Wireless to wired autoswitch

[Benjlv]

I would like for my laptop (T41 windows xp Intel 2100 wireless card) to switch between a wired network and a wireless network depending on whether or not the cable is plugged in. My friends toshiba laptop does this...

ideally windows would leave both connections open with preference given to the wired connection so that there is a seamless transition between the two.

[bill bolton]

ThinkVantage Access Connections will, but it wont be seamless if you are in the middle of something that is immediately continuous, such as a file transfer!

I am not aware of any software which will handle that for you totally seamlessly, but Access Connections will maintain most not-immediately-continous sessions through the transitions between wired and wireless networks.

You can dowload AC from the Lenovo support page for your T41.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[boofoo]

Also, as far as I can tell AC will switch if the wired connection is DHCP, but not if it's a fixed IP address. Or is there a way to do this?

[Paul Unger]

Works fine for me. I have AC 4.23 and a Linksys WRT54GS (v.4) router with Tomato firmware. Both devices (wired / wireless) have a static DHCP address based on their respective MAC addresses (the static addresses are outside the allotted DHCP range). My profile in AC is set to "Best available network". When I plug in the ethernet cable the wireless radio turns off and ethernet takes over; when I unplug the cable the wireless radio turns on and, in about two seconds, establishes a wireless connection. You can change the order of devices in AC to ensure that your wired connection is given priority. Hope that helps.

[rkawakami]

Windows should be able to do this without any other help. At least that's how it works on my T23 systems. Access point is an old Netgear ME102 with WEP enabled. I'm using Windows XP, a Broadcom-based BCM94306 802.11b/g card and the Belkin Wireless Configuration Utility (not Access Connections). Windows is NOT enabled to configure the wireless network settings and both the ethernet and wireless connections are DHCP. I can start downloading a large web page with the ethernet connection and while in the middle of loading the page, pull the RJ-45 plug out. The download will stall for about 10 seconds and then continue loading via the wireless connection. Naturally the information that is being transferred at the moment the ethernet cable is pulled is garbled.

Going from docked (ethernet connection active) to un-docked (wireless card already enabled and connected) IS seamless. I do not have to do anything to re-establish communications. Also, when re-docking, the ethernet connection will take over. I can see this by looking at the wireless activity icon in the system tray (it doesn't blink when docked and data is flowing).

[boofoo]

Both devices (wired / wireless) have a static DHCP address based on their respective MAC addresses (the static addresses are outside the allotted DHCP range). My profile in AC is set to "Best available network".

My setup at my office is a static IP address without DHCP, while at home I either use my wired DHCP router (dynamic local address) or wifi. What I haven't been able to do is get AC to recognize when it's plugged into the wired connection at the office (which is not part of a LAN, just a connection to the campus network+Internet that requires manually-specified IP address, gateway address, and DNS), since it has no DHCP AFAIK. Or is there some setting that I'm missing?

[Paul Unger]

So, just to make sure, you've got two profiles in AC, right? One for "office" (wired LAN only) and one for "home" (best available network [wired / wireless])? If you 'Edit' (Manage > Edit) your "office" profile, you can set static IP addresses, etc., on the 'Additional Settings' tab (check "Override TCP/IP and DNS defaults" and click 'Settings'; you can enter your static IP address here). I have about six profiles in AC, some static and others dynamic, and AC does a great job of 'sensing' which connection I'm using and applies the settings accordingly. Let me know if I've skipped any important steps

[Bob34]

Um, like people have said Windows, at least from Win2K on, should do this seamlessly. Your wired adapter should have a lower metric than a wireless connection unless you have manually overridden it. This should give a route preference to the wired adapter, if all other is equal, as in both adapters are on the same subnet.

Whoops, didn't quite read that right..

you could try a Batch file like this to set

netsh interface ip set address name="NameofAdapter" static IPAddress SubnetMask Gateway

Your IP when you're at office then at home do

netsh interface ip set address name="NameofAadapter" source=dhcp
Maybe someone can whip up a Batch File (not sure how you would accomplish this through scripting) that could let you choose where you're at.

[Bob34]

http://www.petri.co.il/configure_tcp_ip_from_cmd.htm

Has more in depth examples. I suggest this from using AC because I always thought AC sucked

[Paul Unger]

Hmmm . . . seems to me that's exactly what AC does--without having to play with batch files and command line language. To each their own, I guess . . .

[boofoo]

So, just to make sure, you've got two profiles in AC, right? One for "office" (wired LAN only) and one for "home" (best available network [wired / wireless])? If you 'Edit' (Manage > Edit) your "office" profile, you can set static IP addresses, etc., on the 'Additional Settings' tab (check "Override TCP/IP and DNS defaults" and click 'Settings'; you can enter your static IP address here).

I've got about 7 profiles in AC, but most of them are wifi so they detect SSIDs. I've got all the TCP/IP configuration stuff (plus printer, homepage) set in the "Office" profile, and it works fine if I select it manually. But it never seems to "see" the office ethernet port to switch to it automatically. Not a big deal, but it would be nice.

Also, to those who prefer batch files: AC does have some additional features, such as setting default printer and browser homepage, that could be done with batch/cmd files but would be a hassle.

[Bob34]

Hmmm . . . seems to me that's exactly what AC does--without having to play with batch files and command line language. To each their own, I guess . . .

Yeah, just putting it out there because my experience with AC was bad. 3 Minute shutdowns aren't fun (and that's from the factory).

One thing batch files don't do is constantly run but then again it doesn't have all the features of AC.

PS I use neither.

[Paul Unger]

Hmmm . . . seems to me that's exactly what AC does--without having to play with batch files and command line language. To each their own, I guess . . .

Yeah, just putting it out there because my experience with AC was bad. 3 Minute shutdowns aren't fun (and that's from the factory).

I'll admit, I've had those myself . . . And you're right--they're no fun. But it works so well most of the time that I have come to really appreciate it.