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Logging / watching Wifi: weird behavior

CMetaphor

CMetaphor

Quadfather
Joined
May 5, 2007
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Location
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xentr_thread_starter
You all know I'm not a networking guy...
(I STILL havent cut out the "middle box", months later... dont ask)

But Ive got a (hopefully) easier Q this time: I'm slightly suspicious that one of my neighbors - intentionally or not - has a powerful wifi setup that hops onto the channels I use from time to time. This makes almost all my wifi devices stop connecting until I reset my wifi access point. Resetting the AP (without changing any settings) does bring everything back to normal though, so the neighbor theory is just that, a theory.

Im running fixed channels (not automatically assigned ones) because I went out of my way to pick channels that are used the least in my area. The least cross-talk / sharing of channels possible.

Regardless, I havent been able to nail down this issue, and its pretty annoying and sometimes frustrating when I want to check on my home when Im out, but can't because this issue has happened again.

So Im wondering: are there any logging tools (built into PFsense OR a Windows -based program) that could constantly watch my wifi, other nearby wifi signals and keep clear (read: understandable for my dumb a$$) logs to give me a clue what is actually happening? Would be interesting to see if my theory about someome else's AP jumping onto my channels (probably set to auto switch) is true, or if its some other issue such a tool might help in other ways.

Yep. Wall of text. The classic. Sorry as always.
 
well for me my ROG Rapture Router was going bad didnt know till i tested ports on it individually found some that were basicly only giving enough power to light leds, i have seen a few tools wifi explorer but havent used it i myself have to book some time off to call my isp so i can get into the modem and turn off its built in wifi its been bugging me its on by default and there is no clear login details so i can disable it.
 
Fixed channels isn't the way to go as people do channel jump. Better to use an auto scan approach and be a channel jumper yourself if everyone else is doing it.
 
I don't think some noise/interference would "kill" your WiFi network entirely. It would have to be excessively high power/purposefully noisy, which would be against regulations. More likely your access point firmware has a memory leak or something since a reboot fixes it temporarily until it happens again.

If the AP has syslog or SNMP support, that might work for logging. Should be able to dial it up to verbose/debug. I don't think it will be easily readable though.

Most WiFi spectrum analysers are pretty expensive though. I guess there's some Windows apps that claim to be, you could try those out and see if any allow continuous monitoring.
 
xentr_thread_starter
Izerous said:
Fixed channels isn't the way to go as people do channel jump. Better to use an auto scan approach and be a channel jumper yourself if everyone else is doing it.
Click to expand...
Im only using fixed channels far away (decibel -wise) from.pthers because the wifi in my house is problematic (solid iron beams used in its construction) and because my AP is a bit underpowered to cover the whole house reliably. In other words, im trying to get the most out of my signal strength by using channels that others nearby Aren't using.
JD said:
I don't think some noise/interference would "kill" your WiFi network entirely. It would have to be excessively high power/purposefully noisy, which would be against regulations. More likely your access point firmware has a memory leak or something since a reboot fixes it temporarily until it happens again.

If the AP has syslog or SNMP support, that might work for logging. Should be able to dial it up to verbose/debug. I don't think it will be easily readable though.

Most WiFi spectrum analysers are pretty expensive though. I guess there's some Windows apps that claim to be, you could try those out and see if any allow continuous monitoring.
Click to expand...
Interesting point about the firmware... I'll look into my current AP directly before anything else. Its *supposed* to be a pretty decent PoE powered AP - Zyxcel(sp?) branded I think? - and its the only device on my PoE+ switch, so I doubt its a power issue. Its logs might give me a more direct clue of what's going on, unless its the AP itself that's crashing out. Either way, the built-in logs on the AP itself its a great suggestion!

Regardless though, I appreciate all your input on this stuff. Its not a Huge headache, just kinda annoying (unless im out when it happens, then its a pisser).

I DO have a full replacement setup I'll eventually deploy - a new switch and two linked access points - but that's yet another project I've got on my plate... and I can barely get any motivation or projects done recently as it is. Besides which, I kinda wanted to stuff all the networking stuff into a different place with a rackmount, which is Another project and would sorta be a prerequisite one to the wifi upgrade.

Bleh. TL;DR: Id like to get this AP to work more reliably for now, so I dont HAVE to rush the wifi upgrade project to the top of the project "pile". Got too much else going on.
 
Did you walk around your house with wifiman running on your phone?

Do you have more than 1 AP? If so mesh or actually wired?
 
xentr_thread_starter
Izerous said:
Did you walk around your house with wifiman running on your phone?
Click to expand...
I surveyed the 4 corners of my house when I set up the AP years ago, got enough to know where I could put my AP and where the "black holes" of signal strength killing were.

Izerous said:
Do you have more than 1 AP? If so mesh or actually wired?
Click to expand...
Single AP (for now). Wired. PoE powered but connected only by a 6ft Cat6e cable.
 
Your making me think it might be overheating. My Shaw modem for example doesn't even like being in the server rack without a fan on it directly even with the temperature probe only showing 28'c in the cabinet. Old Linksys routers like the WRT54G were pretty bad at times for overheating as well, co-worker had one at home where he just placed a glass of water on it to act as an indirect heatsink of sorts. If you can get a USB powered fan sucking air out of somehow for a few days to see if it makes any difference would be an easier way to check.
 
Well since you have another AP available, another easy thing would just be to swap it out, in the same spot, and see if the behaviour persists.
 
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