Help Wi-Fi is 1 for 2

[Lare]

I have two wi-fi routers in my home (long story) but only one is connected to the internet at a time. Not that it should matter, but one is an 802.11-b and one is an 802.11-g.

Although they have different SSIDs, otherwise they are both programmed the same, with WPA2 security and a list of MAC addresses to be allowed to connect. I've programmed my phone and laptop to recognize either network.

My Droid 2 Global connects to one of them, the -b router, with no problem.

I tap the wi-fi toggle icon and within a minute or so the 3G indicator goes off to be replaced by the wi-fi indicator. But if I switch to the -g router it doesn't connect unless I tell the phone to forget the network and re-enter the authentication data (SSID, password, etc.) again.

If I look at Settings/Wi-Fi/ I see it try to connect, I see it find the router's name, and then it says "disconnected." My wireless laptop doesn't have this problem. It connects to the network just fine. I've tried only connecting a single device, it doesn't matter. The laptop will connect, the phone won't and only to the -g router.

I'm stumped.

 

[Lare]

Bump?

 

[Dakota - Tom]

What do you mean by "when I switch to the g router..."?

 

[Lare]

I have cable modem service from my ISP. Their modem is connected to the "internet" port of the router. When I wish to switch from one router to the other, I unplug the Cat5 patch cable from one router and plug in the other. (At the same time I also transfer the power cord to the other router too--only one is powered up at a time.)

And, just to keep things consistent, the routers spoof the same IP address so the cable modem isn't getting confused by this. Not that this should be the problem as the phone doesn't seem to be able to establish connection to the router at all.

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Why do you do that?

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Also, you should make the firmware on your B router is up to date, my guess is that it's old, old tech. If it's linksys you should run the free ddrt software on it, that seems to work well with most peoples' droids.

 

[Lare]

Actually, I am using the dd-wrt firmware on the -g router. I like their comprehensive menus.

As to why I do it, it's to maintain compatibility with some older equipment I use that doesn't have the same password capabilities as my newer equipment. Although I usually use the -g router, once in a while, I need to connect something that uses the original encryption that was available on the old linksys -b router. Sadly, this is the one my phone connects to with no problems.

When I switch to the -g router (dd-wrt firmware, WPA2 encryption) that's when I have the problem.

 

[Lare]

Watching the phone try to connect I see these messages:

Scanning
Connecting to [router]
Authenticating with [router]
Getting IP address from [router]
Disconnected

Tarnation.

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Have you tried giving your phone a static IP address?

 

[Lare]

Can I do that? I have a broadband cable modem and (for all I know--a little knowledge is a dangerous thing) my ISP serves up different addresses. At least that's my (probably wrong) understanding of DHCP.

 

[Dakota - Tom]

Your phone is getting its IP address from the DHCP server in your router(s). If both of your routers are using the same subnet address range (or at least overlap in range), you should be able to assign a fixed IP address to your phone.

 

[Lare]

I will try that. Never having done it before, I note that both routers are assigning starting at 192.168.1.100. So, should I set the phone to be, for example 192.168.1.110?

 

[Dakota - Tom]

That should work, barring any IP address collision (i.e. you don't already have a device at 192.168.1.110 on either router). NB: If you use your wifi outside of your home, you will probably need to disable the static IP address to allow the hotspots router to assign one.