the-hood WiFi stability improvements for select models.

Fix 7: webOS Network Reset

If none of the above fixes work, a network reset clears all saved WiFi passwords, static IP configs, and DNS overrides without wiping apps or picture settings:

1. Go to Settings → All Settings → General → Reset to Initial Settings.
2. On some webOS versions this is labelled Reset Network Settings.
3. Confirm the reset, then reconnect to your 5GHz network and re-enter DNS settings.

A full factory reset (Reset to Initial Settings → Reset All Settings) is a last resort — it wipes everything including app logins — but it has resolved persistent slow WiFi in cases where a corrupted network profile was the cause.

Quick Checklist

1. Run a speed test on the TV to baseline the problem.
2. Switch to 5GHz; disable Smart Connect on your router if needed.
3. Set DNS to 8.8.8.8 in the TV’s manual IP settings.
4. Pin your router’s 5GHz radio to channel 36.
5. Disable Quick Start+ and cold-reboot the TV.
6. Update webOS firmware.
7. Run a webOS network reset as a last resort.

Following these steps in order should resolve the vast majority of slow WiFi complaints on LG Smart TVs. For broader context on why TVs underperform on WiFi, see our guide on fixing WiFi buffering on smart TVs and our comparison of 2.4GHz vs 5GHz vs 6GHz to understand which band is right for each device in your home.