Weak signal with Cisco M10 WiFi Router

[jfdonohoe]

Curious if anyone else has run into this issue and/or if a solution has been found.

My iPad seems to have trouble maintaining a strong connection to my Cisco Valet M10 wifi. I'll be standing right next to it and only receive 1 bar of signal strength on my iPad.

I have restarted all devices multiple times but the best that happens is the ipad shows full signal strength for a stort time before reducing to a single bar.

I have seen the "official" suggestion by apple (narrowing the band to one type: N, make sure the firmware is up to date, etc). None of that seems to be an issue.

My assumption is its my assumption that it is a specific issue between my iPad and M10 comes from:
- All other wireless devices connected to my M10 pick up full signal and connectivity
- My iPad picks up a full strength signal/fast connection from many other hotspots

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-john

 

[NumbLock]

Yeah,it's a known issue. Change your security to WEP and make sure your brightness isn't set on minimum and turn off auto-brightness and try again. It's officially direct from Apple and it worked for me.

 

[jfdonohoe]

Thanks for the reply. My wifi security has been set to WEP (using the first gen xbox wifi adapter requires it) and my screen brightness is almost at max and auto adjust is off. No luck there.

I did set up an old Cisco WRT54GL as an access point and my iPad can connect to that but it seems like it should work with the newer Valet M10.

 

[MikesTooLz]

Week signal can be a number of things.

First let me just remind you that wep security is very week. Although it will stop grandma from accessing it, someone who knows what they are doing can crack a wep network in just a few minutes.


Back to the topic. You need get on a PC and see what hotspots are in your area. Do your neighbors have any hotspots setup and if so what channels are they running on. After finding out what other hotspots can be seen within your house or where you use your iPad and what channels they use, you need to make sure that your hotspot is not using the same channel as one of your neighbors. Using the same channel will cause signal loss and even using channels right next two each other can cause slight signal loss. If possable use channels 1, 6, or 11 if no other hotspots are already using them.

Also if you use any cordless phones in your home you will want to check the frequency that the phones run on since some of them can cause wifi interference.

let us know if checking those things fixes your issue or if you still have problems.

 

[LindaJean1947]

I am having trouble with this same problem and want to check on changing my router channel to 1, 6 or 11 as you talked about, but I don't have a clue as to how to do this. The only thing that came with the router was this USB port jump-drive type thingy. Can you help? I also have the Cisco M10 wifi router and using an iPad mini. When in the furthest room in the house, I get either the weakest signal available or no signal at all. Upon walking to the room that has the wifi router, which is on the same floor, the signal increases from either weakest or no signal to the strongest. I do live in a condo community of individual homes, but 2-4 neighbors have wifi connections that show up on my wifi list on my iPad. Thank you for any help you can give to me. I did your first suggestion about the lighting and also the WEP setting. But since I am getting a connection, albeit the weakest you can get, I won't know if this worked or not until I get no connection or all. Thanks!

 

[twerppoet]

This thread is almost four years old. I suggest you ask your question again in a new thread. Not everyone will see it here. Or perhaps a moderator will move it for you.

Each router is different. Unless someone has the same router as you they won't be able to give detailed instructions on how to log into and configure your router. So, you'll probably have to go to the manufacturer's page and find the manual or contact their support.

It's possible they have a configuration utility you can install on your computer; or at the very least instructions on how to log into your router's configuration using a web browser.

As for signal strength, router antennas are usually designed to focus the signal in the same plain as the router. Rather than a sphere, the signal would look more like doughnut, without the hole. Moving significantly above or below the router will have a greater effect on the signal strength than moving at the same level.

Good luck.