Internet Sharing - Channel Issue

[Choccybutton]

I'm running a Nokia Lumia 920 and I'm having issues trying to get internet sharing working in the office. When I turn on internet sharing inside the building I can occasionally connect to it with my iPad and my laptop (6 month old Samsung ultrabook, can't remember the model off the top of my head), but it is only occasionally.

I'm currently working on a customers site in a science park and there are many businesses around the area. When you go to the Wifi list the list is lengthy, currently it's showing 8 available networks. When you turn on internet sharing, most of the time the Wifi created from the phone doesn't appear in the Wifi network list on the other devices. When it does you can sometimes connect, but the connection doesn't last long and drops out and disappears fairly quickly normally. One theory the clients tech's have had is that the channel the phone uses is too congested, but I can't see a way to check the channel or change it. As soon as I leave the building and go to the car in the car park right outside the building everything works fine again, I can turn on internet sharing and connect fine.

Another odd thing that might help with a diagnosis. The client I'm working for has given me details of their Wifi connection. Which again I can sporadically connect to, even with a known good password and pretty much full Wifi signal strength, and this is the same when trying to connect the 920, iPad and laptop to the Wifi.

 

[N_LaRUE]

I have a clarifying question for you. When you're in the car park are you using WiFi or mobile data?

The only thing that comes to mind is interference but that doesn't make any sense if you have a clear WiFi signal connected to your phone.

As well I thought maybe WiFi on the phone isn't able to be shared through the phone, only mobile data. If there's WiFi available why bother using your mobile as a hotspot with the laptop and iPad?

 

[hopmedic]

I have a clarifying question for you. When you're in the car park are you using WiFi or mobile data?

The only thing that comes to mind is interference but that doesn't make any sense if you have a clear WiFi signal connected to your phone.

As well I thought maybe WiFi on the phone isn't able to be shared through the phone, only mobile data. If there's WiFi available why bother using your mobile as a hotspot with the laptop and iPad?

You are correct - the phone cannot share wifi, only cellular data.

To the OP, I'm puzzled, too. :straight:

 

[Choccybutton]

I'm not trying to share WiFi. The phone can't connect to the clients WiFi either. That was the last paragraph. The phone, ipad and laptop all experience issues trying to connect to the clients WiFi as well.

I'm using cellular data connection and trying to creating a WiFi hotspot so I can share the cellular connection to my ipad and laptop. Most of the time the ipad and laptop can't see the WiFi hotspot though when I'm inside the building. On the rare occasion they can see it, they can't always connect. And when they can connect, the connection doesn't stay open and drops out after a short period of time. As soon as I leave the building I can connect fine though.

 

[Choccybutton]

As an example. I've just tried it. My ipad is showing 9 wireless networks, all with strong signals of 3 or 4 out of 4 on the icon. I turn on the internet connection sharing on the lumia and I can't see it on the ipad. Wait a bit and it appears. Tap on it and it cant connect, then disappears and hasn't come back yet. Most of the time you just cant see it. The devices are right next to each other, it's not signal strength, it can only be interference surely? But how to get around it as you can't change channels? (assuming it is the channel)

 

[N_LaRUE]

Sounds like interference to me and changing channels may not help any.

What kind of signal is your phone getting? Is LTE? Is it H+? Is it G? Is it a strong signal, full bars? Small signal?

If you're in a building and it has lots of metal then you're basically in a Faraday cage which means your signal is crap and wanting to share a weak signal with other devices simply won't happen. In my building I sit pretty close to the window and I have issues with connectivity. The further I go to one side of the building the more the signal drops to the point I don't have one.

People seem to think cellular data and WiFi are great, they are in the right conditions. It doesn't take much to interfere with it.

I'm going to assume that your clients WiFi is using some weird form of security which is why you're having issues connecting or you're in a black spot.

 

[Choccybutton]

The cellular signal shows almost full 3G+ or H+ most of the time. I doubt that has anything to do with it.

I've just downloaded inSSIDer and ran it on my laptop. It shows the phone is defaulting to use channel 6. No other networks use that frequency, but, there are several that overlap from nearby channels. Eg there are 3 networks on channel 5 which has a large overlap and 1 network on channel 9 which has a smaller overlap with the phone. Almost certainly is the channel interference and very annoying that you can't change the channel on the phone

 

[N_LaRUE]

No one ever said using WP would be easy.

The problems that people keep running into with WP are always some bizarre situation which is outside the norm of what MS thinks is the norm. In their eyes I guess changing channels was never a consideration as most people probably wouldn't run into this problem. Then you have 1-2% that do.

Maybe when we have the update things will get better in this area but I wouldn't hold my breath. There are not many tethering apps either that may help in this situation. Would be curious to know if you can even access the channel in the API.

Maybe talk to your client and see if their IT can sort out your WiFi connectivity issue? That would probably be the better solution for you. Either that or stick your phone outside the window.

 

[Choccybutton]

I've spoken to the clients tech and they cant sort anything. To be honest I don't understand it. They have 4 WiFi networks of their own running and they must be working for them. I've been given the credentials for 2 of them, but I can't connect to either of them. Have tried with 2 different Windows Phones, my laptop and my iPad. As with my mobile phone, I can connect occasionally, but most of the time it won't connect at all. With their networks I can always see the network though, the devices just won't connect. Because they do connect sometimes though it proves that it's not a credentials issue. With the variety of devices I've tried I think I can rule out a device issue. And as they have their own devices working on it (at least I assume they have, tech support not being overly helpful) I can't see why my devices won't connect.

