Thanks Loads!

 Ok, it's last Friday, we've had guests in one of our guest houses for a few nights and they've asked for a late checkout because they need to run into town and pick up a few of their purchases they'd made on their shopping spree.  Normal checkout is 10AM.  We've got guests checking in to stay the weekend, normal check-in is 5:30.  They had asked to check in at 4PM.  We talked to our cleaning crew and they said "No Sweat".

You know where this is going doncha'?

The guests leave, the cleaning crew arrives, we see that she is loading up to leave, so we head down to check on things.  (We do this under the guise of dropping off the welcome basket and picking up dirty laundry, both of which are my side of the responsibility. In reality, Mrs. J is the primary reason.  She inspects the house.  Quite closely I might add. Personally, I think she was a boot camp drill Sergeant in a prior life, Yes, that closely.)

In any case, I'm coming back in the Cabin after loading the dirty laundry and I see Mrs. J and the cleaning lady futzing with the TV controls. I ask what's the problem.  No audio, they said.  I start checking connections, all is as it should be.  Perform the patented juvat fix to all things electronic.  Turn it off, wait 60 seconds, turn it on.  Works 90% of the time.  

We score in that remaining 10%.  I pull out my phone to look at the network and realize the Router is pointed to the cabin next door and is only showing 1 bar of connectivity.  Hmmm.  It's not a TV problem, it's a network problem.  Look for the proper network on my phone (which is a PITA in itself).  Nowhere to be seen.

Turn it off, wait 60 seconds, turn it back on.  Nada.  It's now 1+45 til the next guests arrive.  I figure the router had died in the T-Storm we'd had about 10 days before.  I tell Mrs. J  I'm running to Wally World to get a new Router (About $50).  Do so, RTB and we're down to T-1 hour.  Set up the router with the Network name, Router Password, Login Password and turn it on. 

Voila' It's working!  Now I have to put it back in its operational location.  That would be on top of a kitchen cabinet near the ceiling.  All but completely out of sight and certainly out of range of accidental touching.

Except as I put it up there, I accidentally push the WPS (W-ifi Protected Setup) button.  This button is intended for people that use the same equipment on the network all the time.  The Router and the Phone, for example, "Know" each other.  Therefore, you don't have to use a password to get on the network.  As soon as the Router sees your phone (or Computer, Or Picture frame) you're logged in and doing what you need to.

  

The WPS is the blue button just to the right of the internet connection.  That slot is where the internet is connected to the router.  Fine design to put them 1/4" apart.  Also there isn't any kind of "Are you sure you want to reset your entire network" dialog going on.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work, when your guests change 2 or 3 times a week.

What pushing the button does is erase all your settings and resets the router so that your network is not visible to non-pre-authorized devices.  The PITA part of all this is if you're handling the router, pushing that button is pretty easy.  Nigh on to impossible to push it if you're not handling the router.

So my question is "What were my guests trying to do by climbing on a chair to reach the router in the kitchen?"

In order to fix it, I've got to hook a laptop up directly to the router, push the reset to Factory specs button for a minute then shut off the router, but leave it plugged in, for 10 minutes then restart it, check that the reset worked, If not, start over and try again.

Fortunately, I've got the cabin back up on the other cabin's network with sufficient signal strength for the TV to work (It required rebooting also)..  Spent a good part of Tuesday, trying to get the situation Reset.

I wish people would realize that yes, they pay to stay.  No, they are not owners. Stay away from things YOU KNOW you shouldn't be touching, and let the owner's know if there's a problem.  It's not hard, it's common sense and it's good manners.

Fortunately, the two ladies that arrived at 4 were a bit older, not interested in TV, just wanted to shop and catch up with each other. So things worked out better than we had a right to expect.