wiu keeps dropping out

John, I have the same switch-back problem when I use my Samsung S3 phone.  I have been unable to correct it; tried many things.  I do not have it when I run my Samsung S6 (Android v6) or my Samsung tablet Note 10.1. Therefore, I think its not a problem with the wifi.

Thanks for the feedback, I will try another wireless device to see what happens.  If its just this tablet though, I will be really disappointed as I originally got this tablet with the dcs system in mind.

Try a wireless device with a different version of the OS.

RJR posted:

John, I have the same switch-back problem when I use my Samsung S3 phone.  I have been unable to correct it; tried many things.  I do not have it when I run my Samsung S6 (Android v6) or my Samsung tablet Note 10.1. Therefore, I think its not a problem with the wifi.

My Samsung Galaxy S3 has been working flawlessly with the DCS WiFi Module thru my home WiFi network.

What WiFi channel is your home router set to?  The WIU uses channel 1 by default and your home wireless signal can interfere if it is on the same channel.

Is the WIU located somewhat close to your home wireless router? Most likely not but if so, you can connect the WIU directly to your wireless modem/router with an ethernet cable and connect to the WIU from your home wireless without using WPS.

I don't have time to play with it tonight. 

To answer some of the feedback, my home wifi router is very basic. I don't believe it has a channel select switch. 

The wifi router and the wiu are in the same room directly across from each other.  To move one close to the other for a direct connection would mean some long wiring somewhere, but is not totally impossible.  It is however rather impractical and inconvenient.  We will be moving in a few months and I want the new equipment to work as advertised because in the next house they will likely be far apart.

I have found another tablet to try to download the app to but its a pretty cheap device, not sure how well it will work outside proof of concept. 

I will keep you all posted. I am sure others will have similar issues.

Different hardware, but my grandson had a similar problem a couple weeks ago with his iPad mini and the free app. We have him set up to connect to our home wifi automatically when he comes over. His ipad kept switching back to our home network while he was trying to use the app. He wasn't here long enough for me to do any trouble shooting and he sometimes gets impatient when I fiddle with stuff like that when he wants to run the trains. He now has the pay app so we will see what happens on his next visit.

I only have an ipad myself, so I have not really fiddles with the WIU much either. The times I have my ipad didn't switch back to our home network though, but I had the pay app when trying it. There have been a couple of other similar threads, but I haven't paid a lot of attention to the problems/solutions in those because I didn't have my WIU at the time. I need to study up some more myself as well, and I may also try connecting the WIU to our home wifi. 

RTR12,

The issue with switching from the WIU's WiFi server to the home network's router has nothing at all to do with the app, free or paid-for. The issue is in one of the following areas:

• The smart device itself, either it's WiFi hardware or the operating system's software
• The WIU hardware or it's firmware.

Something is causing the connection between the WIU's MTH network and the smart device to be broken. It's an operating system connection to which the app is oblivious.

The router isn't likely to be the culprit, either. I suspect, rather, that the router simply automatically connects to the smart device when the connection between the smart device and the WIU is broken.

If you want to definitively rule out the router as being part of the problem,in WiFi Settings, tell your grandson's iPad to "Forget this Network" for your home network and also turn off "Ask to Join Networks". Then, see if the iPad still drops the connection to the WIU. If it no longer drops the connection, the router may actually be involved. If the connection is still dropped, the router may be ruled out as initiating the problem.

I did tell my tablet to forget the home network and it still kept dropping the wiu.  I was about 3 to 4 ft away from it at the time.  Even when it seemed connected it still didn't actually do anything.  

It will probably be Friday or Sat until I can try again.

FYI, I tried that with my S3 and eventually gave up.

Barry,

Thanks, that helps a lot. I will give this a try and see if I can get this all working a little better.  

Ok, so this morning before work I tried it again with my wife's tablet.  She has a Rca tablet that runs on the android os.  This time everything fired up just like it was supposed to do. No switch back to the home network, whistle worked, and my Yuengling GS4 made a lap and fired the couplr when told. Too bad I still have to go to work ��

As soon as I was done however her tablet launched into a firmware update,  so we will have to wait and see if it works next time.

Jhz, what version of Android does your tablet run?

RJR posted:

Jhz, what version of Android does your tablet run?

android version 4.4.2 on mine.  don't know what my wife's is but I will check tonight.

That is the same version of Android that is on my S-III that keeps switching. 

I als cannot upgrade the firmware on that phone, as I keep getting an error code 407.

fyi- my wife and son have tablets that work just fine without the switching problem.  I checked and they are running android OS 5.0.  I have no idea if I can upgrade the OS or not. They have nearly full size tablets like I-pads, which are much to unwieldy for my taste.   I like the size of mine as a good compromise as being just small enough to fit into my back pocket, but still plenty large to manipulate without constantly fat-fingering icons. Anyway, at least I know the wiu hardware works.

Now the next question will be how long after Mth gets the bugs worked out of the full size app will we be seeing a single piece of hardware with both tiu and wiu functions?