Fix for Samsung S21 wifi connected without Internet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrV_P21PEiQ (screenshots from this helpful video. All credit to that video!)

To fix Wifi for Samsung S20 and S21s when your phone connects to a wifi network but has not Internet (and you know it's working for other people, it's not a password problem, etc.):

• Click on the gear icon of the network you are connected to, but can't get the Internet on

• Then click on the Advanced or View More arrow

• Then click on the MAC address type blue text and choose Phone MAC instead of Randomized MAC

• That should fix the problem!

What's going on? What is a MAC address?

A MAC address is media access control address (MAC address). It is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. Wait what? :) In simpler terms think of it as a unique serial number tied to your wifi chip in your phone.

I'm guessing that what Samsung introduced with the S20 model (and continued with the S21) is the ability for the phone to generate a fake random MAC address when connecting to wifi networks to help protect your identity and privacy. However, it looks like some wifi networks don't play well with that feature (like in hotels). By choosing to send my phone's real MAC address the wifi now seems to play nice with my S21 phone. Hope that helps others!