Any blackberry users here having WiFi issues?

Damien360

I have just got a blackberry 8520 from work with V5 firmware on it, so no upgrades allowed.

When I connect to a WPA2-PSk network, the blackberry works for about 10 minutes nicely but then it will drop the wifi. This also causes all other devices (laptops, iphone) to be dropped off the network. The only way to get it back is to reboot my router (UPC Cisco) by pulling the power.

I have also tried WPA but not WEP as I am unwilling to use this. Also tried WPS-PIN setup which worked for all of 10 minutes also.

Because if this I have the wifi option on the blackberry permanently off. I have to use EDGE for internet and it is dog slow.

This pops up on various blackberry forums with no answer every so often.

Can anyone help?

cookie1977

Do you have a baby monitor? It could also be that the wifi channel is jammed (this has happened to me). Log in to your wifi router and choose a different channel to broadcast from.

Damien360

cookie1977 wrote: »

Do you have a baby monitor? It could also be that the wifi channel is jammed (this has happened to me). Log in to your wifi router and choose a different channel to broadcast from.

Baby monitor days are well behind me. I scanned for active channels in the area and choose 6 as nobody else was using it.

cookie1977

And has your wifi improved?

Damien360

all other devices are fine but the blackberry is still causing trouble.

cookie1977

So you'd scanned prior to my post or after? Why not try another channel just to fully rule that out. Because what you describe is exactly the problem I had until I found a trouble free channel. I also disable flood protection on my UPC modem.

We could update your OS if it isn't the latest. Whats the OS on the 8520?
Hold alt and press EACE when you're on the home screen. Post the app version.

Damien360

cookie1977 wrote: »

So you'd scanned prior to my post or after? Why not try another channel just to fully rule that out.

I scanned before and after. It has been channel 6 for a few years. I scanned again when issue arose and found it was still clear. Tried channel 3 as a test but still same with the added bonus of other devices getting far more drop outs

cookie1977 wrote: »

Because what you describe is exactly the problem I had until I found a trouble free channel. I also disable flood protection on my UPC modem.

I have that disabled for online gaming for a long time and still disabled now.

cookie1977 wrote: »

We could update your OS if it isn't the latest. Whats the OS on the 8520?
Hold alt and press EACE when you're on the home screen. Post the app version.

V5.0.0.681 (platform 5.2.0.67). This is latest available on this as it is O2 branded.

cookie1977

There is an update for the device if you'd like to try it. It's not official O2 but it'll work fine:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-8500-series-discussion-gemini/246783-latest-os-8520-5-0-0-1728-5-0-0-1067-all-languages.html

Damien360

cookie1977 wrote: »

There is an update for the device if you'd like to try it. It's not official O2 but it'll work fine:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-8500-series-discussion-gemini/246783-latest-os-8520-5-0-0-1728-5-0-0-1067-all-languages.html

No details on what is in that pack but I will give it a go over the next few days and post back.

Thanks for your help

cookie1977

No worries. Any problems post back.

Damien360

Tried this and it has been stable since 3pm today. No change with router settings. Connected using the same saved profile on the blackberry and everything is staying connected.

I have been hunting for data as to what was in the update package and all I can find is graphic improvements and battery life improvement. Nothing at all about any other issue. The only conclusion is the update wipes all data off the phone before applying update and reloading user data, thereby removing a problem process hidden in the background. O2 or work addon. Work has gone nuts lately about encryption and data security. Long shot but I cannot think of anything else.

cookie1977

It may have been defect in your OS that if you'd wiped and reinstalled your OS you may have ended up fixing the problem anyway. Glad it seems sorted and long may it last.

Damien360

Problem has returned. It would seem that I never re-booted the phone fully after install of new OS. I did that today and max time on the WLAN is 5 minutes.

The Blackberry reports "authentication server timeout" for the WLAN. The Itouch shows an external IP address (169.XX etc) and will not connect to the net. When I try renew the lease I get the same IP.

Once I recycle the power on the cisco router, I am back up and running.

This appears on google on various forums but always tapers off with crap suggestions, typically MAC address filtering, which is not the issue.

The link below for a 8530 describes what is happening exactly but no solutions.

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/BlackBerry-Curve/Curve-8530-Won-t-reconnect-to-wifi-without-turning-router-on-and/td-p/434570

cookie1977

Can you try turning off bluetooth and see if that rectifys the problem (a long shot I know)

Damien360

cookie1977 wrote: »

Can you try turning off bluetooth and see if that rectifys the problem (a long shot I know)

Bluetooth is off for all the testing. I only turn it on when I am about to get in my car to save battery life

cookie1977

Rightly or wrongly I blame the wifi router (cisco) in this case as this has never happened to me with another wifi source (I presume this is the same for you) so unfortunately there's not a lot you can do unless it is happening with other wifi routers and therefore maybe a replacement device is warranted.

Damien360

cookie1977 wrote: »

Rightly or wrongly I blame the wifi router (cisco) in this case as this has never happened to me with another wifi source (I presume this is the same for you) so unfortunately there's not a lot you can do unless it is happening with other wifi routers and therefore maybe a replacement device is warranted.

I rang UPC and I cannot replace the router as it is required by them for my phone and broadband service. I was told by tech support (in a round about way) to lower my security settings to WEP and it will be happier. Reading between the lines, it would appear that the cisco router cannot accept the blackberry using anything higher than WEP security. I am unwilling to drop from WPA2 to WEP so that looks like that is the end of wireless function on the blackberry for me.

I will test on office WPA2 systems in the new year to confirm. If they crash, then it is blackberry, if not, then it is simply my cisco router.

cookie1977

I have UPC with the exact same router and after similar problems with 3 different Blackberry's I got everything working and I'm set up with wpa2-psk with TKIP security. I'm away from home now but when I get back I'll post the exact setting of my router for you to try.

Damien360

Hi Cookie,

Any chance of those settings ??

Thanks

cookie1977

oops sorry. Forgot. II'll check now for you.

cookie1977

Not sure how much it'll help but these are the settings I use on wifi channel 9:

Damien360

Your settings are identical to mine except for 2 things.

1. You have uPnP disabled and mine is enabled for online gaming.

2. You have TKIP+AES but mine is TKIP only. Other than that all the exact same. I am using channel 6.

I will change and try over the next day or 2 and report.

Final thing for you to check on your blackberry. Under the options and about, scroll down to WLAN version. Mine is 3.0.0.126. Are you using your blackberry with an enterprise server (work) or is it private. Thinking that handshaking might be an issue.

Thanks again

cookie1977

Well I've a 9900 running a leaked 7.1 OS so it's much higher but for you it's:
4.5.0.85

BES could be the problem as I'm on BIS and maybe it's your companies settings? Maybe ask the IT dept?

Damien360

This looks to be working nicely.

The only thing I changed is TKIP+AES instead of just TKIP. I still think it was more stable since the change of firmware on the phone and I may have had a small issue on the router with it.

Thanks for the help cookie1977

cookie1977

Phew. That's good, but let's give it a few days to confirm It may help others too