Ok, I know there are several posts about how to start up an RS2 unit. RS2 will connect to an existing wifi SSID that it has used in the past and is saved on memory. So yesterday in the office, we were configuring some RS2 units for deployment. We were synchronizing all settings to be the same over the various units - freq, recording intervals, ntrip etc.
The office has several wifi SSID - from routers, wifi extenders as well as hotspots on several cellphones of our fieldmen when they are on the field.
So when we turned on the RS2 units, it connected to a wifi SSID as indicated by the blue wifi light. Now here comes the problem, how do you know which SSID is it connected to? In order to determine which SSID it is connected to, you have to be connected to the same SSID right?
So I had the unit brought out of the office away from any wifi signal and yet it was still turning on with the wifi light. It was later discovered that one of the person who brought it out of the office had his cellphone hotspot turned on and this is where the RS2 was connected. Not all surveyors are tech knowledgeable with internet settings. We often rely on the office setting these up for us. There has to be a better approach specially if this problem occurred in the field and no office tech is available to find the solution.
May I make a request that there be a setting somewhere to turn the RS2 straight into its own wifi hotspot? Or allow the Reachview app to connect to the unit and let the user select the wifi or hotspot option?
We wasted at least an hour before we figured out the problem. Like I said, most users are surveyors and really are not tech savy enough with all these wifi settings.
I’m afraid there is no easy way to determine which network RS2 is connected to when there are a lot of enabled hotspots. At the moment, I can suggest the following:
delete all the saved Wi-Fi networks after the survey. The next time you turn on RS2, it will create a hotspot
put RS2 outside where no saved Wi-Fi networks are available for sure so that you could connect to RS2’s hotspot
Thanks for the request! We’ll consider how we can implement it. However, in most cases, the receiver is used when only one or two networks available. So it can be somehow inconvenient to select between the Wi-Fi network and Reach’s hotspot each time you turn it on.
I’m afraid it’s not possible to use Bluetooth to configure the receiver. In order to use the ReachView app, you need to connect the receiver and your device to the same Wi-Fi network.
Maybe some workaround: Put the RS2 in a metal box (maybe aluminium-foil) while booting. Probably it won’t see any networks, when booted, you could verify the white LED is on, connect to the hotspot and you’ll be able to see which networks it sees and knows.
Edit1: Another workaround: Connect the reach with USB, It’ll run IP over USB, and you’ll be able to reach reachview over USB (on my device this worked on http://192.168.2.15/ )
Edit2: Given the limited number of leds/buttons, and everyone’s requirements, I think it’ll be hard to cover all of them. (maybe adding a bluetooth-PAN-profile could open possibilities to run ip over bluetooth and provide all reach-app over bluetooth as well…)
