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WiFi Country Code on 2820n

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20 Aug 2012 03:03 #73260 by magicboy
WiFi Country Code on 2820n was created by magicboy
Can anyone advise how to change the country code on the 2820n?

My Mac running OS 10.8 is setting up the wireless as per the the country code reported back by the router and then promptly disables all the UK channels in the 5GHz band! I therefore can't access the separate 5GHz AP I have.

Dump from System Information tool :
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0xD6)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.81.20)
MAC Address: <redacted>
Locale: ETSI
Country Code: TW
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
Wake On Wireless: Supported
AirDrop: Supported
Status: Connected
Current Network Information:
Draytek:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 00:50:7f:ac:<redacted>
Channel: 1
Country Code: TW
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -74 dBm / -84 dBm
Transmit Rate: 145
MCS Index: 15

Note the supported wireless channels - the 5GHz channels in the UK are 36-48 which are not on the list.

If I disable the WiFi on the Draytek, then it picks up Country Code GB from the other AP and all goes back to normal.

Thanks

/EDIT : Draytek firmware is the latest 3.3.7.2

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23 Aug 2012 20:36 #73282 by jedi98
Replied by jedi98 on topic Re: WiFi Country Code on 2820n
Basically, it seems you can't set it. Some searching (mostly found Aussie forums) has shown that in 11n mode they seem to have hardcoded TW into the broadcast info from the router. It knows it's in the EU, but it tells anything listening that it's in TW. Dohh!

Output from iwconfig (linux) shows: "IE: Unknown: 0706545720010D10"

The "...545720..." is "TW " but the wireless lan status says "Frequency Domain : Europe"

OSX is essentially unix so chances are that someone knows how to force it to EU at the mac end but I have not come across anything that currently works when mooching about the usual places.

Draytek SHOULD be fixing the firmware, they have promised some people that they will. Again, I have not come across any evidence that they have yet.

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24 Aug 2012 08:58 #73285 by NeilH
Replied by NeilH on topic Re: WiFi Country Code on 2820n
Am I missing something here, did not think the 2820n supported 5Gb band at all?.

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24 Aug 2012 09:14 #73286 by magicboy
Replied by magicboy on topic Re: WiFi Country Code on 2820n

MagicBoy wrote: I therefore can't access the separate 5GHz AP I have.



I'm using the Draytek for 2.4GHz and a Linksys router as a 5GHz AP (DHCP, routing, firewall etc all turned off). The Mac disables all non-Taiwanese channels on both bands if it sees the Draytek WiFi first.

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24 Aug 2012 09:27 #73287 by NeilH
Replied by NeilH on topic Re: WiFi Country Code on 2820n

MagicBoy wrote:

MagicBoy wrote: I therefore can't access the separate 5GHz AP I have.



I'm using the Draytek for 2.4GHz and a Linksys router as a 5GHz AP (DHCP, routing, firewall etc all turned off). The Mac disables all non-Taiwanese channels on both bands if it sees the Draytek WiFi first.



That what I thought.
Why do you think the 2820n is controlling the Linksys channels? I would seriously worry if it did as it is nothing to do with the 2820n.
I have used a netgear WAG102 with a 2820n and I set the netgear channels through the netgear interface, nothing to do with the draytek at all.

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24 Aug 2012 09:39 #73288 by magicboy
Replied by magicboy on topic Re: WiFi Country Code on 2820n
I've never said that the Draytek is controlling the Linksys channels. This is client driven. The Draytek is transmitting an incorrect country code which causes the Mac to think it's in Taiwan. It therefore disables the channels that are not permitted in Taiwan on the Airport card.

Some digging on OS X related forums indicate it's to do with 802.11d beacons. The abridged version is that the Mac wakes up the Airport card and sends out a 802.11d request saying "where am I?". It appears to ignore the preference order for the networks (not checked the 802.11d docs so is likely by design) and any WiFi APs in range can reply to that request. It's pot luck which one replies first. Sometimes it's the Draytek, sometimes it's another AP.

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