Access Point interfering with wired network

[samuraijake]

I have a DSL connection which wired to about 20 users. I added a new Linksys WAP11 to enable wireless for a few users who have the capability. Everything seemed to be working normally at first. But after a few days Internet access for both the wireless and wired users became intermittent. The wireless clients would stay connected to the AP, but 'net access would not work for several minutes. After a bit it would flip back on only to repeat this cycle a short time later. When 'net access did work, it was often somewhat slower than previously. I disconnected the AP and 'net access seems to be back to normal for the wired users. Plug it back in and the connection again becomes intermittent. I have no idea what would cause this. Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

 

[ScottMac]

If your wireless folks are also connected to the network via wire, then you have a loop.

Look for anywhere you have more than one connection to the same place - parallel connections to a switch will cause a loop, the loop will cause a broadcast storm (with the symptoms you describe).

Remember that the AP is essentially a hub. It works like a hub, it acts like a hub, and has all the benefits and problems associated with hubs (in addition to the benefits and problems associated with wireless).

Good Luck

Scott

 

[imported_rhfactor]

Make sure your linksys WAP router has a different IP than your original DSL router.

 

[samuraijake]

I made sure none of the users had both wired and wireless connections. The AP is connected to the network via a switch which also connects several wired users. That shouldn't cause what you described, right? (Thanks for the suggestions)

 

[samuraijake]

One of my local buddies took a look at some stuff and thought that it might be caused by some users using bitTorrent clients. I looked into it and one wireless user was running about 20 torrent downloads concurrently. No doubt that would be a bandwidth hog, but why would it cause the connection to bottleneck to the point of inaccessibility?