Internet connections, wireless

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bud2005

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Don't know if this has been touched on before, I didn't notice any threads, but in Panther I used to be able to connect to the internet seemlessly when I went from wireless network to wireless network, even the PC network at my office.
Now, with Tiger, I seem to have to go through Network Dignostics (which never solves the problem BTW) and play around with my network preferences, EVERY FREAKING TIME I move from one network to another. Is this just something I have set wrong, or some sort of buggery Apple has allowed to permeate Tiger?
 
It likely wouldn't have anything to do with Rendezvous (note I didn't say Bonjour since I don't know if Bonjour somehow now captures services like this) but I don't imagine it would since Rendezvous was for finding services on a network, not actual network connectivity.

What do you have to do when you play with network preferences ? I also assume the networks you move around in are all named the same ?
 
No they're not named the same, but they do all show up on my preferred networks list. A lot of what I have to do involves changing network settinggs from Airport to Automatic and back, going from DHCP to DHCP with Manual and the like. The thing is, I didn't have to do this before. Why isn't it keeping a log of the seetings for the different networks and switching when it encounters one?
 
I get it then, you're not re-authenticating (on a web-based login for example) on the other networks you're just obtaining a DHCP lease tht may or may not be the same on the differing networks.

I don't know enough about how Tiger works to be useful. I can tell you though that seamless roaming between APs is usually handled through the APs themselves (that is, they all repeat the same network). If I had to hazard a guess I'd say that Tiger is connecting to one network and when you move out of range of that network (SSID) it says "Woah, hold up, something's wrong with our wireless network providor...let's keep looking for that original SSID before I start connecting to another network". Again, just a guess.
 
Can you just join the network by clicking on the Airport icon in the menubar? On my Powerbook, I've got Airport setup to automatic, and it joins all the networks with no problems. I just had to check the tick box that said remember password in keychain and I've had no problems when moving from network to network.
 
bud2005 said:
EVERY FREAKING TIME I move from one network to another. Is this just something I have set wrong, or some sort of buggery Apple has allowed to permeate Tiger?
Click to expand...

The problems noted here are not exactly yours, but check the thread out. You might want to try some of the fixes anyway.
 
bud2005 said:
I used to be able to connect to the internet seemlessly.... [snip]
Now, with Tiger, I seem to have to go through Network Dignostics (which never solves the problem BTW) and play around with my network preferences, EVERY FREAKING TIME I move from one network to another.
Click to expand...
I'm having the exact same problem. I have 2 Airports in my house, and before Tiger, I could roam anywhere in the house and connect to either one seamlessly. Now, when I leave the range of one and enter the range of another, my connection drops.

WORKAROUND 1: In the menubar, just Turn Airport Off, then turn it right back on. That has worked for me every time except once. (I've done this about 20 times, now.)

WORKAROUND 2: closing my PowerBook before going to the other end of the house. Then, when I open it, it seems to look for the nearest signal and connect. I've only done so once, however, so don't quote me.

Regardless, these are definitely bugs introduced by Tiger. I actually hired a tech to come by today and fix it -- and after 1.5 hours, he threw his hands up in the air. Fortunately, he was nice enough not to charge me, since he literally fixed *nothing*.

Apple has really screwed things up, this time.
 
Syncopator said:
I'm having the exact same problem. I have 2 Airports in my house, and before Tiger, I could roam anywhere in the house and connect to either one seamlessly. Now, when I leave the range of one and enter the range of another, my connection drops.
Click to expand...

This is not a surprise if your two airports have different network names...
 
michaelsanford said:
This is not a surprise if your two airports have different network names...
Click to expand...
Yes. But what if they have the same network name? (And that happens to be the case, here.) The system worked perfectly for a couple of years -- until I installed Tiger. Any further suggestions?
 
If the network names are the same and one AP repeats an other Master AP which does the primary gatewaying and IP addressing. then there is indeed something wrong.

If however there are just two APs with their own routing and IP addressing that happen to have the same network name, it makes sense that it would fail...that doesn't seem to be many people's situations though, so I only mention it for information's sake.

I'll admit that there seem to be some ince bugs in Tiger's wireless connectivity (which is one of the many reasons I haven't upgraded).

The only reason I mentioned that in my previous post (and here) is because there are a lot of Panther users who could roam between networks of different names and IP addresses and so forth without having to fix anything. That is arguably a bug in Panther; I say arguably because it does provide most people with a better user experience ;)
 
My dual-airport system was set up by a company, here in Los Angeles, that does Mac set-up and support exclusively. They set up my my system so that I could roam anywhere in my house and have uninterrupted service from the 2 airports. It has worked almost flawlessly since they set it up, nearly 2 years ago. A couple of months ago, there was a hiccup where one airport stopped responding, and they came out and determined that that airport had "died," so we replaced it with a new one, and I was good to go, once again -- until the day I installed Tiger.

I don't know enough about the details of the system to reply in detail to your previous post, but I do know that my 2 airports have the same network name.

For reasons beyond the scope of this discussion, I've decided not to work with the former Mac tech company I mentioned, so I had another Mac tech come out yesterday -- and he specifically mentioned that my airports have the same network name. He worked on the system for 1.5 hours and was unable to get the system to work as it used to. He tried several different configurations -- and no matter what, when I move across the house, I get this error message that, "You are not connected to the internet." Then I have to turn airport off, then back on again, and then I'm good to go. Frustrated, he decided not to charge me because he was unable to fix the problem. He said he would research it and get back to me.

There is clearly something wrong, here.
 
Well, it gets more interesting. I went to a friends house who has a PC wireless network and connected with no problem. I went to a University which has, I believe, an Apple network (but it could be PC, it is named "Default" so I really have no clue) and was unable to connect. I had previously been able to connect with both of these, and my friend's house was still OK. So it seems to be a spotty problem. I don't always know the Network administration details, so I can't track it down that way. I'm planning to hit some of the other Hot Spots I've used to see which ones still work without fail. I will try the workaround of restarting Airport next time.
 
Well, for what it's worth, the 10.4.1 update seems to have resolved the issue at my place. In fact, at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301517, Apple states:

"Resolves a potential issue that could occur when moving from one access point to another within the same wireless network—the IP address could have been lost and not restored unless the DHCP lease was renewed or the computer put to sleep and then awakened."

I've only passed between my two Airports twice, but it worked each time -- while for the last few weeks (since installing Tiger), it hasn't worked even once. So hopefully we can put this one to bed....
 
bud2005 said:
Don't know if this has been touched on before, I didn't notice any threads, but in Panther I used to be able to connect to the internet seemlessly when I went from wireless network to wireless network, even the PC network at my office.
Now, with Tiger, I seem to have to go through Network Dignostics (which never solves the problem BTW) and play around with my network preferences, EVERY FREAKING TIME I move from one network to another. Is this just something I have set wrong, or some sort of buggery Apple has allowed to permeate Tiger?
Click to expand...
I have zero problems with seamless wireless connections under 10.4.1. I am in France right now, in a hotel with 3 open wireless networks, and I move back and forth with no problems. You could try setting up a different location for each network, but I have no need to do so. Go figure.
 
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