Wireless issue?

[Leonardo]

Hi all
I'm having a strange problem... Using PnPIII or Openpeak no problem at all, but with all the other OS, Xubuntu, Ubuntu, JoliOS, whatever, it's very very very hard to connect to wireless network. I admin I have a very strong passkey in WPA2 (WPA2 PSK not corporate), with a hidden SSID.
For example I'm trying right now Joli, I clicked on "connect to hidden wireless network", inserted the SSID and the passkey, I tryied to connect more than 10 times to get connected. Rebooed and now there's no way to connect. The AP is not far (in the same room) and other devices has no problems at all.
The same is with other distros.
One more info, although I don't think it's important: all my tests are done with OS USB key installation.
Does anyone have the same problem?
Regards, Leonardo

[Mevi]

Wireless seemed to be unreliable for me, but I put that down to my particular network and the number of wireless devices already in the house. It was so unreliable, infact that I bought powerline adapters for PCs and games consoles around the house or used cabled connections where it was practical.

The Joggler has very small antennae, if you were to open it up. When it did work for me, the signal was strong and data rates were good. It just didn't always connect or failed to see any available networks at all. My testing was with XP.

[pete]

I will attach a picture of the two Joggler antennas and WLAN board here today. (pieces of Jogglers are all over my workbench these days). I've also had issues with the wireless.

I also had wireless issues with the Chumby's running built in OS, Linux or Windows.

Here I am utilizing an Ubiquiti POE AP in the attic of the second story house.

I have been migrating the Jogglers to POE using TP-Link power splitters with a Tycon POE midspan injector switch and they work just fine.

[Leonardo]

Many thanks for feedback, but the problem seems to be in the protocol, because I'm always in the same place, the AP is at three or four meters, using the OpenPeak works great, using other distro it's really hard to do!
This evening I'll try to modify wlan settings on the AP to see if it works better for example with a SSID broadcast or using another encryption protocol!
Pete, I could try to use different hardware too (it's simple to change the wireless adapter!).

[pete]

Here is a picture of the wireless USB card and antennas. I've mostly just utilized the wireless with the PnP3'd Joggler, Squeezebox and XBMC.

You could improve the antennas a bit using a set made for a small laptop. Here I utilize a non broadcasting SSID, WPA and TKIP.

I've tried using a small USB wireless stick with antenna and that does work a bit better. Personally though I removed my wireless cards and replaced them a while ago with USB SSD sticks.

[Leonardo]

Infact replacing internal Wifi stick could be a good idea! As soon as I get my new (second hand Joggler) I'll do some test on this way: remove internal stick, use external high performance wireless adapter: Digicom BE4472, it's really powerful, it's not very little but I can fix it on the rear of the Joggler. Another thing I want to do is to solder the second external USB connector, one is not enough and I don't like to have also a USB hub connected!

[jogglerhase]

I also have a question reg. Wireless performance:
I noticed (and I think it was also stated somewhere in this forum a while ago - but I can't find it....) that the wireless preformance is greatly dependent on 2 things:
1) The wireless mode - where N-mode has very poor receiving performance and G mode is much better
2) The Channel used - channel 8 gave me by far the best performance. Even switching 1 down or up degraded reception massively (And this is not influenced by neighboring WLANs! We have luckily very few / none around)

With optimizing the 2 items I was able to have consistent min. 11Mb/s reception from one floor to the other, whereas before I was barely able to get 1Mb/s with frequent dropouts

2) is easy to fix by telling my route to use channel 8
but 1) is tricky, since switching the router to G-mode makes all my other N-mode devices also slow......

-> My question: Has anybody an idea how to force the joggler (stock OS w/ PNPIII) to use G-Mode?

Cheers, Heiner

[Leonardo]

I have an update:
I'm using a USB flash drive with Xubuntu 12.10. The first time I configured the network there were no way to be connected. After a reboot it always connects to the Wifi!
The problem seems to be solved... I'll check Jolios too!