K6BPM
OS2 will not establish a WiFi connection with my Netgear Nighthawk LTE cellular hotspot. My settings are all correct. All my other devices work fine. Is this a known issue?
cyberjew
Good to know! I’ve been wanting to buy one!
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HA2NON
- Do you see the Netgear's Wi-Fi network in the Wireless scan list?
- Make sure you've entered the Wi-Fi password case sensitive.
- Place the openSPOT2 close to the cellular hotspot.
- If you have WEP encryption on the cellular hotspot, then make sure the password is ASCII, not hex. The openSPOT2 only supports ASCII WEP passwords. The best is to switch the encryption to WPA2 or WPA because it's much safer.
- Make sure you have enabled 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, not just 5GHz.
- If it still does not work, try switching Wi-Fi channel on the cellular hotspot. Only channels 1, 6 or 11 should be used (see explanation here:
https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/why-channels-1-6-11.html
)
K6BPM
Thanks, I am very experienced with microwave networks.
Can you elaborate on how the OS2 iterates through the pre-defined list of access points?
I have all 5 programmed. The Netgear is in the list. Yesterday I had the OS2 plugged into a battery, and connected to my home network. I left to go out of town for the day and turned on the Nighthawk. I expected the OS2 to find the Nighthawk after I left the area of my home network coverage. It didn't. I have a 3 sector array of Ubiquiti NanoStations M2's on my roof so I waited until I was over a mile away and stopped and unplugged the OS2 and did a cold reboot. It still didn't connect to the Nighthawk. It would not connect all day.
So this morning, I turned off my home network WiFi and tried it again. This time the OS2 connected to the Nighthawk as it should. I didn't do anything to the OS2 or the Nighthawk. Today it decided to work.
Throughout these tests I had my iPad connected to the Nighthawk as a control and verified there was no problem with the WiFi or Internet access.
So far I have not been able to do much with the OS2 despite many hours of effort. With all my other hotspots I can set up network configurations how I want them to be. They are ultra dependable. I want to use the OS2, but every day there is some new problem I cannot resolve. It is just not ready for prime time. I will likely send it back for a refund, but I would appreciate having a better understanding about how some of these things work.
It would be helpful to know how fast it iterates through the WiFi access point list. I don't know if it is stuck on one, on cannot connect to any of them. How long is the timeout until it tries another access point?
It seems like it wants to connect to the last used WiFi access point first instead of trying them in the order defined. Does it respect the order I defined them or or does it use some "sticky" ordering mechanism to define the order in which it tries to get a connection?
K6BPM
Well, maybe this will give you a clue. The screenshot below shows that SSID #1 and SSID#3 are the same. That is not what I set up. SSID #1 was different. I didn't change, or do anything.
This is the second time I have found entries that were changed by the OS2, and not by me. I indicated in the other thread we have going here had my C4FM -> DMR settings got changed by the OS2.
Not good.
HA2NON
If the OS2 gets disconnected then it will always try connecting to SSID #1 and then #2 and so on. This is described in the user manual on the Network page, Wireless settings section:
http://manuals.sharkrf.com/openspot2/en/network-page.html#wireless-settings
If the OS2 can connect to one of the networks then it will stick to that until it gets disconnected. It takes about 5-15 seconds for the OS2 to decide if it can connect to a network which is not available.
Please note that the OS2's initialization setup always stores to SSID #1 so if you have entered something there using the initialization setup then it will be overwritten.
K6BPM
So why would it overwrite position #1? I have something there. Your manual says I can store 5 entries there. So now I can't? I have to leave position 1 open for the OS2 to overwrite it?
So what you're saying is that now when I go to the location where I need to use the access point that was stored in position #1, I have to make sure I have a computer so I can reprogram the OS2 to connect to that access point?
If you need to store that as the last known access point, why aren't you doing this internally instead of screwing up the users SSID list?
HA2NON
The AP with the top priority is SSID #1, that's why the initialization setup overwrites that slot. Use other slots for storing additional APs.
K6BPM
Okay, I just tried this with 3 different wireless access points that are all defined on the OS2. It did not rewrite the access point defined in position #1. I simply turned them off and on so that only one was available and I let the OS2 do its thing and iterate through the list. It successfully found the available access point, but it never overwrote position #1 like it did before.
Your manual says this:
"If Advanced mode is enabled, you can define up to 5 Wi-Fi networks (per configuration profile) to connect. If the first configured Wi-Fi network is not available, then the openSPOT2 will try connecting to the second one. If it's not available either, then it'll try the third one and so on. After trying connecting to all of the configured networks, it restarts the sequence with the first network."
However, you are now saying it is 4, and the #1 position will be overwritten. When I originally observed this, #1 was overwritten with the access point I had in the #4 position. This seems to be a random occurrence as I was unable to reproduce this at will.
It has to be one or the other. If #1 is overwritten, what conditions must exist for that to happen? Or, if the manual is indeed correct, then why was the #1 position overwritten in the first place?
HA2NON
The Wi-Fi network you select during the initialization setup will be saved as SSID #1.
K6BPM
It *was* !!!
The problem is that is was overwritten by a different one. This is getting painful. Is there anyone else that can help with this? I am getting no help here at all.
cyberjew
I get you’re frustrated. I get that way as well. Just don’t upset Norbert. He’s the lead developer. You upset him, you lose any chances of getting help from the guys that develop the product. Just a little piece of advice from someone else that gets easily frustrated.
What do you mean by a 3 sector array of access points? Are they all connected to the same wireless LAN controller and allow you to roam from one AP to the other? Or does each have its own SSID?
If the OS2 isn’t connecting to your NightHawk, I would rule out the failover from one SSID to the next by making sure the NightHawk is first in the list. Then remove every other SSID and password.
Make sure the OS2 can connect to it when it’s the only SSID specified. If it can, then the issue isn’t connecting to the NightHawk.
Next, in so far as entering SSIDs, if you use the wizard to add an SSID, unless I’m mistaken, the wizard will ALWAYS put it first in the list. It will overwrite anything you already have specified and it will not shift the others down the list.
If you want to specify an order, you have to do that manually through the advanced settings.
I have my OS2 setup such that my cellular hotspot is first in the list. That way, OS2 will always try to connect to it first even if I’m at home.
It will take a few seconds before OS2 gives up trying to connect to the first SSID and tries the next in the list so keep that in mind. OS2 will take a little longer to come on line.
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K6BPM
I discovered I have similar problems connecting to my iPhone hotspot as well. I don't generally use the iPhone for that, but thought I would try it in the mix too.
I was finally able to to get both the Nighthawk and the iPhone to work, but the only way I can get the OS2 to connect to them is if I turn the hotspot on *while* the OS2 is searching for a WiFi network. A cold restart will do it too, but not guaranteed. It will not switch if the WiFi access point is already on. I get the constant OS2 voice audio that it is trying to connect.
The odd thing is that it will connect to another fixed WiFi access point, although it is unstable when it does. If I transmit, when I am expecting a response from PARROT, the red and green LED flashes alternately at about 1 second intervals. I get maybe 1 second of audio back the first 2 tries, then nothing. I am not able to pull up the web config screen and unable to get any log info.
I have observed the same behavior when "roaming" on a Unifi or SonicWall multiple access point WiFi network. Even though the SSIDs and PSKs are the same, the channel changes and this seems to mess up the OS2.
The conclusion here is that the OS2 fails miserably if you expect it to change access points automatically. In my case, I have to do a cold restart of the OS2 every time.
The OS2 is the only WiFi enabled device that I have ever tested that exhibits these kinds of problems. JumboSpots and ZUMSpots work fine in all cases. Every other network device I have also works. The Nighthawk has been super reliable. We used it last field day as the Internet link for the main station and 2 satellite stations with multiple devices. It worked very well the entire time. So the time being, I'll just assume that I have to do a lot of cold restarts of the OS2 if I am going to be changing access points or just use the OS2 with a single access point. Inconvenient, and not why I bought it, but that's the way it is I guess.
I get it with Norbert. I was already getting the vibe here that this is a one-man-show. I have been in the commercial software development business for 29 years, and specifically network development end of the business for 24 years. One thing I learned early on was that as the developer of the product, I should never do tech support. Most developers, including myself, are know-it-alls and assume every user is stupid, and "using it wrong". I turned all support functions over to employees who are much better at listening to users issues because that's what they are paid to do. One thing it took me awhile to figure out was that if a customer has a problem, then there IS a problem. Whether it is a programmatic or perceptual problem, I now try to correct it. The upshot now is that we have very few tech support calls anymore.
If Norbert is listening here, one thing that would help immensely in troubleshooting connections, would be for the announcement to include the index number of the WiFi access point OS2 trying to connect to, and IS connected to. Like "Openspot is trying to connect to WiFi 1 (or 2,3,4,5). I know the voice files for numbers are already in there because it announces the TG.
Cyberjew, thanks for the response!
K6BPM
Norbert HA2NON had me update the WiFi module last Friday and I gave it a good workout over the weekend. I tried my Nighthawk and iPhone, 4 of my home WiFi access points, and my 3 access points at work. I "roamed" in various combinations testing the OS2's ability to reconnect when it leaves one WiFi coverage area and moves to another.
Since the update, everything works perfectly. It quickly finds a new access point and connects.
One thing I did notice that it will not connect to the iPhone unless I turn the phones personal hotspot off and on. I don't think this is an OS2 thing though. I think the iPhone only advertises its SSID for a short period. I haven't had time to look into this one yet, but once I do that, the OS2 connects immediately.
Thank you Norbert! I don't know whether I had a bad module image or if you fixed something, but the updated WiFi now works exactly as it should!
cyberjew
I’m so happy you’ve made so much progress!
I have to say that, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the OS1 is far superior to the OS2 in terms of the hardware design and reliability.
My only wish is that SharkRF didn’t just drop the OS1 like a hot potato. It’s absolutely amazing to me to see them abandon the customer base for a product that is priced far beyond that of the MMDVM based hotspots - albeit the one exception being the Micro-node.
At least the Micro-Node solution is still supported.
I sincerely hope the Wi-Fi issues in the OS2 can be corrected in firmware releases and aren’t ultimately due to hardware. I guess time will tell - when we see a new hardware revision, I’d love to crack the case on them - I’d be willing to bet the Wi-Fi chipset will eventually change.
Again, I’m glad you were able to work out some of the issues. I’m not pleased you’ve had to make compromises. We should never have to do that.
Unfortunately my OS2 spends more time in a drawer than in use, while my OS1 and several Zumspot-based hotspots are used all the time.
Best of luck! I’m always happy to help - so long as time permits for it.
-JeffH
W4JEW
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