WIFi Router - Pocket PC questions.

[popabawa]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can offer some advice about my situation. Sorry it's a bit of a long post but I wanted to try and get it straight first time!

At home, I used to connect to the internet via a wireless Access Point connected to my main desktop PC. Everything worked perfectly so I know how my new setup *should* be working. By working properly, I mean I just popped the WiFi card in (either in my Pocket PC or laptop), it connected in a couple of seconds and I was away.

I decided to get rid of the access point in favour of a combined WiFi Router / Modem / Access Point.

I have no problems at all connecting to my new set-up from either my desktop or laptop so I know it's working. The range of my new router is better than the old AP after testing with my laptop.

Anyway, the problem is connecting with my Pocket PC (iPAQ 2210 with Sandisk SD WIFI card), sometimes (about 50% of the time) it just refuses to connect to the Router. When it does connect, I can access the internet, sync via WiFi, access shared files on the network etc. etc. but internet access seems MUCH slower than previously with my AP. Activesync doesn't. Very odd

I have NO problems with my desktop & laptop connecting - it's 100% every time.

I just don't understand why it won't connect. I have a 128 bit WEP key enabled which is a difference from my old AP (I had no security at all) but surely that shouldn't affect the ability to connect or the speed of connection?

When the Pocket PC fails to connect, I can always 'see' the network in the WiFi settings, saying it is 'Available', I can then tap & hold to select 'connect' and sometimes it does, again around 50% of the time. Very frustrating when it doesn't. Multiple soft resets and much swearing ensue!

Under 'Authentication' I have the following ticked;
- Data encryption (WEP enabled)
- Network authentication (Shared mode)
and I have the Network key entered (the 128 bit WEP key).

I've made no other changes to any settings from their defaults.

Any suggestions... PLEASE? :?

Iain.

[lmbranco]

Hi,

I have more or less the same setup as you have and so far i hadn't any problem connecting my Ipaq to the network.

However i have one small diference to the settings that you have explained, my Network Authentication is "Open". Have you tried with this particular setting?

What is the router model that you have installed? I know that there is a lot of trouble running the D-Link DI-624(+) model with some configurations, as they have a big issue with interference with some home appliances.

Hope it helps,

Luís

[Pony99CA]

I just don't understand why it won't connect. I have a 128 bit WEP key enabled which is a difference from my old AP (I had no security at all) but surely that shouldn't affect the ability to connect or the speed of connection?
WEP shouldn't affect the ability to connect, but it obviously will affect the speed. I don't know how much overhead there is, but encryption isn't free.

Have you tested your setup with WEP off to see if that improves your connection successes or speed? If it doesn't, it's not a WEP issue.

Steve

[Sven Johannsen]

Even with that long post, you missed a few items that would help. Brand of AP. Some folks may have some experience with particular ones.

Where is the PPC getting it's IP address info? Is it getting it from the router/AP via DHCP (server assigned), or are you using static IPs. There have been some issues with some implementations not working well with PPC DHCP requests. Get a copy of vxIPConfig, or vxUtil, from www.cam.com (they're free) and see if maybe you are not picking up addresses correctly, when you can't connect.

Make sure you have the latest firmware on your router.

[popabawa]

Thanks for the reply's guys - I truly do appreciate it! :D

Answers that I missed;

1) It's a D-Link DSL 604+ Router so I guess it could have the same problems as the 624 model.

2) I'm getting the IP from the router via DHCP.

From your post's I reckon my course of action is;

1) Update the firmware of the router (if available)

2) Then try using static IP's (I have no idea how to do this!)

3) Take the WEP security off (don't really want to do that though). I'll briefly try turning the security off anyway just to see if that fixes it.

Thanks again, I'll report back when I've tried it.

Cheers, Iain.

[lmbranco]

Hi Iain,

I would not recomend you to stick to the option of disabling wep, as you will make a system very open, however if the system works perfectly with wep disabled, then i would ask for a replacement one, as yours could be faulty.

The static ip stuff is once again something that i would not recomend, as you will have to be aware that you cannot have to systems with the same ip address so you will have to keep track of it, with DHCP all you troubles are saved, as the router takes care of that for you.

I am not aware if i am not allowed to post here a link to another forum where they talk about connectivity problems related to D-link hardware, so i am going to put it here nevertheless, if it is removed pm me so i can give it to you.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/dlink

cheers,

Luís

[Pony99CA]

I would not recomend you to stick to the option of disabling wep, as you will make a system very open, however if the system works perfectly with wep disabled, then i would ask for a replacement one, as yours could be faulty.
I certainly wasn't recommending turning WEP off permanently. However, when you set up a wireless LAN, it's best to do things in stages -- get it working with DHCP and no WEP first, then add WEP, static IPs (if you want) and MAC filtering in steps.

The static ip stuff is once again something that i would not recomend, as you will have to be aware that you cannot have to systems with the same ip address so you will have to keep track of it, with DHCP all you troubles are saved, as the router takes care of that for you.
Unless you have a lot of devices connecting, static IPs aren't that difficult to manage. I have a text file listing each computer on my network, it network name, its assigned IP address and its MAC address.

Here's what the file looks like:

Steve's Fujitsu Pentium 4 laptop (SHM_LAPTOP2): 192.168.123.100 00-E0-00-F6-xx-yy
Steve's iPAQ 5550 (SHM_iPAQ_5550): 192.168.123.101 00-02-8A-9E-xx-yy
Denise's Fujitsu Pentium III laptop (DMM-Laptop): 192.168.123.102 00-04-E2-08-xx-yy
Alyssa's Sony VAIO laptop (AQM_Laptop) - Wireless: 192.168.123.103 00-09-5B-4B-xx-yy
Steve's iPAQ 3870 (SHM_iPAQ_3870): 192.168.123.104 00-04-E2-08-xx-yy
Bedroom Replay TV 5040: 192.168.123.105 00-0A-97-03-xx-yy

The file has tabs to align the columns, so it's not that ugly. Having the file also makes it easier to reenter data if I have to reset my router -- I can just copy and paste IP and MAC addresses.

I use static IP addresses because I also use MAC address filtering, and my router seems to require associating a MAC address with an IP address.

I am not aware if i am not allowed to post here a link to another forum where they talk about connectivity problems related to D-link hardware, so i am going to put it here nevertheless, if it is removed pm me so i can give it to you.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/dlink
As long as the link is relevant, legal (not to a warez site or such) and clean (no porno), I don't think there's ever been a problem linking to another forum.

Steve

[popabawa]

I only have 4 devices which need to connect, Desktop, Laptop, Pocket PC & my TiVo so static IP's wouldn't be too tricky to keep track of.

I doubt there will be many more devices in the near future!

Thanks for the opinions, I'm learning at least!

BTW, D-Link's support section is dreadful (UK site)...

Cheers, Iain.