On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:09:40 +0100, "code_wrong" <tac@tac.co.uk>
wrote:
>Is there some software out there that will give me a real time progress
>report from the router when it is connecting to the internet?
Sure. Lots of connectivity monitors out there. If you have a high
end router with SNMP support, I use MRTG and RRDTool (with ping probe)
to monitor traffic and connectivity. If you just want something to
tell you that you can connect to the internet, try FreePing:
<http://www.tools4ever.com/products/free/freeping/>
That's what I use for monitoring if my customers routers are up and
connected. Note that I don't pound on their connecting very minute,
but only check once every 30 minutes.
Many routers and DSL/cable modems also have a built in connectivity
monitor. It's usually in the form of an "internet" light. Internally,
it checks connectivity to internet site, and illuminates the light red
or green as required.
>Windows indicates that it is connecting, and has connected to the router
>with the wifi icon in the tray, but there is no way to tell if the router
>has connected to the ISP yet without launching a web application (like the
>browser for example).
So, you're losing wireless connectivity and want a monitor program?
Pinging the ISP gateway from the laptop using FreePing would work, but
would be rather disruptive. I suspect your unspecified model laptop
wireless device might have a built in connection manager, with a
connectivity indication. I know that most Linksys and Netgear cards
do that.
>Yes I know this is easy, but I want to end the situation where my confused
>user sees a connection to the router then fails to download a web page
>because the router has not yet connected to the ISP.
Chuckle. I have a much simpler problem. My users want a big
indicator on the screen when the computer is ready to use (and not
doing updates or virus scans). I was thinking of writing a utility
called "Ready" that would do just that. A big traffic light appears
on the desktop with red, yellow, and green lights and would announce
over the speakers that your computer is done with housekeeping,
booting, virus scanning, defragging, updating, and is ready to be
used.
Please note that Windoze has a rather moronic idea of what constitutes
"connected". To Microsoft, "connected" really means "associated"
which means that the wireless device as found a suitable access point
and is able to negotiate a connection. It doesn't mean that it has
successfully negotiated that connection, passed encryption, survived
authentication, has received a DHCP assigned IP address, and is able
to pass packets to the internet. It just means that the wireless
devices have settled on a connection protocol and are able to do the
rest. Everything in between this initial "connected" message, and the
actual start of traffic is missing, as Microsoft did not see it
necessary to offer any connection progress indicators. I had hoped
that Vista would have supplies the missing connection progress
indications, but that didn't happen.
Anyway, there are various wireless client manager programs that can
sorta supply a connection indication. I've been using WiFiHopper:
<http://wifihopper.com>
as a connection manager of sorts.
>This happens first thing when the router and the computer are powered up at
>the same time.
Yep. I can think of a few other ways to break a connection. I
suggest that telling your customers to wait until the router is ready
before attempting to connect might be useful. Also, showing them how
to retry a failed wireless connection might be helpful. Windoze will
almost continuously retry a connection (i.e. "connect automatically")
so I suspect some configuration on the laptop might be useful.
--
Jeff Liebermann
jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558