Tech Forum

Hi, I am the PFR in our stake,

Is there a way to change what channel the APs use? In one of our buildings all but one of the APs use channel 1, so when you are in between them there is high interference with little or no coverage. Also they do not hand-off when you get near another one with a stronger signal. For example you connect to the AP near the RS room (with good signal strength, then walk down the hall near another one, that now shows that one in the "green" but it shows that you are still connected to the AP back by the RS room with very low signal strength.

Trying to resolve some WiFi issues in a building that is in a black hole of cell phone coverage.

I am also working with the FM group on adding a couple more APs to help with the coverage within the building.

Thanks
Brian

n1els0n wrote:Is there a way to change what channel the APs use?

Not as far as I know. Assuming this is a properly installed church-supplied APs, they work out the channels automatically. However, it doesn't seem like they move in response to another AP signal on the channel, but too much traffic on that channel. If a AP senses a lot of traffic on the channel, then it will look for another channel. That just seems to be how Cisco's automatic system works.

At least, that's the way it used to work. Maybe with changing out of firewalls, that might change.

n1els0n wrote:For example you connect to the AP near the RS room (with good signal strength, then walk down the hall near another one, that now shows that one in the "green" but it shows that you are still connected to the AP back by the RS room with very low signal strength.

That may be an issue with the device. I highly doubt that two APs with the same SSID on the same channel is confusing it. It's choosing to stay locked on the first AP. As long as you are up to date, the only choice may be to toggle the WiFi on/off to force it to re-connect.

russellhltn wrote:...the only choice may be to toggle the WiFi on/off to force it to re-connect.

There's no handoff with my building's WiFi either. Like Russell said, switching the WiFi off and on for your device will cause it to reconnect to the strongest signal again.

I had similar problems with WAPs in a meetinghouse. The wireless firewall was in the clerk's office, and a WAP was just outside the RS room. They were both broadcasting on channel 11, but so were a couple neighbors, so it was impossible to get a clear connection to either access point in some areas, such as the chapel and the cultural hall. I asked our FM to add another WAP to drown out the signals from the neighbors, but that never happened.