Tech Forum

I attempted to teach a genealogy class today and have run into this problem from time to time. I arrived before our Ward started (8:30 a.m. for 9:00 a.m. service), went to the classroom, started up my laptop computer, and accessed the internet. My plan was to use the internet during class time to share some genealogy web sites with the class. I shut down my laptop, attended Sacrament Meeting, and then went to class and started up my laptop again. Alas, I could no longer connect to the internet. However, my iPhone and iPad still had internet access. Is there any settings on the Ward Router that could prevent laptops from accessing WiFi while other devices could do so? Could there be an issue that once a clerk logs in to do his work that it prevents PC's from accessing the network--although still allowing other handheld devices to do so? This is a perplexing issue that has been going on for months now and nobody seems to be able to figure it out. Would appreciate any information, direction or suggestions for a fix.

Thanks,
Gary Millward
Stake Indexing Director
Mountain Ridge Ward
Mesa Arizona Salt River Stake

The problem was that everyone else's smart phone and tablet have taken up all the available IP addresses. The STS may be able to coordinate with GSC to get more IP addresses. Or, you can remember leave your laptop on so that it doesn't release the IP address.

Thanks for the reply. What you say could be the reason for today's problem; however, the day before (Saturday) I was in the chapel with another instructor who had his laptop with him and was trying to access the internet but couldn't. The network was recognized, he had the correct password, and there was nobody else in the building logged in. Strange.

Could have something to do with the DHCP lease time. If it's set to something high (i.e. 7 days), then all of the addresses could have been grabed previously in the week (i.e. the night before during a stake dance, etc.?)? In a transient environment... I would set the lease time to something short (probably between 8 - 24 hours). Not sure what the church standard is...

give me the ip subnet for your ward building or the unit id and i can look at it

Brad

john84601 wrote:Could have something to do with the DHCP lease time. ... Not sure what the church standard is...

I asked the GSC about this a few months ago and they said the standard DHCP lease is 1 hour. If the client is missing, the IP address will be released and put back into the pool.

You can get your DHCP lease time (expiration time) by (On Windows) typing "ipconfig /all" into a command prompt window. If you have a valid IP address, it should show you the timestamp of when the lease will expire.

If it doesn't appear to be IP leases you may also have a wireless access point that needs a firmware/config update. I've seen older unit setups that would give laptops in general problems quite often with wireless. Getting a resync/activation on the devices actually cleared it up. You can contact the GSC with your unit info and list of network gear to see if it has fallen out of sync/date and needs a refresh.