Journeyman

When I am out in public, and want to check on the latest score of the Oakland Athletics game, there might be several networks within range of my Axim. Some are encrypted, and some are unencrypted. None are networks I have used previously.

Naturally, I would like to temporarily use a small amount of bandwidth from an unencrypted site to quickly get a scoring update. However, I have not found a way to control which network my Axim wants to bond with. It seems to prefer the network with the strongest signal, but I might want another available network with a perfectly strong signal. If I try to select my preferred network, the Axim makes a half-hearted "Connecting..." attempt, but then latches back onto the network with the stronger signal. Is there a way to force the Axim to only try to connect to a particular network in the presence of several?

Dell Axim X3i
Settings > (lower tab) Wireless Ethernet >
Networks to access: Only access points
(unchecked) Automatically connect to non-preferred networks

Howard2k

Not really no. It's no psychic so it won't know which one you want to connect to without you telling it :)

An approach would be to un-check the Automatically connect to non-preferred networks box and then from the list just force the connection to the one you want. If you have no previously connected to a network it will not connect.

BTW - you can't really temporarily use a small amount of bandwidth. You're not giving the bandwidth back at the end. You're just taking it.

__________________
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

Howard2k

Sorry, just saw that you have that box unchecked. A network becomes "preferred" when you've connected to it before.

If Network 1 is preferred and Network 2 is not and you detect Network 1 at -50dBm and Network 2 at -25dBm it should ONLY connect to Network 2 if you manually choose to connect.

If you're not seeing that behaviour then there is something amiss. If there is a network down the street called Linksys and there is a network where you are now called Linksys then if one is listed as preferred, then both are preferred. Does that make sense? It does not differentiate between the two Linksys networks.

__________________
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

Journeyman

> Does that make sense?
> It does not differentiate between the two Linksys networks.

Yes. I understand.

In my case though, each of the four networks I can attach to have different IDs (no two have the same ID). Also, I have not previously connected to any of the four.

For example:
ID---------signal--security
default---64%----unlocked icon
dlink------30%----locked icon (security enabled)
linksys----22%---unlocked icon
tmobile---80%----locked icon

I want to connect to "default", but it wants to lock onto "tmobile". That is, selecting "connect" from the "default" available profile results in "connecting..." followed shortly by "available". Then, lo and behold, I see "connected" associated with the "tmobile" profile.

Also, I cannot "remove" the available "tmobile" profile while the Axim can detect it.

How can I connect to "default" in plce of "tmobile"?