Interesting ICS Issue

[wseyller]

There is probably not likely a solution made for something like that because most people have internet connections on their router unless you live in the middle of nowhere like I do. Even then most people are not that lazy to which they will just manual turn their wifi on or off, or they make their phone forget the wireless network if they never have to connect to that particular network ever. As far as a routers internet connection dropping out well what is the percenatage of times that is going to happen to you. And if it is that crucial then you likely need a dual wan router with redundant internet connections. It just sounds silly. God forbid if my phone doesn't get a notification from my Coffee Pot telling me my coffee is ready.

 

[GrimMeeper]

" And if it is that crucial then you likely need a dual wan router with redundant internet connections"

Actually, that is a FANTASTIC idea...oh wait, I do have dual connections: 4G and cable modem...wouldn't it be amazingly spectacular if I could take advantage of having dual connections by having my phone detect if the cable modem is working before switching over? Oh wait, this was my original idea. Silly to not want an interruption due to technical problems with a modem. Oh wait, no it isn't silly because people use the internet for business and maybe they wish to avoid problems.

 

[wseyller]

" And if it is that crucial then you likely need a dual wan router with redundant internet connections"

Actually, that is a FANTASTIC idea...oh wait, I do have dual connections: 4G and cable modem...wouldn't it be amazingly spectacular if I could take advantage of having dual connections by having my phone detect if the cable modem is working before switching over? Oh wait, this was my original idea. Silly to not want an interruption due to technical problems with a modem. Oh wait, no it isn't silly because people use the internet for business and maybe they wish to avoid problems.

People buy dual wan routers because redundancy is a feature they are looking for at the time of purchase. It is the main feature of the router. With your smartphone it is not. You are given cdma/lte and the option to use wifi, simple as that. They are not going to spend x amount of money adding a feature that only 5 people in the entire world need.

 

[tcrews]

How long do you want your phone battery to last? This constant monitoring of "internet" access over WiFi and 3g/4g would kill your battery faster than anything else. There is no practical use for this as both WiFi access points that provide internet access and Verizon's 3G/4G service can lose internet. A constant running check for internet on all the available radios is a completely useless battery drain.

 

[Dave12308]

Thank you so much for trying to help me. Obviously, I want it to auto-connect but only when there is a true internet connection available. Obviously, I want the phone to detect if there is an unplugged cable before disconnecting me from 4G. But thank you for your time, I guess. -GM

So you want to do the impossible, in other words? The ONLY way I could see this working is if you were able to create a script that:

1- momentarily disconnects from 4G and connects to wifi
2- pings a known IP address out on the internet and verifies a response
3- stays connected to Wifi IF it gets a response back
4- disconnects from Wifi and reconnects to 4G if there is no ping response

Myabe you could do this with Tasker, not sure as i've never used it.

 

[Dave12308]

" And if it is that crucial then you likely need a dual wan router with redundant internet connections"

Actually, that is a FANTASTIC idea...oh wait, I do have dual connections: 4G and cable modem...wouldn't it be amazingly spectacular if I could take advantage of having dual connections by having my phone detect if the cable modem is working before switching over? Oh wait, this was my original idea. Silly to not want an interruption due to technical problems with a modem. Oh wait, no it isn't silly because people use the internet for business and maybe they wish to avoid problems.

It's not a silly idea so much as it's silly to keep discussing it when it's technically not feasable. If it were easy, don't you think an IT person somewhere would have done it? Like tcrews said, the battery life impact from constantly being aware of all network states, both active and inactive, would not be worth it.

 

[wseyller]

Myabe you could do this with Tasker, not sure as i've never used it.

This is the only thing I found in relation to the "wifi" in the tasker documentation

• WiFi Info
  %WIFII
  When connected to an Access Point (AP), shows human-readable data about the AP. When not connected, show details of the most recent Wifi scan results for nearby APs.
• WiFi Status (dynamic)
  %WIFI - Whether WiFi is on or off. Note: if WiFi is enabling or disabled, in fact anything but enabled, it's classed as off.

 

[bufordtpisser]

This really is a silly ideal. Even giants like Microsoft think it is a silly ideal. Try this experiment. Unplug your modem from your router and see if you lose your wireless connection. You do not. You stay connected to your wireless router. I connected my laptop to my wireless network, and had a wire connected to it. Pulled the wire out. Lost Internet but still connected to wireless. Even Microsoft does not give the ability to auto switch connections based on Internet connectivity without using a third party app. I know this from my network administrator days. Auto switching based on Internet connectivity just isn't a priority most places.

 

[bufordtpisser]

Sorry if you misinterpreted the idiot light analogy. It was meant to educate, not offend.

 

[FoxKat]

So it makes sense for the phone to say "Hey, I detected wifi...switching over now!" and then actively switch over from a working connection to nothingness? Because I unplugged a cable? Come on....that seems rather vindictive.

A great question, but as mentioned the phone is seeing a network and is connecting. It can't be on WIFI AND 3G/4G at the same time for data, so it has to pick one. If WIFI is on, that's the preferred connection. Since the LAN (Local Area Network) is in fact a data network, whether it has WAN access (Internet Access) or not is irrelevant for the phone, however it's not irrelevant for the applications that need WAN. So what would be better still is software that requires WAN, first determining whether WIFI has WAN access or not, and then if it doesn't detect WAN access, turns off WIFI to allow 3G/4G to kick in.

