Wi-Fi Signal, But No Connection?

[speciald@ocens.]

It is very frequent to recieve more signals than you can coonect to. Remember that there is a difference between reception & transmission. You may be recieving a signal but the node may not be recieving your transmission for a "handshake". You may need a more powerful transmitter to connect to a recieved site. 400 and up to 1 watt transmitters are available. Raisingyour antenna may also help but not as miuch as using a more powerful transmitter

[michaelmrc]

there are way too many possible reasons that you cannot gain access. you say you can connect to some but not all. now the sites that you attempt to connect to that you say are (open,unsecured) may not have encryption per se but could be using other forms of authentication such as mac address filtering radius type server there are multiple stages to a wireless connection you may connect to the wireless system but not be authorized to access the network. you say you have good signal strength but if you check your wireless adapters tcp connection (start run type in cmd then hit enter, type ipconfig / all ) you should see listed under your wireless adapters setting the ip address assigned to your adapter a subnet mask and default gateway as well as dhcp server information and dns server information. if you dont have an ip address listed or it says media disconnected then you wont be able to access the system. like i said too many possible reasons why you cannot connect.

[richardhula]

For what its worth Windows 7 indicates Internet connectivity by placing cursor over taskbar WiFi icon. You can also see a graphic display of the full connection chain & its status by right clicking on this icon & selecting "Open Network & Sharing Centre".

9 times out of 10 if you connect successfully to a WiFi network but have no Internet access its because MAC address filtering is present.

[michaelmrc]

Originally Posted by richardhula

For what its worth Windows 7 indicates Internet connectivity by placing cursor over taskbar WiFi icon. You can also see a graphic display of the full connection chain & its status by right clicking on this icon & selecting "Open Network & Sharing Centre".

9 times out of 10 if you connect successfully to a WiFi network but have no Internet access its because MAC address filtering is present.

perhaps is a soho (small office home office) environment but mac address filtering is not widely used in an enterprise level wifi scenario due to its vulnerability to be spoofed but i agree that the type of wifi the poster is having issues with are most likely due to filtering.

[W32PAMELA]

MAC address filtering will prevent a connection. The AP will not respond to an unauthorized station attempting to connect.

[Therapy]

WoW!!

Thanks all you experts.

I see that it is like electronics school I had oh so many years ago. We called it FM.

And so it is.

I understand it much better now. Thanks all.

Today we went to the boat and sailed in the cold fog. (for us in Fl 57 deg is COLD) 75-100 yds visibility most all day. All day, no sun. So unlike FL. We decided it would be too cold to stay out so returned to the marina. We fired up the laptop and the hawking dish. The son was on the mouse. Us old fogies watching the screen. Up came 6 networks, only one not encrypted. The laptop wireless was on. We (he) tried to connect and it would not. Tried several times on that same unencrypted site. No go. Turned off the laptop wireless and searched again. Same 6. Tried the same site and Viola it connected and we had internet. Woohoo! We looked at the temps and yep, too cold for us.

Before we packed up we closed all screens, turned on the laptop wireless and searched again. Same 6. This time though we connected with the unencrypted site even though the laptop wireless was on.

FM I say.

But anyway, I know that sometimes it will work.

Thanks all.

I love this forum.