Strange stuff happens sometimes. Here's an example from here. Two days ago I was at a customer's site. Been there for about 9 months. Things were working just fine. Then they started to flake out and eventually quit completely.
They were connected to the ap and had an rssi of -76 or so. There was one pine tree in the way but the link was only 3 blocks. Today I pulled down the amp'd omni and put up a 10dB omni with no amp (furthest customer has turned out to be a mere 3 miles). Service wouldn't work with an Inscape data radio that has 9dB built in antenna. Pulled out the Teletronics ap and put in a Mikrotik unit with an xr2 card. Now things seem to be working, the customer that had no service two days ago got 2.8 megs today. Not bad for a 3 meg dsl fed system. Go figure. marlon ----- Original Message ----- From: "J. Vogel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 6:41 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Some days I don't seem to know anything. > Thanks for the reply. Good advice from both you and Chris. > > I actually am just using the plain jane wireless adapter that walmart > had put in this old > HP Pavilion ze4900. As a general rule it does fairly well, but not so > well that it would > out-perform the PCI cards I use. I figure if the laptop will connect, > the PCI card will > definitely work, usually a lot better. Unless... something happens like > what did yesterday. > > Sure wish I knew what was happening. The recommendation for wi-spy is > appreciated. > > John > > Mark Williams wrote: >> I have seen this before also. Chris is right to mention that the desktop >> and your laptop are likely >> reacting differently due to rec. sens. and / or power , IE fade margin >> differences. >> >> Not trying to shamelessly plug products here, but I find a wi-spy to be >> very helpful in this situation. >> Sometimes the noise source is simply not wifi related and the wi-spy >> will help you to identify >> the best frequency selection. >> >> Also, I HIGHLY recommend that you standardize on deployed wifi bridges / >> adapters and make sure >> you run the same equipment in your laptop. I've seen a lot of WISP techs >> who add higher end / power >> wifi adapters in their laptops and while it may be greatly beneficial >> from a daily use standpoint, as >> a tech it detracts from your ability to diagnose customer SINR issues. >> >> There are many non-wifi noise sources and the WiSpy is very much worth >> having. >> -Mark Williams >> >> >> On Wed, 2008-03-12 at 09:41 -0400, chris cooper wrote: >> >> >>> John- >>> >>> It sounds like you might have noise impacting the local AP on channels >>> 1-6. Is the power and receive sensitivity the same on your laptop vs. >>> the customer PC? That might be the reason you are seeing the difference >>> in performance between the two. Did you run netstumbler or otherwise >>> look at the spectrum? Any chances of a local interferer in the house or >>> garage? >>> >>> chris >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On >>> Behalf Of J. Vogel >>> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 9:28 AM >>> To: WISPA General List >>> Subject: [WISPA] Some days I don't seem to know anything. >>> >>> Is it possible for interference to prevent a signal from showing up in a >>> >>> site >>> survey in Windows Zero Configuration utility? I set up a relay AP at a >>> home yesterday, the AP being on the roof of the garage (couldn't get >>> a link to my tower from the house). The wireless card I put in the >>> customers >>> computer would not connect to (usually would not even see) the AP, >>> although >>> it would find APs in other homes 1/2 mile away at times. My laptop, >>> sitting >>> on the desk next to the computer, connected immediately, with great >>> signal >>> strength. BUT, if I changed the channel to either 9, 10, or 11, then the >>> desktop unit would connect, also with great signal strength. I changed >>> out >>> the radio on the garage, changed the PCI wireless card in the desktop, >>> antennas, >>> everything, but as long as the AP was on channel 8 or lower, the desktop >>> would usually not find it, and when it did, the RSSI was very low. My >>> laptop >>> however, did not have any problems connecting no matter what channel >>> the AP was on, with excellent RSSI reported on all channels. >>> >>> Is there an explanation for what I was seeing? >>> >>> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] >> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >> >> > > > -- > > John Vogel - [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.vogent.net 620-754-3907 > Vogel Enterprises LLC > Information Services Provider serving S.E. Kansas > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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