Wireless Repeater issues
I recently installed a wireless repeater to cover certain areas with low coverage including my wife's Mac and my kid's Windows machine. It works - speed is up - but both the Mac and my iPad get dropped from the network sometimes. The fix that I can do is to turn off my wireless router (not the repeater) and then then work again. This does not happen with the Windows machines, or the handful of other devices with Internet connections (DVD, game console, etc.) so I'm guessing there's something up with AirPort that I need to fix either in the OS devices or at the router. Rebooting the OS devices doesn't work.
From the troubleshooting I've done, the router sees the devices, but thinks they are inactive. The Mac troubleshooting gives me "red dots" at ISP and beyond, but not for the connectivity dots. (I should add that the AirPort strength meter shows 3 bars and looks to be connected, but it isn't communicating. I've tried "renewing lease" and other work arounds, but nothing works consistently, so I'm up for suggestions in the configuration.
A few other techincals, the router is the Verizon FiOS one, and the Repeater is from Diamond. They are matched with a single WEP code. The Repeater does not show up as a network device. It simply boosts the signal back to the router. The devices that use the repeater show up as devices on the network in the router and are assigned IPs from that router. This isn't an IP conflict, I've checked, but rather some sort of way the OS devices are becoming declared inactive and unable to renew connection. I could assign a permanent IP address, I suppose, but my checking indicates that since they are still on the network, they keep the same addresses, even after I reboot the router. So, I'm kind of stumped. Maybe there's a security feature or something.
Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.
From the troubleshooting I've done, the router sees the devices, but thinks they are inactive. The Mac troubleshooting gives me "red dots" at ISP and beyond, but not for the connectivity dots. (I should add that the AirPort strength meter shows 3 bars and looks to be connected, but it isn't communicating. I've tried "renewing lease" and other work arounds, but nothing works consistently, so I'm up for suggestions in the configuration.
A few other techincals, the router is the Verizon FiOS one, and the Repeater is from Diamond. They are matched with a single WEP code. The Repeater does not show up as a network device. It simply boosts the signal back to the router. The devices that use the repeater show up as devices on the network in the router and are assigned IPs from that router. This isn't an IP conflict, I've checked, but rather some sort of way the OS devices are becoming declared inactive and unable to renew connection. I could assign a permanent IP address, I suppose, but my checking indicates that since they are still on the network, they keep the same addresses, even after I reboot the router. So, I'm kind of stumped. Maybe there's a security feature or something.
Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.
Comments
fwiw 11 works best for me.
Also - what v firmware are the Apple devices using ? This may be causing some conflict - I said may be ...
Again fwiw I am still running 7.3.2 on my 3 AE expresses.
I use WPA/WPA2 rather than WEP, although you may have to because of the other manufacturers devices.
When you configure any of the wireless devices I have always found that it's better to line them all up connected by ethernet initially. Then take them out to their locations and let them start communicating.
Trying to configure by wifi has been troublesome for me in the past - and for others.
Hope some of that helps
Are they all using the same channel ?
fwiw 11 works best for me.
Also - what v firmware are the Apple devices using ? This may be causing some conflict - I said may be ...
Again fwiw I am still running 7.3.2 on my 3 AE expresses.
I use WPA/WPA2 rather than WEP, although you may have to because of the other manufacturers devices.
When you configure any of the wireless devices I have always found that it's better to line them all up connected by ethernet initially. Then take them out to their locations and let them start communicating.
Trying to configure by wifi has been troublesome for me in the past - and for others.
Hope some of that helps
Thanks, that is helpful. I've done some other reading and some suggest that the router firmware needs updationg, so I may give that a whirl. The iPad is right out of the box, but the Mac is a few years old, so maybe it could use an Airport firmware update. But, as it effects them both, I'm not sure that's it.
FWIW, the repeater is set up by plugging it, via Ethernet, into the router, and then assigning the same WEP and channel. Then, you move it a location roughly halfway between the problem area and the router, and plug it in. To the computers (both PC and Apple) it looks like a single network. But, if you use a scanner program, they show up separately.