My Kindle wont connect to my router?

If it's happening on more than one device, it's a problem with the router, says Rick Maybury

My husband has owned a Kindle for about 15 months and up until a few weeks ago there were no issues. However he is now finding that the device will not stay connected to our router. He has tried changing the channel on the router among other things but all without success. I would add that a smart TV that we have owned for about 2 years also refuses to connect at times which is also a new development. I have a 5 year old laptop which continues to stay connected via Wi-Fi. We are totally perplexed. I am anxious about this issue because I would like to buy a small tablet but am afraid that it too will exhibit connection problems. Can you offer us any advice?

J Foreman, by email

Since this happened suddenly and affects several devices, it points to a problem with the router.

A hardware fault is a possibility but first, try a full factory reset. Routers can become tired and confused after a year or more of constant use and a reset clears the cache memories and wipes settings that may have drifted, changed or become corrupted. It appears that you know your way around your router’s set up menu so you should know how to carry out the reset, but before you do, backup the current configuration.

If it has a built-in backup facility use that or take screen shots of the menus. This is also a good opportunity to strengthen your router’s security by creating a new, long WPA passkey and, if your router has the facility, set up MAC address filtering, to restrict access to the Internet and your network to nominated devices.