Nexus 7 issues with two Access Points

[bturner75]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the Nexus 7 world as well as to multiple access point set ups. In my house I have Verizon Fios. On my second floor on one side of the house I have the Fios Actiontec Router with wireless built in. Downstairs on the other side of my house I have a Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router setup as an access point (only the wireless is turned on, DHCP is disabled). Both the action tec and the Netgear have the same SSID, and same security setup (WPA2) and same password.
The issue comes in when I move about the house. My droid phone switches between the two access points flawlessly. The Nexus 7 does not. When I get closer to the other access point, I see the signal get stronger, then the WiFi lines will disappear leaving a totally blank Wifi icon (no lines- not even gray). After about 20 seconds it icons come back, they turn from gray to blue and it connects to the stronger Access Point. I searched some and didn't see if any one had this issue or not.
Does anyone else have this issue? Is there a fix for it or am I doing something wrong perhaps? I mean, I can easily wait the time it takes to reconnect to the stronger AP, I just wish it worked the way the other devices too (seamless transition).
Thanks
Brian

 

[mathelm]

Have you considered turning you wndr3700 into a repeater? Which sounds kind of like what you're trying to do now.

Check out the DD-WRT Wiki. You Netgear has a lot of room to work with, especially if it's the version 2 (V2).

 

[bturner75]

Thanks. I am really green when it comes to setting up secondary routers. I really never worried about wireless signals until I got a smart phone and now a tablet. What is the difference between a repeater and an access point? I have the netgear plugged in to my main router via lan to lan and the netgear has a static ip. Which sounds like what the DD-WRT Wiki is saying to do. Do I void my netgear warranty if I use the dd-wrt software instead of the netgear software? I still am confused though as to why the nexus 7 "drops" the wifi connection from the first signal and then takes 30 seconds or so to find the new signal, while my android phone doesn't have that problem and neither does my ipod touch.

I should also note that when I originally set this up this weekend, I had the secondary router with a different SSID name then the primary router. I then wanted to have my tablet and phone switch seamlessly between the two signals so I found an app called BEST WIFI and it switched the signals seamlessly. But then I read up and found that its better to have the SSID name the same for both routers, that way it should transition them seamlessly. So I'd like to stick with that route if possible.

 

[mathelm]

I shouldn't be, but I'm like you as far as the green part. Have a degree in electrical engineering and have done much much programming back in the day. Also have done a lot of manual networking back in the BNC connector days. But like most people, once the new linksys (and the like) stuff started rolling out, I forgot everything because the stuff just worked.

I just added a few repeaters (WRE54G) I picked up cheap on ebay, and had to learn again. I'm not sure how well I can answer your question, but I'll try. No matter how it's setup, a router will always be seen as a different signal. Although you may want to try setting it's (router#2 netgear) "Gateway" ip to the ip of the #1 gateway router (probably 192.168.1.1). This is how repeaters are set up. If their daisy chained (as in 1 is a 100ft away form the souce, 2 is 200ft etc.. in other words, 1 repeats source, 2 repeats 1, 3 repeats 2 and so on), repeater 1's gateway IP is set to the souce's IP, repeater 2's gateway IP is set to 1's IP. With a repeater mode, the device only really sees the signal getting stronger. I can be on a voip call and never lose connection while waking from one end to the other of my coverage area (in theory, doesn't always work. But that's because the WRE54G repeaters are considered to be junk). Also keep in mind that every repeater halfs the data rate (or so I've read but havn't noticed).

If changing the gateway IP of the netgear doesn't improve things, I think I would change the IP back to something different form the main router. I don't know, but this may be confusing the nexus and adding more time to the switch from one to the other.

And yes, I think it will void your warranty, if they find out. Which if you completely "brick" your router would be kind of impossible to do.

 

[mathelm]

btw, here are a couple free apps I've found very useful...

Fing - Network Tools

Network Signal Info

 

[bturner75]

Thanks for the info and the apps. I will check out changing the gateway ip of the netgear to see if that maybe fixes things. Thanks also for the app recommendations. I just walked from my downstairs to my upstairs with my Nexus open as well as the Wifi Manager app. I slowly walked up the stairs and into my hallway and noticed that the wifi signal for my wireless network changed to channel 6 (awesome news because that is what channel I have my main wireless signal set up to). Then wifi manager brings up a box saying incorrect password and to re-enter the password for the wireless network. I entered the password that I did before for the downstairs signal (because they both have the same password) and it connected me.
So somehow the Nexus 7 when it switches the signals is getting confused with the password settings of each signal even though they are the same? Very weird. I also watched and the IP address for my N7 has remained the same through all of the wireless switching.

