[GLLUG] Wireless Problems at Delta Library

[Karl Schuttler]

I would set your DNS statically to openDNS just to rule it out
(208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220), and then keep hunting if problems
persist.

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 12:19 AM, Chick Tower <c.e.tower at gmail.com> wrote:
> I sometimes visit the new Delta library by the Lansing Mall to gain wireless
> access to the internet.  When it works, it's fast and trouble-free, much
> better than the Lansing library's wireless.
>
> However, I would guess for the last year or so, about half the time I have a
> problem with the wireless access there.  I can connect just fine, do my
> business for a few minutes, but then the access ceases piece by piece.  I
> know that sounds strange, but here's what happens.  A browser like Firefox
> or Midori works for a few minutes and then begins reporting that it can't
> find whatever web page I'm trying to load because it can't find the page's
> host machine.  If I try to ping www.google.com, sometimes it doesn't get any
> responses to the packages sent, and sometimes it says it can't find that
> URL.  So it appears that sometimes I've lost access to the library's DNS
> server and sometimes not but I just can't get out to the internet.  (When
> everything is working fine, I can get replies to my pings, so they aren't
> blocking that protocol.)
>
> Oddly enough, frequently when I can't view web pages on the internet with
> Firefox and Midori (I haven't tried with Seamonkey or Arora), Dillo and
> links still work, although they eventually lose access to the internet as
> well.  Perhaps the simpler, cruder browsers are ignoring something that
> stops the more advanced browsers, but I don't know what that would be.
>  Tonight I tried to log into Yahoo! Mail with the Midori browser (based on
> WebKit).  I got the logon screen, entered my user name and password, but the
> login never finished.  I switched to Dillo, but that got an error message
> (500, maybe 550, if I recall correctly) that made it look like it couldn't
> handle some component of the website, but it did find the login page after
> Midori had quit resolving properly. Then I switched to links and it worked,
> letting me log in, send an e-mail, and then log out.
>
> I asked if any of the IT people were still around, and the guy at the
> library desk said he could help me.  When I told him I was using Linux, he
> said he knew nothing about Linux.  He did say that there are no sign-up
> screens for wireless users (unlike the Lansing library).  He also said
> there's nothing set up to disconnect PCs that have been idle for a period of
> time with wireless access, although they do that for the PCs that are
> available for public use and that connect via cables.  He said they don't
> put any restrictions on wireless access.  He finished by saying he didn't
> think they had many visitors using Linux.  I don't recall if I asked about
> content or any other kind of filtering, but I'm not visiting any websites
> that would run afoul of that, nor am I downloading music or running
> BitTorrent.  I was downloading podcasts from NPR, but the problem arose
> before I started that.
>
> Arch Linux uses dhcpcd rather than dhclient.  I was able to reconnect to the
> internet tonight by terminating the dhcpcd process and reissuing the command
> "dhcpcd wlan0", but it didn't last long that time, either.  I don't recall
> if I've ever tried other distros at the Delta Library, but FreeBSD worked
> the one time I used it.  I don't usually have problems like this at other
> wireless access points.  (Well, our current meeting site is problematic for
> me, too, but I'm not alone in that.)
>
> As I said earlier, it's intermittent.  My visits are usually separated by
> weeks, so I don't know if the problem lasts hours, days, or weeks.  I almost
> always sit in the same spot, facing the same way, with the same PC and
> wireless PCMCIA card.  There are never soft drink cans on the table when I'm
> there, but there is a table lamp on the table.  I turned it off tonight
> before I booted my PC.  Nobody pushed any library carts by me tonight.  Some
> command-line programs that access the internet seem to handle the problem
> better than GUI programs, or at least they sometimes resist the problem
> longer than the GUI programs.
>
> Can any of you think of anything that could cause this kind of behavior?  If
> it's not the library, which claims to offer unrestricted wireless, could it
> be something their internet provider is doing?  This isn't a life-or-death
> situation; I'm just puzzled at such unusual behavior.  I'm not going to go
> there with multiple PCs with different distros or other OSes to see if they
> perform differently, but if people want to meet there and compare our
> results, I'd be willing to do that.
> --
>
>                               Chick
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