[Dirkies]

Very weird issue...

Have a 9700 unlocked from T-Mobile and another unbranded 9700. Both work fine for everything, came orginally with (app) v321 firmware, upgraded to v423, all still fine, never any connection issues.

But since v545 right upto latest v680, the WLAN component was updated from version 2.7.0.60 (I believe, could have been .53 or .54) to 2.7.0.83, and the problems began with my DLink 2741B DSL b/g/n router.

Basically what happens is that once the BB is connected to the DLink (over WPA2), the DLink wireless radio dies within minutes, sometimes seconds. The router still works FINE over cable, but the signal of the radio disappears, and sometimes the AP will appear in wifi list but with strength zero.
Also, sometimes the wifi will come back OK (like connection dropped but comes back within 10s) but then dies again within a minute or so and does not recover anymore.

There is no need to do anything over wifi on the BB, just leave it connected, and you will see the wifi icon goes grey instead of white after a random period and bye bye wifi. Rescanning on the BB will not discovered the router anymore. All other devices on my wifi network also lose their connection aswell with the DLink wifi, it is almost like the BB blocks any device from accessing the hotspot, like a DOS attack would do.

Solution is to reboot the DLink, OR (and that is weird!) just go into the router menu over an ethernet cable, and run in maintenance menu a diagnosis test which shows all is ok, then the wifi comes back. (but will soon be killed again if the BB is active) Despite all possible logging enabled, nothing is logged the moment the wifi part dies. Nothing before, no packet errors, nada.

I tried all possible settings in advanced wifi on the router to see if tweaking strength, encryption etc makes a difference, but none help. WPA instead of WPA2 was tried to, no change, same behavior.

BOTH blackberry 9700s do the same, with older firmware, all fine, never an issue, but with post 423 firmware, the DLink will be dead within 5 minutes.

Anyone has an idea what else I can check for except downgrading my bold2?
Also note this DLink is rock steady otherwise, 4 PCs, Wii, XBox over wifi, (plus previously my BB 8820) plus some other wired devices connected to it, never let me down, but it seems this new WLAN version of the 9700 firmware sends some malformed packets to the router it cannot digest (or does a DOS alike attack) and kills the radio of the router within minutes.

Router has latest firmware, so can't change that.

[tsac]

A lot of people report WIFI router interference with not only blackberrys but other cell phones also.

Try changing the routers channel number up or down to see if it helps. changing the number wont effect the other devices but may help with the interference you are getting. Most routers are factory set to 6.

[Dirkies]

thanks for the suggestion but I had already tried that, together with all possible params in advanced wifi settings, it keeps breaking no matter what channel I set it to.
For the moment I have to switch off wifi on my BB when at home, hopefully a newer update that upgrades the WLAN component version will rectify this annoying issue, as I am out of ideas, but for sure the BB is hammering the Dlink with something (bursts, sync floods, ...?) it does not like

is there any place we can see what they fixed or changed inbetween firmware upgrades?

[Dirkies]

Aha, found the gremlin!

I discovered now that with unlocked phones, after upgrading, it overwrites the APN values (under advanced/tcp-ip) with the branded ones. So the T-Mobile APN settings came back when the device was upgraded. Once I disabled the APN or edited it back to my carrier, the wifi no longer crashes!
(note: if phone is simlocked, you cannot edit these APN settings, bastards!)

I discovered it while leaving my unbranded 9700 all night on wifi but no sim, but the second unlocked 9700 with wifi off with sim. Initially I thought maybe some app was flooding my router, but now it seems the T-mobile UK APN settings cause this issue.

So if someone encounters something similar than me, check the APN settings. And if you upgrade an unlocked phone, make sure to check/re-edit those APN settings !

[aiharkness]

Wirelessly posted

Thanks for posting the followup. But the mystery deepens, right? I'm curious why the APN should have such affect on the router.

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by aiharkness

Wirelessly posted

Thanks for posting the followup. But the mystery deepens, right? I'm curious why the APN should have such affect on the router.

If I were Glenn Beck, I'd blame the Obama administration...

[Dirkies]

hmmm, this morning my wifi was again dead, so this time I disabled the APN altogether, see what happens next... so still not really solved, but at least a lot more stable then with the T-Mobile APN, which killed your wifi within minutes, it seems to take 12+ hours now.

[Dirkies]

I disabled APN completely, seemed to work fine but this morning router wifi part was braindead again :(
So something in the blackberry (mail sync I suppose) is hammering the router to death...

[tsac]

Is it possible another WIFI router is interferring?
or maybe a radio transmitter ( ham radio )

[palomartian]

Originally Posted by Soapm

If I were Glenn Beck, I'd blame the Obama administration...

If I were the Obama admin I'd blame America and go on an international apology tour.

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by palomartian

If I were the Obama admin I'd blame America and go on an international apology tour.

No you wouldn't, you'd just blame it on Bush...

[Dirkies]

hmm, tried with a different router (my old DLINK 684GT) and guess what, same problem, asa you start using wifi a bit on the BB, it kills the radio of the router within a minute or so and the router disappears from the wifi list and the BB (or any PC connected over wifi to that router) loses also its connection.
Still puzzled, will try version .743 of the OS, hopefully the WLAN Version will change (now it shows 2.7.0.83).

Remember, on my initial firmware of the 9700 (.499), I never had this issue, it is only since I upgraded to .680 (and all later versions) that this started.

[Dirkies]

thanks to a tip from another thread (thanks Doughboy) the issue is solved. I need to stop using mixed WPA/WPA2 mode on the router, but WPA only, then the issue disappeared instantly. Did not try WPA2 only mode as I have some older devices connected over WPA only to this router.