WAP mis-behaving?

[bk6662]

Hello all,

I am staying at a lodging facility overseas that has multiple floors. There are multiple access points on each floor. From my room I can see two access points: The floor I'm on, and the one below. My floor has an awesome signal; the one below is not so great.

If I connect to my floor, it gives me the "Limited or no internet connectivity" message, and I cannot connect to the internet. Or if I am able to connect, it drops. However I can connect to the 2nd floor AP, but it's a weak signal and slow connection.

I have found that I can unplug the AP that is right outside my room, then I can connect to the 3rd floor (my floor) AP, and have full access. But I am not supposed to be messing with the lodging wireless infrastructure.

Obviously there is a problem with that AP. Recycling it doesn't help; when housekeeping (I assume) plugged it back in, it causes the same issues. Can somebody speculate what might be going on? It will be a huge help so I can explain it to the technical group.

Thanks!
BK

 

[bk6662]

Any clues? The good news is that the WAP appears to be down for the count now (not powering back up). So maybe it will be be replaced by a working unit. But I'm still curious what could be causing this issue.

 

[bk6662]

Ok guess I'm throwing in the towel on this issue. The AP is still "working" (as in powering up), but not functioning as it should. So my workaround is to unplug it whenever I need to connect to the 'net, and plug it back in when I'm finished. Please let me know if anybody has any ideas. Else I'll let it rest. Thanks again.

 

[eibgrad]

I don't understand this line:

"unplug the AP that is right outside my room, then I can connect to the 3rd floor (my floor) AP, and have full access"

Unplug what, the AC cord? The ethernet cord that presumably leads from the AP to the wall? And instead you take that ethernet cord and connect it your PC?

IOW, you need to be VERY precise. You’re making assumptions we know how all these things are connected, being disconnected, being connected to something else, etc. I don't even know if one AP is actually connected to another AP there, that's only an assumption. Heck, they could be entirely unrelated and used for different purposes.

 

[bk6662]

Sorry for being unclear. Yes you are correct I'm unplugging the AC. There is no ethernet cable. I am not trying to physically connect anything. These APs are simply APs mounted to the wall. Yes please ask if I've not explained completely. I understand what you are saying; I can't assume anything. All I can tell you is that each floor at this building has multiple access points hanging on the wall. They are only connected to power; no physical connectivity.

I doubt the APs are used for different purposes but you're right - it's possible. Unfortunately I don't have the access to find out. But the only SSID being broadcast is 3rd floor, 2nd floor, etc. So I'm fairly confident they are all being used for the same thing...to provide internet access to the occupants. And the end result is very consistent...I have limited / no internet connectivity until I unplug the power from the access point hanging outside my room.

Thanks for your input - please let me know if you have any ideas - or if I need to provide additional information!

-bk

 

[eibgrad]

Ahh, I think I'm finally starting to get the picture. You have two APs on the 3rd floor (yours), but you only get a good, working signal when you DISABLE the AP near your door and use the other AP on that same floor. The alternative is to use the AP on the 2nd floor, but that's a weak signal and unreliable.

So yeah, something seems amiss w/ the AP near your door. This strongly suggests that all the APs for a given floor are using the same SSID and wireless security, probably for roaming purposes (at least on that floor), or maybe just to keep the number of SSIDs manageable (one per floor). But there’s a downside w/ this approach -- if one of those APs was to have a problem, and YOU happened to be the unlucky one within range of that AP, then YOU too would have a problem since you can’t select individual APs on any given floor. They’re all treated as a group. But if you DISABLE that AP, that resolves the issue by implicitly moving you to the other (working) AP on that same (3rd) floor.

It sure sounds to me like the AP you unplugged has a problem. I would mention it to management and explain it as I did. Because it does no one any good to keep that AP enabled if it’s only going to lead to DIS-connectivity! Not unless someone can explain why this AP, in its current state, must stay connected.

As I said before, I (we) are making assumptions that may not be true. But based solely on your description, I’d say that was indeed the problem and they should PULL the AP until it’s addressed. Sometimes these places hire other ppl to manage these systems, and therefore the on-site staff may be totally clueless about this problem. So every time someone unplugs the AP, the staff blindly plugs it back in (they may not even know what it does, let alone that it has a problem affecting guests!)