I have a strange problem: My WiModem Pro regularly disconnects the WiFi connection to the router or repeater and then does not reconnect automatically. This morning, just before six, it happened again.
I have now restarted my old BBS for Christmas and keep getting complaints that the system is not accessible.
There are several possibilities here. When this happens, does the WiModem still show a YELLOW LED and is able to "dial out"? If not, then the router has dumped the WiModem232 from the DHCP list. If you can dial out, then the IP address of the WiModem232 was likely changed by the router. Before you start up the BBS note the IP address by typing ATI in a terminal program. When this happens, close the BBS (without powering off the WiModem232) and run a terminal program and see if the WiModem232 is really still connected and what the IP address shows as. That should tell you what the issue is.
Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the LED. Instead, I started a terminal program and used ATI to display the status. No SSID was displayed and no IP address (0.0.0.0). The device is configured on the router so that it always receives the same IP address (192.168.178.60).
Does powering off and on the WiModem232 then reconnect to the router? If not, the router is not allowing the re-connection. Since you are hard coding the IP in the router, you do have the WiModem232 set to a static IP as well? If not, and the router renews its lease (after some pre-set time) all devices will go back through DHCP and may not end up with the same IP they were before which could move the IP address of the WiModem232 to something other than you might be expecting. Setting a static IP is the only way to avoid this issue.
It is not really a static address, but the router always assigns the same address through DHCP. I didn't power off and on, but used AT*REBOOT to reconnect the modem. Maybe the WiModem doesn't try to reconnect automatically when losing the connection?
This morning at 1:12 a.m. CET it happened again. I just noticed it, but the LED still lights up yellow and the SSID is shown on the display. ATI showed that there is no connection. AT*REBOOT then reconnected the modem.
My wifi environment consists of an AVM Fritz!Box 7590 AX on the first floor, a Fritz Repeater 1750E on the second floor and a Fritz Repeater 1160 on the third floor. The computer and modem are about three meters away from the 1750E.
The repeater reports:
12/25/24 1:12:36 a.m. Wireless device was deregistered (2.4 GHz), PC-192-168-178-60, IP 192.168.178.60, MAC aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff.
The
help page for this message says:
This is an event message from the Wi-Fi area.
The status message notifies you that the specified wireless device is no longer registered with the given Wi-Fi network of the FRITZ!Box.
The cause for the wireless device no longer being registered could be:- The wireless device is located outside the range of the FRITZ!Box's Wi-Fi.
- The wireless adapter was disconnected from the computer or network device.
(12-25-2024, 07:17 AM)rosenrost Wrote: [ -> ]This morning at 1:12 a.m. CET it happened again. I just noticed it, but the LED still lights up yellow and the SSID is shown on the display. ATI showed that there is no connection. AT*REBOOT then reconnected the modem.
This means that the router side disconnected. If the Wimodem232 itself disconnects from the router then the LED will change to red. I did this on purpose to know when the router has deliberately disconnected. If you power off your router after a connection is established you will see the same thing.
You may have to use the STATIC IP option to prevent this from happening. You can't rely on the router to choose the exact same IP address when a lease renew occurs. You could also disable the renew option completely. In my system, I just reserved the the first 20 locations: 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.19 for my personal devices, such as the WiModem232, PiHole, etc. I set static IP addresses for these devices.
Ah ok, I will give it a try. As I said, the WiModem already has a reserved IP: 192.168.178.60.
So, my new configuration is:
AT*SUB=255.255.255.0
AT*GW=192.168.178.1
AT*IP=192.168.178.60
AT*NET=STATIC
The disconnection apparently occurs when the repeater receives the information that the network channel is being changed. Then all devices are disconnected, the router and repeater switch to the new channel and the devices reconnect.
Setting a static IP in the router and the WiModem232 will cause automatic re-connection when renewing the lease, but I am not sure how the channel is handled. I can change the channel, but there is no way to know if the channel has been changed on the WiModem232 side. I could look at adding a provision to check the router status every so many seconds when not connected AND there was last though to be a connection, and then try to find the router again if the router is no longer there. Typically channels do not change all by themselves. This must be a repeater thing.
The router changes the channel in case of high traffic caused by other WiFi networks in the neighborhood. And there are a lot here around my home.
If it is not too difficult, it is certainly a good idea to let WiModem monitor the connection and establish a new one if it is lost. It could also be that the router receives an update or is restarted in some other way and the connections are interrupted as a result.
For now, I let my BBS software check with ATI every 10 minutes to see if there is a connection and if not, reboot the modem. Of course, only when it is idle.