Device WiFi Issue

[wintermute000]

anything to do with IOS (see what I did there) MAC address randomisation? wild guess

[deanwebb]

anything to do with IOS (see what I did there) MAC address randomisation? wild guess

I HATE APPLE DEVICES RANDOMIZING THEIR STOOPID MAC ADDRESSES



So, yes, check that.

[fsck]

So looks like the configuration change might of fixed the issue.  I haven't had any wireless issues all week.

[deanwebb]

So looks like the configuration change might of fixed the issue.  I haven't had any wireless issues all week.

That's always a good thing to say. But, since we always get intermittent issues, we always hesitate to close out that ticket 100%... or, we're not at all surprised when that ticket gets reopened.

[Dieselboy]

Okay a few points:

1. what channel are you using?


2. Open a wifi inspector on a device where you need wifi and take a screenshot of the wifi networks listed, their channels and their signal strength and post it here.


3. your AP is a 1041? I've never heard of that model but sounds like it pre-dates the 1131. So my guess is small CPU and 2.4GHz only. So, you will need to use WPA1 (not wpa2) and make sure you're on the least used channel, and only pick channels 1, 3 or 11. Those a

Your log message: WARNING: Packet to client a4b8.d844.6a21 reached max retries, removing the client.
this will be shown if:
a) your device is connected, and then goes out of range permanently. OR
b) your device is powered down (like a laptop being closed)
Basically means what the log says, the AP has a packet and tried endlessly to send that packet to the wifi client and never got any ACK back.  So, can be a bit misleading. I was chasing this log for a little while and was advised by TAC of the above. In the end, we had a number of issues:

1. extremely poor wifi AP placement (someone placed it on one corner of the office, behind the printer)
2. Extreme interference (the printer was broadcasting an access point SSID for wifi printing, grrrrrr!)
3. interference from other AP's
4. Interference from metal walls, structures and metal file cabinet!

When I got to site for the first time I mounted the AP's on the ceiling, central to the office floor, mounted a 2nd AP which shared the load, and turned off the printer's AP. Then someone turned it on again so I thought may be I never turned it off so I turned it off again. Then reports came in of poor wifi, so I found the printer AP was on again. So I turned it off a third time, and changed the password for the printer and locked it down. No more wifi problems for ages but did have a complaint that a few people couldnt print wirelessly. So just educted them how to print.

No more issues since then.

[Dieselboy]

So looks like the configuration change might of fixed the issue.  I haven't had any wireless issues all week.

That's great! 

If issues come back, see my last post

The funny thing about wifi is that it's completely environmental

[SimonV]

and only pick channels 1, 3 or 11.

Is that how you roll down under or have you made a typo?