WLAN and LAN connection on same Laptop

moazzam.ali2 · ‎04-04-2007

I have encountered this problem that if a laptop is connected to network through ethernet cable and also by Wireless card, it does not work properly (some small disconnections if there is a disruption in wireless signal etc).

Can someone advise me which connection (cable or wireless) gets preferrence when both are available? Is there a way in Windows XP SP2 to select manually which one should have a priority?

Also is there a way that whenever laptop is connected to network via cable, wireless connection should be stopped/disabled automatically and comes back up again automatically when ethernet cable is un-plugged?

Thanks,

fcharlet · ‎04-05-2007

Hi,

First of all, in this multi homed configuration, I experience problems with some applications that pass through the 2 interfaces. The outgoing trafic is forwarded by the ethernet interface whereas the incoming trafic from the server income by the wireless interface (usually because of the first DNS entry associated with the IP address of the wireless infrastructure).

What i know is that In windows XP, there is a preemption made for the interfaces based on the throughoutput of each interfaces. That means your 100 Mbit/s Ethernet interface is always prioritized in comparison of the 54 Mbit/s of your wifi connection. (The 802.11n will change this classification !).

But as you see in my experienced case study, the problem is that you don't control by witch interface the incoming trafic is received.

So, the only way i know to resolve the problem is using CSSC (Cisco Secure Service Client) which is a 802.1x client that manage your PC connexions by allowing priotity to interfaces and used of single-homed configuration. It works if all your interfaces are associated with 802.1x connection. Wether, the CSSC client can't manage all the interfaces.

More information with SCCS user guide:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/products/ps7034/products_user_guide_list.html

Hope it helps you.

Bye.

Darren Ramsey · ‎04-05-2007

Dell/Broadcom adapters 1350/1370/1390/1450/1470/1490 have a setting to automatically disable the wireless adapter when a wired connection is present. You may be using a Broadcom adapter or have a similar setting.

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Disable Upon Wired Connect

If this property is set to Enabled, whenever your computer is connected to an Ethernet port and the link state is good, the computer automatically turns off the IEEE 802.11 radio. This conserves IP address allocation, reduces security risks, resolves dual interface routing issues, and prolongs battery life.

Disabled (default)

Enabled

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