 

[mathelm]

I think if you're very very....very patient, this stuff is almost fun...

Here's a pic of my setup via "Fing". I plan on DD-WRT'ing (rooting) the "MAT2G" and "MAT3G" so I can use them as repeaters and have it all seen as one by the wifi gods.....

btw, the apple crap is just visiting....

 

[bturner75]

Oh that was fun looking at the "Fing" stuff. I ran "Fing" and attached my screenshot to this reply. What's interesting (and not sure if this matters) but my netgear 3700 which I have assigned to the .2 address- the name isn't showing.

 

[mathelm]

Cool, but you should probably edit out the mac addresses ( the 00:00:00:00:00)...


It's not. You can edit and add names and icons by long tapping the ip's...

You can also test them, pings n what not by quick tapping....

 

[bturner75]

Great thanks. I am really perplexed as to what is going on here. Strange that the nexus is the only device that doesn't seem to want to play nicely.
I think my next step will look into the link you said about repeaters, although I think I have the second router setup correctly as an access point. The whole terminology can be confusing.
I wonder if a total factory reset might fix the issue.

 

[mathelm]

Have you thought about uninstalling that WiFi manager?

 

[MrHost]

You could just set them up as two different SSIDs and assign the same IP on both networks or use the second router in bridge mode and when the signal is stronger in one or the other it will just switch.

I can't explain why the nexus isn't working like the phone though. That is real is odd.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Android Central Forums

 

[bturner75]

Mathelm- I did uninstall the Wifi Manager and it still caused the same issue. It finds the stronger signal, but then disconnects from it, and then takes about 30 seconds or so to connect to the stronger signal.
Mr. Host- I originally had the primary router and the wireless set up as different SSIDs and was using the Best WiFi app to have it switch automatically between the stronger signal. But then read about naming the second wireless router access point the same SSID as the primary and it would switch automatically depending on the strongest signal. Which it does for the phone but for some crazy reason it doesn't for the Nexus. It eventually does switch to the stronger signal just not smoothly and I guess transparent so you would never notice. The delay is noticeable.

I am at a loss now. I restored the Nexus 7 to factory settings, did not install any of the other WiFi apps that I had before, thinking it might have been that, and it still disconnects when it finds the stronger signal and then after 10 seconds reconnects it. The droid phone doesn't do this, it connects right away. I also tried changing the 3700 so that it only broadcast a g signal thinking because the Fios router only does b and g, perhaps that was it. But that still didn't fix the problem, and the droid razr maxx does b/g/n as well. So now I'm not sure what the problem could be.
I wonder if I should just go back to my original setup and have two separate SSID names and use something like Best WiFi to auto switch between the signals. That worked perfectly.

 

[mathelm]

btw, was reading about a few similar setups to yours, and all say the 2 routers need to be on separate channels at least 5 channels apart ( ie. 6 and 11).....


Check it.....

Got my first one installed and setup...

 

[bturner75]

Nice! Yeah I set both my routers 5 channels apart. Still was having an issue. I rooted the Nexus 7 yesterday (first experience but fun..) I'm not going to flash any ROMs or anything. But I saw on another place there was a fix/hack for an issue like mine on another nexus device. Put that on, still didn't fix the issue. Then saw somewhere else that people removed the WMM option on the netgears and that fixed their wifi issues.
I removed that, did my test and (fingers crossed) it worked last night!

 

[mathelm]

I'm not against rooting, but for some reason I've been trying to avoid that with the nexus. After reading and then reading some more, I've come to the conclusion that the only real fix is to use a single router and more antenna/s. Found one site that sells all the goodies (I'm sure there are more), and then like I always do, took their descriptions and model numbers n such to ebay. Found amps and 12 to 15 dbi omni directional antennas and even splitter/combiners (antennas everywhere from the same router), and could probably do what I need for around $200 bucks. Of course what I want and what I need are two different things, and what I want would be a tad more....

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