Lock onto Access Point

Soldato
Joined
14 Feb 2006
Posts
4,644
Location
Surrey, UK
Hi all :)

Right, so I'm in a holiday resort with free wifi access. The place is fairly large, so there's the base station (router) and two wireless repeaters. All have the same SSID.

The problem is, the connection seems to wander between the two APs that appear in the Netgear software list, even though both of them are always in range. When it switches, the connection dies. It is still connected (4 out of 5 bars signal), but no throughput (ie. "Problem loading page" error in Firefox). I have to go through the process of repairing the connection before it works again.

I'm using the Netgear wireless assistant software with a USB 2.0 WG111 Wifi dongle. Laptop is fairly old but running XP Pro.

If anyone can suggest any way of locking the connection to one access point, it would be much appreciated!

TIA, Jon
 
By the sounds of it the network is setup so you don't get locked onto 1 access point. If you locked onto 1 access point what would you do when you get out of its range ?
 
That's a fair point.

However, the computer isn't going to be moved. It's staying in one place, so any access point I "lock" onto will stay within range.

Also, whilst it's setup to be like that, in practise it doesn't work. As I said in the OP, when switching APs, the connection dies.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for the reply mate :)

Jon
 
Any way in the NetGear software to specificy the MAC address of the AP to use?

IIRC, Intel's ProSet lets you do that but I don't know the NetGear applet.
 
Good idea, but no, I can't see that setting anywhere. That would have worked perfectly.

Do you know any free software that would allow me to do that? I'm using the Netgear software at the moment to manage the connection, but I don't mind using something else :)

Thanks for the reply :)

Jon
 
Get Netstumbler on the go and see what the stats are like for each WAP. My guess is they are both running on the same channel.
 
Right, done that.

Signal strength is approx the same for both APs that are in range. And yep, as you said, both are on the same channel.

What now?

Jon
 
Well ideally those two AP's should be set on different channels so there is no chance of overlap. It sounds like you're sitting in the middle of the two signals and your laptop is trying to pickup the strongest signal then being confused by the other signal.

Have you tried it from any other location in the resort?
 
I haven't, but that's a good idea. I'll give that a go tomorrow and post my findings :)

In the meantime, are there any other solutions anyone knows of? I can't imagine the ability to lock onto one MAC address is that difficult.

Jon
 
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