Reset Network Settings

[Roberto Nieves]

My home network begins with an ARRIS TG1672G Cable Modem (Room 1). Three of its Ethernet ports are wired to two desktop PCs running Windows and a TP-Link TL-SF1008D Switch. The latter has three ports connected to three different routers; a D-Link (Room 2); a TENDA W311R+ (Room 3), and a Cisco (Linksys) E4200 (Room 4).

I own a Galaxy S6 Edge, and I connect to the Wi-Fi routers depending on whether I’m in Room 1, 2, 3 or 4. The problem is that, to use each different router, the cell forces me to reset its Network Settings each and every time. Otherwise, I’ll connect to the router but there’ll be no Internet access.

Is this behavior normal or is there a fix for it? The best to you all and thanks!

 

[mikedt]

Sounds like it should work. What about other phones and tablets, besides the Samsung, are they able to go from room to room and connect without having to reset network settings?

 

[svim]

Very nice, elaborate set up. It shouldn't be normal behavior to have to reset your Galaxy phone as you walk from one room to another but that does depend on how things are set up. If you have each access point working with a unique SSID there could be a issues for your phone to switch from one to the other if those four rooms are in close enough proximity to each other there's a lot of overlap between each room to another. Also if you have each doing it's own routing functions (DHCP and DNS) for each SSID that also makes for the same problematic issue for your phone to switch from one to the next. A lot of this is also conditional to the spacing of each of those four rooms. And one last thing is if you have the wireless routers in rooms 2, 3, and 4 connected to your TP switch via Ethernet cables, or if you have one or more of them connected via WiFi (bridge mode).

Ideally it will work out better if the three wireless routers are connected to your TP switch by Ethernet cables, all three routers having all routing functions disabled so they're all working just as wireless access points with your Arris cable modem/router being the sole, master gateway of your entire home LAN. (All three wireless routers need to have routing turned off in their configuration menus, and only use the LAN ports for the Ethernet cables, no WAN port.) All four (Arris, D-Link, Tenda, Cisco) need to have coordinated channels set for the WiFi to eliminate conflicts and seamless changeover from room to room as you walk around. (with channels 1, 6, and 11 if you're just in 2.4 Ghz but I'm assuming with your set up you have a 2.4 and 5 Ghz in use???). The end result should be your home LAN is using a single SSID (with same password), with any devices using your WiFi being able to get uninterrupted connectivity as you walk around from room to room, the only change being the channel switch over going on in the background. Any changes in things like IP address should NOT happen as your Arris is your sole gateway.

With four wireless routers in use, have you thought about using a mesh network instead? Tack on Orbi or Eero to your Arris will give you an easier network to set up if at some point you want to upgrade your routers.
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/

 

[Roberto Nieves]

Sounds like it should work. What about other phones and tablets, besides the Samsung, are they able to go from room to room and connect without having to reset network settings?

Same behavior with 2 iPhone 6, a laptop, an Ipad and a LG notepad.

 

[Roberto Nieves]

Very nice, elaborate set up. It shouldn't be normal behavior to have to reset your Galaxy phone as you walk from one room to another but that does depend on how things are set up. If you have each access point working with a unique SSID there could be a issues for your phone to switch from one to the other if those four rooms are in close enough proximity to each other there's a lot of overlap between each room to another. Also if you have each doing it's own routing functions (DHCP and DNS) for each SSID that also makes for the same problematic issue for your phone to switch from one to the next. A lot of this is also conditional to the spacing of each of those four rooms. And one last thing is if you have the wireless routers in rooms 2, 3, and 4 connected to your TP switch via Ethernet cables, or if you have one or more of them connected via WiFi (bridge mode).

