Hello, this question is about configuring a Hitachi WirelessIP-5000 WiFi phone to use with Asterisk (really, its all about the phone and not specific to Asterisk at all )
We are trying to use these phones in a multi-level building and are suffering bad network access. Weāve put several access points (Linksys wireless routers) around the building and all of these networks are visible from the phone. The problem is that to get the phone to use these networks, I have set them up with multiple āconfigsā within the phone setup. Each config for a different network. The configs have priorities. It seems that the phone will hang on to one network as long as there is any signal strength from it, even if a closer network has a significantly stronger signal. Once the user starts talking, then network connection fails, and then the phone goes off-line for about 10-30 seconds before reconnecting to the existing call on the other network. This is a real pain in the butt.
If anyone has suggestions on how to handle this I would really appreciate it. I cannot find anything regarding this on the web. If I knew ātcoleā from the wikiās email address, Iād email him, because in his comment on this phone he comments on using the phones in a multiple accesspoint set upā¦
Sounds to me more of network setup problem why would you have to have separte configs? If its a wireless router looks to me like they could all be set the same on the wireless side
Wellā¦ yeah, maybe I shouldnāt have separate configs. Maybe the problem is because we have WEP keys on all the routers. This is to prevent all our neighbours to have access to our VOIP network. What I found was that the phone would only connect to one router if I only used a single config.
I think I should just take a big step back - admit that Iām clueless, and just ask āhow does one set up multiple access points to work seamlessly with the wirelessIp-5000?ā.
It seems to me in the phone we have to add the WLAN that the default config uses. Should I name all my routers the same network name? Do I need to use the multiple WEP key entries (1-4) in the WEP section of the config or can I just put in the one key they all share in entry 1? What do I need to make the router setup for them all to appear as the same network?
Overlap is probably the biggest issue with wifi phones, but there are a number of other issues. First you should have choosen a better access point and not a router. The lower-end WIFI devices do not support features like Qos and Vlans. You also will struggle placing the linksys hardware because of the low powered radios and inabilty to adjust output.
Get on ebay any buy some used cisco 1220s or equivalant. Get a cisco wireless card and run a site survey. Then you can adjust power and placement.
I am not fimilar with the Hitichi phones, but it took cisco a number of firmware revs before they got the access point hopping under control.
There have been a couple of crappy WiFi VoIP phones out there, one in particular was the original ZyXEL (which is actually an OEM unit that many other vendors have repackaged). While you could specify an SSID, it would only associate to one BSSID, and thats it.
The BSSID is the actual base station address, aside from the SSID name, that identifies that particular base station. It looks like a MAC address.
You may want to make sure that this phone will even work in such a implementation in the first place.
Second, your phone probably does not support 802.11e, so QoS is not going to do you any good. Find a commercial/enterprise grade access pointā¦it does not have to be a cisco.
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