Villas and Wireless Routers

[vicki_c]

Well, despite my giving advice on this very topic in the last few months , we were unable to have wireless Internet on our trip! In the way of background -- we have an Apple Airport Express and this is what happened to us:

June 2008
VWL -- couldn't get it to work but we thought it was the Internet connection in the wall, not the wireless router. We were only there 2 nights so we didn't worry about it.

SSR - plugged in the Express and it worked just fine. I don't recall doing anything other than plugging it in, attaching the Ethernet cord from the wall to the router and turning on the laptop. I thought we were all set and I kept telling everyone it was so easy!!

December 2008
BCV -- the Express would never work while we were there, in 2 different rooms. We had to plug in with the cord the whole time - I was so disappointed.

I tried to look it up while we were there and I found some technically complex sounding threads on line about the IP address and how the direct connection sets up an IP address which then causes the wireless router not to work and resetting the router to reset the IP address. It was all way beyond my level of expertise or anything I wanted to learn on vacation!

Can any of our wireless Internet guru types shed some light on the problem? Why it worked once but not the other times? I tried to figure out if was somehow the order we did things, but I couldn't make sense of that in my brain either! Or can anyone just tell me how to make it work the next time we go?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Sorry I can't tell you why or what to do but I can report I used our Airport Express successfully in Dec at OKW and BCV. I did have to have support out to fix the internet connections themselves in both villas but it had nothing to do with the wireless. We had 2 BR's and at BCV the connection in the studio worked but not the 1 BR which had been dislodged at some time. The IT guy stated he had noticed a problem there before we even arrived and meant to get to it.

 

[macman752]

Did you happen to notice the status light on the Airport Express? There are 3 color indications-solid orange, blinking green and solid green.

The problem can be diagnosed if you noticed the color.

 

[vicki_c]

It was yellow/orange -- blinking though.

And Apple says this about that (find this on some random post, but this is what I read on the Apple site while in WDW)

Startup is complete, but AirPort Express didn't get an IP connection. Depending on your setup, it may mean AirPort Express is out of network range, unplugged from Ethernet, lacks a path to the Internet (or local router), or that there's an issue with your Internet service provider.
Note: If AirPort Express is set up as a wireless client and the network it's joining is protected by an access control list, AirPort Express must be in the ACL to get an IP connection.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

There was a day at BCV that we had lost the internet connection (probably a 24 hour reset?) and I needed to use the ethernet cable direct to the laptop to sign in again. After doing that I connected the Airport express and we were good to go again. Did you try that?

 

[whayes]

I successfully set up my AirPort Express at SSR in a 2 bedroom. The only ethernet connection I found was in the master bedroom. The only issue I had was that I had to call Disney IT to help me to set up the billing after my AirPort Express was set up. After I opened my browser and said I wanted the 24 hour connection, the website gave me an error. IT said that my credit card was not registered in the system yet. He gave me a code to enter. Even though the connection is free for DVC Members, they need a credit card registered at the front desk for the system to work.

Here are the steps I followed to get the AirPort Express setup (I am not a guru but I think this will help):

1. Plugged the ethernet cable into AirPort Express and into the wall with a sticker that said HSIP (I think that is what it said.)
2. Plugged the AirPort Express into the wall socket while pressing the tiny button on the bottom next to the headphone jack (there is a triangle in a circle next to the button). This reset it so any old settings would be cleared.
4. Opened the AirPort Utility.
5. Selected the AirPort Express and pressed continue.
6. Named it, created a password and pressed continue.
7. Selected "I don't have a wireless network and I want to create one." and pressed continue.
8. Named the network, selected "WPA/WPA2 Personal", created password and pressed continue.
9. Selected "I connect to my local area network (LAN)" and pressed continue.
10. Made sure "Using DHCP" was selected for Configure IPv4 and pressed continue.
11. Pressed update after confirming the settings.
12. Opened web browser, hit the home button and followed the instructions to set up the internet connection.
13. Surfed the internet

I hope this is not too confusing, but it worked for me.

You will have to remember that the internet connection is only active for 24 hours. You will have to sign in every 24 hours. I just reopened my browser and pressed the home button each time it lost a connection.

One other thing you might want to do is download the instruction manual for setting up the AirPort Express onto your laptop before you leave. It can be found here.

PM me if you have any questions.

 

[WolfpackFan]

A question - do you think it would be possible to get the Airport Express working without having a laptop with you? DW and myself both have iPhones and we can do pretty much everything we need to do without a laptop. I was hoping to get an Airport Express for future WDW trips so we could be connected in our units. I've found the 3G reception in some areas of the resorts to be pretty poor.

 

[whayes]

A question - do you think it would be possible to get the Airport Express working without having a laptop with you? DW and myself both have iPhones and we can do pretty much everything we need to do without a laptop. I was hoping to get an Airport Express for future WDW trips so we could be connected in our units. I've found the 3G reception in some areas of the resorts to be pretty poor.

I think if you follow the steps above at home, your AirPort Express will be set up when you get there. Just plug in the AirPort Express with the ethernet cable attached when you get to your DVC home.

The only issue that may come up is if you have an existing wireless network. I am not sure if it will mess that one up when you set up the AirPort Express. I haven't tested that one.

 

[vicki_c]

I think if you follow the steps above at home, your AirPort Express will be set up when you get there. Just plug in the AirPort Express with the ethernet cable attached when you get to your DVC home.

The only issue that may come up is if you have an existing wireless network. I am not sure if it will mess that one up when you set up the AirPort Express. I haven't tested that one.

Thank you very much for the tips -- I'm going to save them for our next trip.

As for the OP who asked about "no laptop" -- we did set up our Express at home prior to ever taking it to WDW and like I said it did work seamlessly at SSR over the summer, so I assume if you can get it to work at all, it will work for your phones. We had excellent 3G reception in WDW -- better than at our house. We were at WL, BC and BCV last trip and BWV the trip before that and had very good connections. Even better in the parks unless you're inside particular buildings.

 

[jekjones1558]

WolfpackFan,
You need to do the initial configuration of the AE with a laptop, so don't bring an un-used one to WDW. I brought mine with a laptop the first time I used it. Then the last 2 times I only brought my iPhone.
I cannot speak for all of the resorts, but the 3G reception I got in my BW view rooms the last 2 visits was great. In fact on my recent trip I found it easier to just use 3G all of the time rather than deal with having to sign in every time I wanted to use the internet. This may not be the case in all areas, but from now on I will be content with 3G when staying in BW view rooms. It was a pain to get half way through typing an e-mail and then have the internet connection fail, forcing me to start over again.

 

[donaldsgal]

Wow - you can connect the iPhone to the AE? How, and why would you want to?

 

[WilsonFlyer]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=28906687#post28906687&highlight=router

 

[jekjones1558]

Wow - you can connect the iPhone to the AE? How, and why would you want to?

I was trying to avoid lugging my laptop along on vacation and I wasn't sure how fast the 3G would be, so I brought the AE to use wi-fi with the iPhone. I don't need e-mail or internet for work, only personal stuff. I found the 3G to be fast and less hassle than having to keep signing in all of the time to use wi-fi, so now I will only bring the AE if I have my laptop. We hope to stay for a month or so next winter, if medical stuff clears up by then.