Will wireless configuration settings cache a WAP’s MAC address?

I had 5 identical Cisco WAP200 units situated throughout the office, each with the same SSID (we’ll call it “NED.”) A corner of the office had a weak signal, so I added a sixth WAP200, again with an SSID of “NED.” Over the last few weeks guests to the office in the same corner have continued to struggle with the wireless signal. Is it possible that their wireless client settings have cached the MAC address of the WAP200 that they connected to on a previous visit, and they’re automatically connecting to the WAP200 with the weaker signal rather than the new WAP that’s near them with the strong signal?

jdanaAsked: 2012-12-24

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rauenpcConnect With a Mentor Commented: 2012-12-24

If you haven't already, do a wireless scan in that area to make sure there is no interference happening from another device. Maybe a neighboring company is using the same channel, an employee might have brought a wireless router from home, or even wireless video equipment.

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IanThConnect With a Mentor Commented: 2012-12-24

try disconnecting the weak signal wifi ap then the clients should cache the stronger one otherwise you would have to manually remove the wifi ap from each device

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tmoore1962Connect With a Mentor Commented: 2012-12-24

You could set each WAP to its own channel and not auto channel them, then you can do a netsh wlan show all and get the chan # of the WAP you are connected to. If you have the WAPs set to individual channels you can adjust them for interfernece. the netsh will also report any rogue WAP's outthere