Access Point selection

I have a small network with 4 WAPs attached - one being the main modem & router which is then connected to a 24 port switch to which the other three are connected.

Dependent on where I am, I can select and connect to any of them - primarily using WPA2 but one of them (not easily visible to the outside world) can only work with WEP and up to 11Mb on 802.11b whereas the others are 802.11g. The g WAPs are named QQQ_I, QQQ_II and QQQ_III with the b being QQQold.

The profiles I have set up are in order of preference and go, QQQ_I, QQQ_III, QQQ_II, QQQ_old followed by others I use. When I search for access points the list order can vary around those four plus a couple of neighbouring ones at lowish power.

The problem I have is that when restarting my PC it seems to always select QQQ_old even if the power level is lower than the other three as well as it being the lowest priority.

Any thoughts on how I can ensure I select one of the higher priority WAPs first? Or is there an underlying reason that it will choose an 802.11b with WEP before a WPA2 encrypted WAP?

is this a client utility or an OS function you're using to store and prioritise the networks ?

have you considered omitting the 802.11b one from the list,
or having them all on the same ssid ?

maybe it's alphabetical

It is the Intel PROSet/wireless WiFi connection utility that operates with the Intel PRO/wireless 3945ABG network adaptor.

The utility states: "When you are not connected, Intel PROSet/Wirelss WiFi Connection utility tries to automatically connect in the order specified in this list." So. alphabetic should not be a problem. I will try that later and see.

Have tried with the three on the same SSID to no avail. Cannot put the fourth on it due to the different encryption and associated profiles.

XP allows you to have a list of preferred networks, not sure about hardware specific software but I would have thought it was possible.

The software tells me it does!

Cannot use the inbuilt XP capability though. Does not like working with the Intel hardware hence the need for the Intel application.

Why do you need 4 different WAPs?

I assume it is for coverage reasons. If so can you not relocate the three WAPs that support WPA2 so that you can remove QQQ_old?

And then it should be possible to set all three WAPs to use the same SSID and encryption key (although they are best set to different channels)

Coverage ... total area and too much steel!

QQQ_old is to cover one small area that the others miss! But it can still be seen elsewhere and the PC still selects it when the received power is very low.

I will migrate the others to a single SSID and key once I have sorted another problem of channel stability. They change channel with no good reason.

How small an area? Could it be covered by a long network cable?

Unfortunately I am not familiar with the Intel wireless utility you are using, so cannot offer a more sensible solution if re-siting the other WAPs cannot solve your problem.

That or upgrade the one WAP that only supports WEP.

They change channel with no good reason.

you don't set them manually ?T

Maybe they're trying to avoid each other?