Intesis - Unable to connect to WIFI
Initial setup of unit was ok, now it won't connect so reset completely and now get red/green flashing LED which means error when connecting to router. Reset router and everything else is connecting ok to it. Connects via Bluetooth ok but when click Automatic can't find WIFI, tried manually as well but still ends up in same status red/green flashing and won't connect. The unit is an INWFIMHI001I120. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Hi David,
There are some requirements of the network we need to take into account.
The Intesis will not work on a 5GHz network, it needs to be 2.4GHz. The network also needs to be IEEE 802.11/b. Most newer routers/access points have the option of ignoring these slower legacy devices. What we typically recommend is to create a separate SSID to only use with these slower devices. Mesh networks have also proved to be flaky in their connection and can cause issues like this.
These are the three most common issues that fit your description.
Further to this, the password for the network can not contain any special characters or non-English characters. The supported encryptions are:
WEP
WPA_PSK
WPA2_PSK
WPA_WPA2_PSKOther than these pointers, of course, make sure that the device is not set up too far away from the router/access point, and don't forget to do a reset (hold the button for about 10 seconds) in between implementing these fixes.
Please let me know how it goes.
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Hi - I am in the same situation - and have been here before. I don't remember how I finally got it to connect last time. I am on 2.4, I get to Device Configuration page on the app. I get it to steady green, blinking green, I have not seen yellow, then it goes to red/green blinking - never just red blinking.
When you say the password for the network can not contain any special characters I assume this includes a period. I have my other intesis unit connected with this password and have intermittently gotten this one to work, so I don't think it's a special character - but at this point, I'll try anything to have this connected and be done.
I suspect my distance from the router may be an issue - but I don't think I can do anything about that. It's a small 1200 sf house but the router is on the first floor and the unit is in the attic. I would try a wifi extender - is that the same as a mesh network that you don't think will work?
Somewhere on this forum, I have the same posts from last year. If I ever get it connected again, I will make notes on the trick that works. I started getting a tools and configuration message, which I recall from last year - it is set to USA.
Thanks for any assistance.
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Hi Lauren,
Get ready for a very long post as we will talk a bit about WiFi coverage below which is a big topic, and mind you we will only scratch the surface. So grab a cup of coffee and let's break this down.
We've recently updated and moved our forum so the posts here are separated from the old forum. The old forum can still be viewed here: https://forum.hms-networks.com/. Maybe you'll be able to find your old post there (and if you do please post it here as well so more people can find alternative solutions).
But let's focus on today. I would say that a period could be classified as a special character but as with everything electronic, there's seldom an absolute truth. Either a period in the password isn't an issue or your other Intesis unit happens to handle this deviation better. The best way to test it would simply be to change the password, remove the period, try setting up the "non-functioning" Intesis, and if it still doesn't work you can simply change the password back.
However, before doing this I would first investigate the WiFi coverage. The LED behavior you describe sounds typical of an issue finding the router. If the LED never gets to yellow or more importantly the red blinking then it seems that the device is never even able to find the router. We would expect it to at least start blinking red indicating a connection attempt.
A very simple test you could do is to reset the Intesis and set it up against your phone hotspot keeping the phone close to the Intesis. That way you can ensure good coverage and if this works you know that the issue is coverage from the router. If this doesn't work then it's likely something else is faulty with the Intesis.
Now let's talk a bit about coverage. This is always a fun topic as WiFi coverage is even less of an absolute truth. Mesh networks and extenders are different and using an extender will not affect the usage of the Intesis as a mesh network does. There are however other factors to take into consideration when using an extender.
Now I'm no network expert nor am I an expert in extenders so I will gladly be corrected if this isn't 100% accurate. We will also not dive too deep into the exact options of extenders as I'm sure there are specific settings depending on brand and model that can have an effect on the resulting network.
With that said, from my experience, extender networks are typically set up in two distinct ways. Either they use the same SSID (network name) or you separate them into two different SSIDs. In the past, they were usually set up with the same SSID but this does come with a big issue.
I've tried to illustrate what this setup looks like here:
The signal of our router "hotspot" will not reach the area furthest to the right where our extender has coverage and vice versa. So if a device is in the area furthest to the right it will connect to the extender and if a device is to the furthest left it will connect to the router network. This is all fine. The issue comes when a device is situated as in the picture. At the very edge of one "hotspot" but in full coverage of the other. Naturally, the device should connect to the extender since this has better coverage in that area but in reality, devices tend to "hold on" to a connection for as long as they can so if the device "comes" from the left and is moved to where it is at in the picture it could very well try to keep it's connection to the router instead of changing to the extender with good coverage. This is best demonstrated by moving a mobile device around in these networks.
However, if a static device (such as the Intesis) is located at the far right then in theory it should work just fine. But if there is a bit of coverage from the router where the static device is located it could very well try to connect to it instead thereby giving us a poor connection status.
Because of this, I would suggest using the extender the other way. That is to set the SSID separately. Like this:
This should eliminate the above-mentioned problem as you would either be connected to "SSID" or "SSID-2". If we only allow the Intesis to connect to "SSID-2" we should hopefully be fine in this configuration and I would say this is probably the best option for your use case.
Just as a comparison a mesh network would look more like this:
Where the network is more unified and the routers communicate with each other and are able to "hand over" the device more gracefully allowing for a more stable full coverage within the entire zone.
In general, I would always recommend a mesh network for home networks which really is a shame seeing as the current generation of our Intesis devices are having issues with them.
It's also worth mentioning that the Intesis being "flaky" in a mesh network means that as much as we have customers experiencing issues with mesh networks we also have customers never having any issues with them but if you want to be sure before buying anything or if there are no good return policies to experiment with mesh then the second option with the extender is likely your best bet.
I know this was a lot so please let me know if anything is unclear.
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