I have an Imerge SoundServer which streams music via my home network to various zones, including our Conservatory or Sun Room. My wireless network has evolved over the years. The link from the main part of the property to the Sun Room was originally Linksys consumer kit, a WAP54G Access Point connecting to a WET54G Ethernet bridge. The signal path is not too good, and streaming errors were not unusual, especially during parties with lots of bodies around! The very time good music is essential! Hi gain aerials helped but did not fix the problem.
Next this link was upgraded to a Linksys by Cisco WAP200 and WET200-G5 combination, again with hi gain aerials. This was rock solid, no audio dropouts.
I was impressed enough with this Cisco equipment that I decided to upgrade my entire network to Cisco Small Business products, with an RVS4000 Router feeding (amongst other things) two WAP4410N Access Points (-1 is downstairs on Ch-7, -2 is upstairs on Ch-2). WAP4410N-1 also connects to the Sun Room's WET200-G5. Again, link 100% solid, no dropped bits. Signal Strength for this path on the WET Site Survey is 100% or very close to it.
Until very recently that is! Everything downstairs, except the Sun Room kit, was dismantled for major redecoration. When everything was restored, I noticed that streaming errors are happening roughly once or twice per music track. More than enough to be annoying. Well, this stimulated me to address two long-standing WET200 issues. The first is that virtually since new (2008), one of the two anntena sockets on its rear panel has been loose, and I suspect that as a result of it turning the internal connecting wire to it may be broken. This could lead to the MIMO feature not working correctly, and may explain the intermittent loss of data. Secondly, the inline power module had failed ages ago, but as my bridge is powered by PoE from a WAPPOE12, this did not actually cause me a problem, so I just ignored it. But the signal issue was the catalyst I needed to do something about this.
The original WET200 has now been RMA'd and its replacement is due to be delivered later today. Meantime, to avoid any loss of use of my audio system, I purchased yet another WET200-G5. This was connected by wire to my PC and configured in seconds by restoring the config.bin file of its predecessor. The only change I needed to make was to alter its MAC Address in the Wireless Control List of WAP4410N-1, and check that both boxes were on Channel 7. Incidentally, firmware as delivered was Cisco branded v2.0.0.5-ETSI.
I was more that a little shocked to find that streaming errors are still happening, and I have no idea why! But of more concern is that sometimes my brand new WET200 just "disappears" and cannot be accessed at all from my GUI browser. Connect it by wire, and it's fine. At other times wireless access is OK. This never, ever happened with the original bridge. Providing channel, SSID, encryption and access control settings were the same, the original bridge was always 100% accessible by wireless. Significantly it had Linksys branded FW v1.0.13-ETSI.
Tried upgrading the new box to firmware v2.0.3.2-ETSI. No change... so it's back to the factory set revision for now to eliminate this as a variable. Both the Access Point and the Bridge have Static IP's.
So in a nutshelll... the original wireless link between WAP4410N-1 and my first WET200 was 100% OK. Connection between this same AP and my replacement bridge is not. All settings are the same, same AP with its same 3 HGA7S-EU aerials, used with same model (but new) WET200-G5 fitted with the same original 2 HGA7S-EU aerials.
Can anyone suggest what is going wrong here?
Regards
Norrie