Ideally it will work out better if the three wireless routers are connected to your TP switch by Ethernet cables, all three routers having all routing functions disabled so they're all working just as wireless access points with your Arris cable modem/router being the sole, master gateway of your entire home LAN. (All three wireless routers need to have routing turned off in their configuration menus, and only use the LAN ports for the Ethernet cables, no WAN port.) All four (Arris, D-Link, Tenda, Cisco) need to have coordinated channels set for the WiFi to eliminate conflicts and seamless changeover from room to room as you walk around. (with channels 1, 6, and 11 if you're just in 2.4 Ghz but I'm assuming with your set up you have a 2.4 and 5 Ghz in use???). The end result should be your home LAN is using a single SSID (with same password), with any devices using your WiFi being able to get uninterrupted connectivity as you walk around from room to room, the only change being the channel switch over going on in the background. Any changes in things like IP address should NOT happen as your Arris is your sole gateway.

With four wireless routers in use, have you thought about using a mesh network instead? Tack on Orbi or Eero to your Arris will give you an easier network to set up if at some point you want to upgrade your routers.
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/

Let me soak in this for a few. I'll get back to you. And, thanks!

 

[lunatic59]

Then @svim is correct. You have your home network setup improperly. Is there a reason why you need a dedicated access point in each room? I have a fairly large house and I have one router with two access points and it works pretty well throughout.

 

[Roberto Nieves]

Then @svim is correct. You have your home network setup improperly. Is there a reason why you need a dedicated access point in each room? I have a fairly large house and I have one router with two access points and it works pretty well throughout.

Well ... I live in a hurricane-proof old house built with 8" cement blocks, concrete and steel rods. Signal degrades substantially from room to room. Had the routers and spare cables so, no big deal. I'm working on svim's suggestions and, so far, it's doing the job. However, I have to wait until all my kids have visited so I can wait for their complaints.

 

[Roberto Nieves]

Let me soak in this for a few. I'll get back to you. And, thanks!

Please see my response to lunatic59 below. The mesh idea looks great but, I can't afford it. I'm a 67 year-old fart on a budget. Will let you know my final results. Thanks!

 

[svim]

Along with helping keep your home in place during a nasty storm there is another benefit to those cement block walls, at least for the outer walls. Your home LAN is also better protected from random snoopers in neighboring houses as those 8" of cement really reduce any leakage of your WiFi network to the outside. While a completely wired LAN typically requires physical access to compromise the network, with WiFi there's a better chance at getting hacked. Maybe you know and trust all your neighbors but if one of them has a grandkid who visits them every so often, and let's say he may have less than stellar ethics, so if he's sitting around bored probing nearby wireless networks isn't out of the ordinary. Of course as you've brought up, getting a good WiFi signal throughout your home inside is the central issue. You've got a pretty nice set up though, with routers spread out in different rooms, and as you're including more details I don't even know if a mesh network would be better anyway, a mesh network relies on wireless connections between its base and satellite(s), something your walls might hamper.

But you really do want to get your LAN working on a signal gateway, focus on your Arris box with all your wireless routers (D-Link, Tenda, Cisco) just acting as wireless access points being fed by your TP-Link switch. (That Arris TG1672G is sooo much better than the usual modem/router an ISP will provide, nice choice.) You don't want your S6, or all the devices your family have when they come by, to have to renegotiate multiple networks with different SSID/passwords, different IP addresses, and such as they walk around. Best to have one network and then once you get things set up properly you'll be able to walk around with relatively very little interruptions. One thing you'll need to focus on is setting up your WiFi channels so your access points don't conflict with each other. With 2.4 GHz networks you'll have three channels to work with 1,6, and 11 and with four wireless access points you can probably get by with two being the same as long as they're the two furthest apart from each other (no overlap). Or utilize the 5 GHz for maybe your Arris and a mix for the others. (Don't forget 2.4 GHz has better range while 5 GHz is faster bandwidth). Install this Wifi Analyzer app on your S6 and do a walkthrough of your house once things are set up.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en
Get a rough idea on which access point is pushing out a signal strong enough to interfere with the one in an adjoining room and be sure to set the channels for those two access points so differently. Here's a nice article on WiFi, ignore the parts relating to the article's title and just read through the good stuff on channels, interference, noise:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/sbiddle/8728