Wireless Router Connection Problem

[Alfred Kaufmann]

I set up a secure wireless router for a friend with a laptop a few months
ago. Everything was going fine until a couple of days ago when she kept
losing her Internet connection. I figure that the problem is with her ISP
an we jump through all the usual hoops, rebooting, unplugging, etc., and I
get it working and then a couple of hours later I am called again. The ISP
says the problem is the wireless router must be losing the signal and that
is not their problem. I check out the router and it is working great so I
really am beginning to wonder what is going on here.

On one of the reboots I noticed that it was getting a poor connection when
it should be excellent since the router is about 20 feet away but on closer
inspection I noticed it was connection with some unknown SMC router. It
seems someone in the building or area has bought an SMC wireless router and
just plugged it in. My friend was getting her Internet connection from this
SMC router instead of her own and it was a poor quality signal! Turns out
the router was losing the signal, but not from her router.

I discovered that when the system searches for a wireless connection it
searches three other access points and her router was on the bottom of this
network list. I moved her router to the top of the list and removed all but
two access points, hers and mine. Her system is working perfectly again. I
do wonder why her router got placed on the bottom of the search list, the
list is certainly not alphabetical.

Anyways I just mentioned this in case anyone runs across the same problem.
If you have a problem with a wireless router, make sure you are connected to
your wireless router.

Al

 

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

You might also want to change the channel on the router. This will prevent
interference from other wireless routers nearby. The default channel is 6.
Try changing it to something else. But as always, if it aint broke, dont fix
it.

--
Anando
Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
Microsoft Certified Professional
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
http://www.mvps.org

Folder customizations
http://www.anando.org/folder

 

[WB]

I set up a secure wireless router for a friend with a laptop a few months
ago. Everything was going fine until a couple of days ago when she kept
losing her Internet connection. I figure that the problem is with her ISP
an we jump through all the usual hoops, rebooting, unplugging, etc., and I
get it working and then a couple of hours later I am called again. The ISP
says the problem is the wireless router must be losing the signal and that
is not their problem. I check out the router and it is working great so I
really am beginning to wonder what is going on here.

On one of the reboots I noticed that it was getting a poor connection when
it should be excellent since the router is about 20 feet away but on
closer inspection I noticed it was connection with some unknown SMC
router. It seems someone in the building or area has bought an SMC
wireless router and just plugged it in. My friend was getting her
Internet connection from this SMC router instead of her own and it was a
poor quality signal! Turns out the router was losing the signal, but not
from her router.

I discovered that when the system searches for a wireless connection it
searches three other access points and her router was on the bottom of
this network list. I moved her router to the top of the list and removed
all but two access points, hers and mine. Her system is working
perfectly again. I do wonder why her router got placed on the bottom of
the search list, the list is certainly not alphabetical.

Anyways I just mentioned this in case anyone runs across the same problem.
If you have a problem with a wireless router, make sure you are connected
to your wireless router.

Al

"I do wonder why her router got placed on the bottom of the search list, the
list is certainly not alphabetical."

The last wireless network the laptop connected to is placed at the top. It
is possible to configure settings so that your friend connects only
to/through her router.

 

[Guest]

Alternately, you can change the SSID of the wireless router and hardcode that
into the client PC using wireless settings. From the sounds of it, neither
router is secure because if the client pc was set to use a secure connection
from your wireless router, it would not have crossed paths with the other.

 

[Alfred Kaufmann]

Thanks I had not thought of that. I don't set up routers often, just one of
those things where you read the docs the first time, set it up and then
forget about it.

Al

 

[Alfred Kaufmann]

No, both her router and my router was set up properly and secured - a very
long password is required to access these routers. This unknown SMC router
shows up as an unsecured network. Maybe my building has an Internet
Cafe.

Al

 

[Lem]

No, both her router and my router was set up properly and secured - a very
long password is required to access these routers. This unknown SMC router
shows up as an unsecured network. Maybe my building has an Internet
Cafe.

Al

You should take the following steps:
1. On the router, change the default SSID ti something unique and
recognizable.
2. Right click the icon for the wireless network connection, select
properties, click the "Wireless Networks" tab and delete all the entries
under "Preferred networks" other than the new SSID you configured. If
that isn't there because you haven't connected yet, don't worry (see below).

3. On that same page, click the "Advanced" button and make sure that
the box next to "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks" is
UNchecked.

There is a "feature" in WZC that caused this problem. If you "view
wireless networks" and then connect to one by clicking on it, Windows
WZC assumes that you made this choice deliberately and that this is a
"preferred network." Moreover, it assumes that it is the MOST preferred
network, and places it on the top of the list. The moral of this story
is, NEVER connect to a network with a default SSID (e.g., Linksys,
Default, WLAN, etc.) without remembering to make sure to remove that
SSID from the list of available networks once you're done. Otherwise,
you will preferably connect to any network with that default SSID.

 

[Alfred Kaufmann]

You should take the following steps:
1. On the router, change the default SSID ti something unique and
recognizable.
2. Right click the icon for the wireless network connection, select
properties, click the "Wireless Networks" tab and delete all the entries
under "Preferred networks" other than the new SSID you configured. If
that isn't there because you haven't connected yet, don't worry (see
below).

3. On that same page, click the "Advanced" button and make sure that the
box next to "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks" is
UNchecked.

There is a "feature" in WZC that caused this problem. If you "view
wireless networks" and then connect to one by clicking on it, Windows WZC
assumes that you made this choice deliberately and that this is a
"preferred network." Moreover, it assumes that it is the MOST preferred
network, and places it on the top of the list. The moral of this story
is, NEVER connect to a network with a default SSID (e.g., Linksys,
Default, WLAN, etc.) without remembering to make sure to remove that SSID
from the list of available networks once you're done. Otherwise, you will
preferably connect to any network with that default SSID.

Thanks for the information. There are a lot of foolish people out there
that just buy and plug in these wireless routers. I just built a server for
an office and the manager did not want passwords anywhere not even for the
wireless router.

Al