But the symptoms (at least in my somewhat limited experience) doesn't sound like a configuration issue, those would result in a pretty consistent failure. Yours sounds more sporadic which would lead me to believe it's hardware related. There are far too many different makes and models of network equipment to guess at. --- Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those | who say to God, "Thy will be done," | and those to whom God says, "All right, | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis From: Chuck Cole <cncole at earthlink.net> To: 'TCLUG Mailing List' <tclug-list at mn-linux.org> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2016 5:21 PM Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Need basic internet access info for a large facility The fiber optic service from Centurylink to the building is plenty good enough. I think they told me it was over 900gb delivered to the building's router.If I had access to the equipment to check the things you mentioned, I wouldn't be asking questions here: I would know what the products are, and what their configuration options and likely or actual settings are. I'm only looking for what I asked for, and hoping someone here is familiar enough with this sort of equipment and "apartment building" installation to make some educated guesses. The building manager is not technical and is a bit paranoid, and has not seriously addressed the problem since April or before. She gives monthly reports at resident meetings: "we're looking into it.." I think they have some dumb or outdated "management settings" or allocation parameters in otherwise good-enough equipment. Chuck From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of r hayman Sent: Friday, October 21, 2016 4:34 PM To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Need basic internet access info for a large facility I think I'd first determine if the problem is with the wired speed of the Internet connection. I'd try to determine speed of wired connections at the demarc point and at the access points and every segment in between that has a switch or router segmenting it. I'd check to see what the wireless is using for radio protocol and frequencies: 802.11n with 802.11a compatibility 802.11n with 802.11b/g compatibility 802.11n only, 2.4GHz 802.11n only, 5GHz other? I'd scan the wireless channels looking for interference. I'd check to see if they have configured their LAN subnet appropriately - avoiding typical problematic subnets (problematic because a lot of devices default to these subnets) 192.168.1.0/24 192.168.10.0/24 ... I'd also perform a wireshark scan if I made it this far and didn't find anything yet. I'd want to analyze the traffic to see if there are some high traffic or nefarious issues. On Fri, 2016-10-21 at 20:57 +0000, Wayne Johnson wrote: Not an expert here, but first question I would ask is what is the signal strength? I've seen facilities like these that have cinderblock walls separating each apartment. Cinder block is not friendly to wi-fi. USI has the same problem in Minneapolis with their community wifi. It doesn't go through stucco real well. 1-2 bars is not adequate for a decent wi-fi connection in my experience. There are some nice tools for Android that can scan and graph wi-fi signal strengths. WifiAnalizer from VREM Software works well with me. --- Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those | who say to God, "Thy will be done," | and those to whom God says, "All right, | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis From: Chuck Cole <cncole at earthlink.net> To: 'TCLUG Mailing List' <tclug-list at mn-linux.org> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2016 3:31 PM Subject: [tclug-list] Need basic internet access info for a large facility Need wifi setup or management parameter help.. Some blind folk at Cherrywood Pointe (senior living) in Savage have tech support from MN Services for the Blind for Dragon (and related) screen reading software which needs internet to function properly. Cherrywood is an Ebenezer managed facility with about 70 "independent living" residents who are cabalbe and typically affluent (rent is quite high). Wifi is included in rent. The wifi connection is erratic, and at such low speed that the software doesn't work. I'm trying to help identify the problems so thet can be fixed. "Bandaids" used before have not worked. What is a typical building setup? My info is only approximate now. Centurylink has a "big" fiber-optic feed to the equipment room. Cherrywood/Ebenezer equipment in the "communications room" converts to wire distribution. There is a "building router" that has multiple "CAT5" feeds that support offices and 3 pairs of access points that distribute wifi in the facility . All I need to know is basic bandwidth and connection info: I do not need to know anything private, and do not seek any actual admin access. What is a likely building router make and model? What is a likely wifi access point make and model? Are there typical bandwidth or speed restrictions affecting residents and guests? The connection speed of the 802.11g/n links is usually only 11MHz, and only once in a while 54MHz. The internet speed is usually only about 1.5 mb/sec, and occasionally 3 mb/sec or so. Those numbers seem far below a typical "wifi hotspot" connection. I've never experienced such bad connections as these. What does a typical hotspot like a Dunn Bros coffee shop offer? Please assist as you can. Chuck Cole _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota tclug-list at mn-linux.org http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota tclug-list at mn-linux.org http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota tclug-list at mn-linux.org http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20161021/0e623d10/attachment-0001.html>