Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Cant see other Wifi Clients.

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
    14 Posts 5 Posters 2.3k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • DerelictD
      Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
      last edited by

      If you have intra-ssid enabled and wi-fi clients can't see each other, get a real AP for your wi-fi clients or try another wi-fi card.

      Nothing on you but my bias is showing: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=85475.0

      I spend my days maintaining a Ruckus network.  2200 hotel rooms, 300,000 sqft of exhibit/meeting space. 700-ish APs.

      When people insist on hardwire, I'm like "why?"

      I never knew wi-fi could work so well.  Yes, it's spendy, but the shit works.

      And all of the traffic originated on the wi-fi network is ultimately handled by pfSense.

      Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
      A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
      DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
      Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • D
        DoyleChris
        last edited by

        It kind of stinks that the card I have, the chipset is one that works with pfsense and is listed on the cards that work.  I guess somebody is dropping the ball on the card testing or lying about what works.  And it would be nice if i had the funds to just go buy a $50 AP for my house but i dont.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • DerelictD
          Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
          last edited by

          So do you have intra-bss enabled or disabled? It needs to be enabled:

          “Intra-BSS Communication

          If you check Allow intra-BSS communication, wireless clients will be able to see each other directly, instead of routing all traffic through the AP. If clients will only need access to the Internet, it is typically safer to uncheck this. In our scenario, people in the conference room may need to share files back and forth directly between laptops, so this will stay checked.”

          Excerpt From: Christopher M. Buechler. “pfSense-2.1-book.epub.” iBooks.

          Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
          A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
          DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
          Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • D
            DoyleChris
            last edited by

            In the First post i had mentioned that it is enabled.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • DerelictD
              Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
              last edited by

              Then I guess it's broken.  Blame FreeBSD for listing a broken implementation in their HCL.

              Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
              A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
              DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
              Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • ?
                Guest
                last edited by

                All my working configs use Atheros.. I wouldn't waste my time trying to use a usb wifi interface. Especially RALink from the looks of the forum.

                Part of your problem looks to be related to the bridge. You do lose some capabilities when using a bridge interface I have found.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • D
                  DoyleChris
                  last edited by

                  wel mine is a internal card.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • ?
                    Guest
                    last edited by

                    I don't apply the "pfil" patch in any recent configurations and i am not sure its needed anymore. I know there are inherent issues with bridging interfaces. You lose the granularity of port control for one and i know for RRD you lose stats for the individual interfaces, which is fine for a bridge. But i could also see this having other issues like you are experiencing. If you build a non-bridged AP is it still an issue? Could it be a rule not being properly applied on the correct interface. Things to check.. I usually turn off NAT/firewall until i get mine tuned.
                    Good Luck

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ?
                      Guest
                      last edited by

                      Have you tried disabling the firewall temporary(for testing) under System>Advanced>Firewall/NAT>Disable Firewall

                      Break the problem down to the simplest parts.

                      It sounds like you had the RALink card going for 6 months so I seriously doubt it is a hardware issue. Probably a bad setting somewhere.

                      You don't mention what your clients machines OS are and if Windows you obviously have more to troubleshoot.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • D
                        DoyleChris
                        last edited by

                        I have had this problem since i installed the card. which has been about 6 months. Ill try disabling the firewall to see if it works.  Well before with a normal AP before it died everything was fine,  and its a mix of windows 7,8 and android.  And i dont think its windows because when they are wired to the network they work fine.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • E
                          edmund
                          last edited by

                          Have you tried turning off the bridge and seeing if the wireless clients can communicate with the bridge off?

                          I have a pfSense system with an Atheros card and had a lot of problems getting both the bridge AND the inter-client communications to work some years ago.  Since then I've disabled the internal Atheros card.  These days I've found that the solution in the pfSense manual works best - using the LAN side of a commercial hardware AP.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • D
                            doktornotor Banned
                            last edited by

                            +1, the bridge is just pointless and really bad idea in general.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • ?
                              Guest
                              last edited by

                              In the past there have been bugs relating to Wifi encryption. (WPA-Supplicant)
                              When i say break it down to just essentials I mean no encryption. Just the bare basics.
                              Just for testing of course.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • First post
                                Last post
                              Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.