 

[Choccybutton]

One further piece of information. I have a 3 MiFi device that is normally used for something else. I brought it into the office last week and the devices ran from that inside the office fine. I'm thinking of buying another of those, but can't guarantee it will work. I'm only currently contracted to this client for another 4 weeks though so might just leave it for now and just live with not having the other devices connected.

 

[N_LaRUE]

I've spoken to the clients tech and they cant sort anything. To be honest I don't understand it. They have 4 WiFi networks of their own running and they must be working for them. I've been given the credentials for 2 of them, but I can't connect to either of them. Have tried with 2 different Windows Phones, my laptop and my iPad. As with my mobile phone, I can connect occasionally, but most of the time it won't connect at all. With their networks I can always see the network though, the devices just won't connect. Because they do connect sometimes though it proves that it's not a credentials issue. With the variety of devices I've tried I think I can rule out a device issue. And as they have their own devices working on it (at least I assume they have, tech support not being overly helpful) I can't see why my devices won't connect.

Currently at my work, the wifi is only set up for Apple devices as that's what the company will be using. So I can't connect to it but people with Apple devices can. I assume this will change as they probably will secure it more.

It's possible the wifi is setup with certain features that prevent mobile devices from connection.

 

[ssjmec]

Did you connect your 920, sometime before, on the existing wifi networks around you? In my case, it also happens when I turn on internet sharing on my 1020, it turns on wifi to establish a connection. But if there is no device connecting to it right away, it automatically connects to wifi instead of creating one. So what I am doing was do just delete the saved network so it wont automatically connect to it.

 

[Choccybutton]

Did you connect your 920, sometime before, on the existing wifi networks around you? In my case, it also happens when I turn on internet sharing on my 1020, it turns on wifi to establish a connection. But if there is no device connecting to it right away, it automatically connects to wifi instead of creating one. So what I am doing was do just delete the saved network so it wont automatically connect to it.

I did try connecting the 920 to the existing WiFi and the other devices as well, before I tried the internet sharing. I've tried the internet sharing with the WiFi turned off though and still no joy (internet sharing does normally work with WiFi turned off)

 

[Choccybutton]

Currently at my work, the wifi is only set up for Apple devices as that's what the company will be using. So I can't connect to it but people with Apple devices can. I assume this will change as they probably will secure it more.

It's possible the wifi is setup with certain features that prevent mobile devices from connection.

That's a possibility. The tech guy I was talking to was aware that it was an iPad and my phone primarily that I was trying to connect and he didn't say they would be blocked or experience any problems. On the counterside as well, I've tried connecting my laptop with sporadic results as well.

 

[N_LaRUE]

That's a possibility. The tech guy I was talking to was aware that it was an iPad and my phone primarily that I was trying to connect and he didn't say they would be blocked or experience any problems. On the counterside as well, I've tried connecting my laptop with sporadic results as well.

Seems a bit dodgy if you ask me. Then again, maybe the wifi can't handle the amount of traffic on it. In any case, as you said, just four weeks and you can move on.

Your situation is a bit weird but I'm not overly surprised. Too many signals in one place and all sorts of things can happen.

 

[Choccybutton]

Seems a bit dodgy if you ask me. Then again, maybe the wifi can't handle the amount of traffic on it. In any case, as you said, just four weeks and you can move on.

Your situation is a bit weird but I'm not overly surprised. Too many signals in one place and all sorts of things can happen.

Yeah, I can only put it down to the number of signals, but I don't understand why no one else has mentioned it. Could be that not many others try to use it. It's strange as well that they have 4 wireless networks in a small ish office that only has 20 - 30 people in total in the building. Seems silly. I could understand using wireless extenders to improve the coverage, but not sure the 4 networks is necessary.

 

[ssjmec]

I did try connecting the 920 to the existing WiFi and the other devices as well, before I tried the internet sharing. I've tried the internet sharing with the WiFi turned off though and still no joy (internet sharing does normally work with WiFi turned off)

Yeah, but actually, internet sharing does turn on and use WiFi. So even if you turn it off before starting sharing, it will automatically turn on when you enable sharing. And, thus, if any existing wifi network is in range and known, it can (may) connect to it automatically resulting to no network (using your phone) being created. Just for diagnosis, try to delete known networks on your lumia (only in the site where you're saying you are having trouble establishing connection) and see if you can now create a hotspot.

 

[Choccybutton]

Sorry, only just seen this. I've just gone to try deleting the connections to find they're not there, I must have already deleted them (I did try to connect previously but think something else I tried suggested deleting the connections as well).

 

[Choccybutton]

To further confuse things, I've borrowed a Nokia Lumia 520 and tried internet connection sharing, and it works fine inside the building. Checked the channel and it's using channel 6, same as the 920

 

[N_LaRUE]

To further confuse things, I've borrowed a Nokia Lumia 520 and tried internet connection sharing, and it works fine inside the building. Checked the channel and it's using channel 6, same as the 920

Sounds like a software issue with the L920. You could try doing a hard reset. I just did one myself last weekend. Just be sure to backup everything beforehand. It's not as scary as it may seem and it may fix any issues you may have.

If you get the 'spinning cog wheels' there's software for that - Suffering from the spinning cogs issue on a Nokia Windows Phone? There's a fix for that | Windows Phone Central

Honestly, the L920 has not been a great device overall. People have had many issues with them.