Slow ethernet reconnect times on samsung active 4 pro tablets.

[garhof]

In my company we have custom software that runs off of android tablets. this last batch is samsung active pro 4 10 inch tablets. they run in vehicles, so we have a usb c hub providing power, ethernet and a serial usb connection. I can tell that our ethernet bridge is up, but it seems like it is taking 5-10 minutes sometimes for the tablet to show that the ethernet is providing a connection. My only thought is that the tablet only checks that connection for internet every few minutes. So if the tablet checked for a connection at 10am, radio came back online 15 seconds later, the tablet wouldnt check again for 5 minutes. is there a way i can force the tablet to check more often? our drivers are frustrated that they have to wait. i'd like to say that we would put in a cbrs network or fully mesh wifi in these locations, but some of these outdoor sites are over a mile long, and in the past we've been able to accomplish our connection requirements w one main ap for the trucks and ethernet bridges, so i'd like to avoid adding 60 radios to manage on each site.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[AugieTN]

When you say ethernet I think you're talking about a wired connection for inter or intra net in the truck? I know you said there is USB C hub, but is that only power? or is that also connecting to the the company's inter or intra net? All inside the truck?

Try disconnecting only the connection and reconnecting. It might make it faster. That's about the only thing I can think of.

 

[garhof]

When you say ethernet I think you're talking about a wired connection for inter or intra net in the truck? I know you said there is USB C hub, but is that only power? or is that also connecting to the the company's inter or intra net? All inside the truck?

Try disconnecting only the connection and reconnecting. It might make it faster. That's about the only thing I can think of.

Yes, ethernet (cat6cable from usbc hub ethernet port to our wireless ubiquiti bridge.) the usbc hub provides power, ethernet, and a usb connection for a serial device.

i can see the radios come up just fine when they get back in range, but the tablets done recognize the connection for several minutes afterword.

i have had them unplug and plug back in, but that causes other issues like the app we have running to crash.....so tradeoffs. and the guys we've got in the truck are not tech savy or patient enough to deal with that.

i havent tried a static ip on the devices, would that hold on even out of range?

Thanks!

 

[svim]

Something is missing in your description of the problem, chiefly what kind of over-the-air online connectivity is inside your company's trucks.

Direct WiFi connectivity isn't a reality in this issue, unless your trucks only move around a parking lot, WiFi signals cannot extend out past a few hundred feet so there has to be some kind of cellular signal involved. To make it more clear, do your Samsung Active Pro 4 tablets have WiFi-only support or dual WiFi/cellular support?
The former would require some kind of hotspot device inside each truck (fed by a cellular connection and emitting a WiFi signal), the latter would allow the tablets to connect directly to a cellular connection. That's the issue to focus on, why there's a delay in connecting to that cellular connection. Depending on the WiFi only or WiFi/cellular matter is defined, that will determine if this something to correct as far as the hotspot in your trucks. Otherwise, if this is just a cellular connection matter that could be harder to nail down as that could be more dependent on the carrier.

 

[garhof]

Something is missing in your description of the problem, chiefly what kind of over-the-air online connectivity is inside your company's trucks.

Direct WiFi connectivity isn't a reality in this issue, unless your trucks only move around a parking lot, WiFi signals cannot extend out past a few hundred feet so there has to be some kind of cellular signal involved. To make it more clear, do your Samsung Active Pro 4 tablets have WiFi-only support or dual WiFi/cellular support?
The former would require some kind of hotspot device inside each truck (fed by a cellular connection and emitting a WiFi signal), the latter would allow the tablets to connect directly to a cellular connection. That's the issue to focus on, why there's a delay in connecting to that cellular connection. Depending on the WiFi only or WiFi/cellular matter is defined, that will determine if this something to correct as far as the hotspot in your trucks. Otherwise, if this is just a cellular connection matter that could be harder to nail down as that could be more dependent on the carrier.

we use ubiquti rocket AC ap's. one main ap up high on a building (50-100ft), and then the others are setup as bridges on the trucks and connect to the tablet over ethernet connection on the radio to the tablets usbc hub. we usually get about 1/2 a mile coverage around our main ap without to much of a problem unless we've got a building in the way. on areas that dont have alot of interference we can run 2.4 ghz rockets and go alot further than that. Those radios usually provide them enough range on the older windows systems to have it reconnect by the time they get back up to the main site to upload their information and grab a new load. weve been running that way with our old windows system for 10 plus years. they go out in the yard, loose connection and the software runs "offline" till they get close to the main ap again, the radio connects and the tablet comes back up. our software only needs a connection when they want to return information or grab a new load ID. right now they are having to wait that 3-5 minutes for the tablet to show its connected (ethernet icon up by the power icon). With the samsungs, it seems like its taking several minutes of them sitting before the tablet shows the ethernet connected icon. in that several minutes i can see the radio is up and connected to our controller.

I've noticed the same type of thing via wifi on our older samsung/android tablets. they would be able to connect instantly if they manually select the wifi network, but if they sit and wait for the auto connect it would be 2-3 minutes sometimes before it would scan and connect. The windows computers we used in the past would connect faster.

my only thought is that there is a "scan" interval on the android os, and if the radio is down when it scans, it is not checking again for x interval. in that time the radio comes up, but the tablet isnt checking till its next scheduled scan.

We've talked about putting in a cell hot spot or CRBS, but i've been suggesting we try that for over a year and everyone has their heads in the sand for that.

Thanks! let me know if i need more info for you.

 

[svim]

Thanks for the enlightening write-up, this does clarify things.

https://dl.ubnt.com/datasheets/RocketAC/Rocket5ac_DS.pdf

Samsung Galaxy Tab Active4 Pro - Full tablet specifications

www.gsmarena.com

This is just speculation but I'm guessing the auto-connect delay is due to some kind of verification or authentication 'handshake' where those tablets are then involved in an exchange between each tablet with the main airMAX BaseStation in your office facility. Kind of reminds me of the annoyingly long time it takes to cold start a modem with a lot of today's ISPs.
Given your drivers could connect instantly by manually selecting the necessary WiFi network, why is this not possible with these Samsung tablets?

 

[garhof]

Thanks for the enlightening write-up, this does clarify things.

https://dl.ubnt.com/datasheets/RocketAC/Rocket5ac_DS.pdf

Samsung Galaxy Tab Active4 Pro - Full tablet specifications

www.gsmarena.com

This is just speculation but I'm guessing the auto-connect delay is due to some kind of verification or authentication 'handshake' where those tablets are then involved in an exchange between each tablet with the main airMAX BaseStation in your office facility. Kind of reminds me of the annoyingly long time it takes to cold start a modem with a lot of today's ISPs.
Given your drivers could connect instantly by manually selecting the necessary WiFi network, why is this not possible with these Samsung tablets?

Thanks! I'll do some more checking on that. We are using the radios at this site for better range. They are close to a town so we've got some interference w local ISPs and houses. We switched over to these radios about 4 years ago and ran w our windows PCs and software till about 2 years ago. The yard switched to our android app and surface tab a 2019s but after a few years those tablets were starting to fail so we updated to these active tablets. I'm thinking that our range has been dropping from interference and we are just starting to notice it. Maybe before that extra range was enough for the android to reconnect w out us noticing. We are using the same setup at other yards, and I think we've got better range there, so nothing ever fully disconnects.

If I had the drivers manually reconnect, I'd ha e to switch our radios out to stuff the tablets can connect to. Not out of the question, just a hassel when it had been working. The other issue is that a lot of our drivers are to impatient or not smart enough to do that. We have had a rocket m2 running and the trucks using WiFi, and part of the guys broke the tablets because they were frustrated that it wasn't "working" right.

We have a lot of solutions to problems that shouldn't exist at my job.