The ultimate solution would be to have 3G/4G running parallel to WIFI, but that would be a huge battery suck.

 

[FoxKat]

So you want to do the impossible, in other words? The ONLY way I could see this working is if you were able to create a script that:

1- momentarily disconnects from 4G and connects to wifi
2- pings a known IP address out on the internet and verifies a response
3- stays connected to Wifi IF it gets a response back
4- disconnects from Wifi and reconnects to 4G if there is no ping response

Myabe you could do this with Tasker, not sure as i've never used it.

Actually I don't believe it really needs to disconnect from WIFI to accomplish his objective, just turn on 3G/4G to gain WAN access, but allow WIFI to remain for LAN access. It's not all that far-fetched especially for mission critical applications. The other suggestion of redundant WAN is certainly feasible, but as the OP asked, why create another redundancy when there's already one in the phone.

I will say this...it's something I think we WILL see down the road as more and more people become tethered to their phones and their virtual existence during the day depends on WAN access. This will come at a price, whether it's more efficient radios, better battery technology, a combination of the two, or perhaps Routers that have LTE radios in them that are ready to pick up the slack.

People, this is a discussion, perhaps a debate, but I am going to ask you all to keep the commentary to constructive ideas and rebuttal, and eliminate any direct criticism of the OP or another member. Certain comments, even if meant in jest, but to prove a point, can become a launchpad for improper conduct in responses.

Please keep this civil.

 

[wseyller]

Actually I don't believe it really needs to disconnect from WIFI to accomplish his objective, just turn on 3G/4G to gain WAN access, but allow WIFI to remain for LAN access. It's not all that far-fetched especially for mission critical applications. The other suggestion of redundant WAN is certainly feasible, but as the OP asked, why create another redundancy when there's already one in the phone.

I will say this...it's something I think we WILL see down the road as more and more people become tethered to their phones and their virtual existence during the day depends on WAN access. This will come at a price, whether it's more efficient radios, better battery technology, a combination of the two, or perhaps Routers that have LTE radios in them that are ready to pick up the slack.

People, this is a discussion, perhaps a debate, but I am going to ask you all to keep the commentary to constructive ideas and rebuttal, and eliminate any direct criticism of the OP or another member. Certain comments, even if meant in jest, but to prove a point, can become a launchpad for improper conduct in responses.

Please keep this civil.

I thought the OPs objective was to only allow connection to a wireless connection if it is determined that the network can ping an outside server. If not then use mobile data. I think it was never mentioned that the objective was to use both radios simultaneously, wifi for lan only and 4g for internet. That would be a serious battery drain.

In the later case you would need the ability to set a blank address for the gateway ip. It works this way on a computer to allow usb tethering and use of your lan at the same time. if the lan/router is trying to assume the role of internet provider this works. Also the phone would have to allow the use of both at the same time.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[FoxKat]

I thought the OPs objective was to only allow connection to a wireless connection if it is determined that the network can ping an outside server. If not then use mobile data. I think it was never mentioned that the objective was to use both radios simultaneously, wifi for lan only and 4g for internet. That would be a serious battery drain.

In the later case you would need the ability to set a blank address for the gateway ip. It works this way on a computer to allow usb tethering and use of your lan at the same time. if the lan/router is trying to assume the role of internet provider this works. Also the phone would have to allow the use of both at the same time.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

You are right, I was just suggesting a hybrid as someone else mentioned in a rebuttal that using WIFI isn't always JUST for WAN, but often for LAN access, to transfer data between LAN connected devices. If so, and yet you still wanted WAN access while on LAN, then my suggestion would be purposeful. Otherwise, I agree...kill WIFI, start 3/4G, and problem solved.

Frankly I do see a need for this in rural areas where WAN access is limited, yet Wireless Data (3G for the moment) may be easily attained. For some, in remote areas of the country they've STILL not seen a viable alternative to dial-up internet access, and for many, it's the only way to get internet access, and yet they may still want access to LAN connected devices in the home/workplace.

 

[wseyller]

You are right, I was just suggesting a hybrid as someone else mentioned in a rebuttal that using WIFI isn't always JUST for WAN, but often for LAN access, to transfer data between LAN connected devices. If so, and yet you still wanted WAN access while on LAN, then my suggestion would be purposeful. Otherwise, I agree...kill WIFI, start 3/4G, and problem solved.

Frankly I do see a need for this in rural areas where WAN access is limited, yet Wireless Data (3G for the moment) may be easily attained. For some, in remote areas of the country they've STILL not seen a viable alternative to dial-up internet access, and for many, it's the only way to get internet access, and yet they may still want access to LAN connected devices in the home/workplace.

Most people that cant get broadband internet usually dont have a router setup because usually the only reason for them buying one is so they can have all their devices on the internet. Otherwise they dont have a clue what a router or a lan is/does. A small of % those people are nerds (lack of a better term) with nas drives, 10 computers, all having some lan party. And usually when nerds look for a home the first they look at is how fast of a broadband connection is available in the area.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[FoxKat]

Agreed. I was just playing devil's advocate. The OP had a question or concept I believed he deserved fair chance at exploring. I feel we've reached the end of this discussion from a productivity standpoint and so I am going to close this thread.