FC6 wireless -Network Manager

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Fri, 17 Nov 2006, antonio montagnani wrote:

> 2006/11/17, Matthew Saltzman <mjs at ces.clemson.edu>:
>> On Fri, 17 Nov 2006, antonio montagnani wrote:
>> 
>> > 2006/11/17, Matthew Saltzman <mjs at ces.clemson.edu>:
>> >> On Fri, 17 Nov 2006, antonio montagnani wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > I can use my wap wireless network at home:
>> >> >
>> >> > 1) it is not very stable, even if distance is small, one floor.Signal
>> >> > is excellent under Windows, only 42% in Fedora, It often disconnect,
>> >> > then automatically it reconnects
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Not sure what to suggest here.  What wireless card and what driver?
>> >>
>> >> > 2) if my router doesn't broadcast SSID, I can't connect to my network.
>> >>
>> >> Click "Connect to Other Wireless Network" in the drop-down menu and fill
>> >> in the SSID.
>> >
>> > I am running a D-link G650 with following drivers:
>> > madwifi-0.9.3-29_r1754.fc6.at
>> >
>> > I tried as you suggest for connecting to a network that is not
>> > broadcasting: it doesn't work, but after googling, it seems that has
>> > been reported in the Network Manager mailing list.
>> > This is quite annoying in a safe environment, where SSID is disabled
>> > (not here in the almost countryside... ;-)  )
>> 
>> I find it sometimes takes a few tries, possibly restarting NM in between.
>> But I've eventaully gotten it working (with ipw2200, though)
>> 
>> >
>> > I note also that after some disconnecting and automatic re-connecting,
>> > automatic re-connecting stops working
>> >
>> > I know that Network Manager people is working on these issues.
>> 
>> Track them on the network-manager list (http://mail.gnome.org/).  You
>> could also build NM from CVS with help from there.  I used to do this, but
>> haven't kept up recently.
>> 
>> >
>> > Tnx anyway
>> >
>> 
>> --
>>                 Matthew Saltzman
>> 
>> Clemson University Math Sciences
>> mjs AT clemson DOT edu
>> http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs
>> 
>> --
>> fedora-list mailing list
>> fedora-list at redhat.com
>> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>> 
> This is the output of iwconfig:
>
>
> ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"homenet"
>         Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:17:9A:F4:CC:45
>         Bit Rate:24 Mb/s   Tx-Power:18 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3
>         Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
>         Power Management:off
>         Link Quality=34/94  Signal level=-59 dBm  Noise level=-93 dBm
>         Rx invalid nwid:433  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
>
> any comment???

You're right, it does look like the signal isn't very good.

The sginal quality analysis in the Linux drivers is very inconsistent 
between drivers and generally very poorly done.  The ipw2200 driver's 
signal quality analyzer is a pretty good model, but of course this is all 
very driver-specific.  Users need to pressure driver authors to do this 
better.

NM uses signal quality in its decisions about whether to connect or 
maintain the connection, so you may be seeing the side effects of poor 
signal quality analysis (not necessarily poor signal quality).  If you 
turn of NM and connect by hand (system-config-network), do you get better 
connectivity?

-- 
 		Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs