WiFly with Phone Hotspot Problem

Wireless & IoT
1

Hi,

I encounter problems when I attempt to open connections with my RN-171 in HTML Client mode when the Access Point is a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone set as hotspot. Microchip Support has also replicated the issue with other Android phones.

[There is no problem when the Access Point is my home router.]

Instead of the "OPEN* reply from the WiFly module, there is only a “Connect FAILED” reply. Occasionally some connections reply with a OPEN, this happens only 1 out of 20 times or so. I reset the RN171 module after many failed connections, and then maybe I get 1 successful connection again out of many failed.

However, the interesting part is that if I connect my PC to the hotspot as well (the hotspot has two clients, both the PC and the WiFly) all connections from the RN171 are opened successfully.

Also, if I open a browser on the phone and load any page, the RN171 will open connections successfully for a limited period of time.

Is there someone who has encountered similar issues? And is there someone who uses hotspots as the access point with success?

Regards

HC

2

FYI: The issue is solved (for those who may encounter the same problem). I used the automatic feature which opens the connection after the UART data is finished. When using a smart phone it can take up to a couple of seconds before a connection becomes open. The auto feature of the wifly probably timed out…

Now I use just TCP mode, and open connections the normal way (from cmd mode) and send the HTML headers etc. This works.

However, I have not figured why it takes such a “long” time (seconds, rather than ms) to open a TCP connection when using a smart phone as a hotspot. Note, when the connection is open, the data sent is normal speed.