A field technician is troubleshooting a mobile tablet that successfully authenticates to a company's wireless network but cannot access internal resources or the internet. Upon inspecting the network settings on the tablet, the technician notes an IP address of 169.254.45.12. Which of the following is the most likely root cause of this connectivity issue?
- The Wi-Fi network's DHCP server is unreachable or failing to issue IP leases.Answer
- BThe tablet was assigned a public routable IP address directly by the wireless access point.
- CThe access point is experiencing co-channel interference due to operating on non-overlapping channel 6.
- DThe tablet's IMEI number has expired and must be re-provisioned by the network administrator.
Answer
The Wi-Fi network's DHCP server is unreachable or failing to issue IP leases.
When a mobile device connects to a Wi-Fi network but cannot establish communication with a DHCP server to obtain an IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway, the mobile operating system automatically assigns itself an Automatic Private IP Address (APIPA) in the range 169.254.0.1 through 169.254.255.254. Seeing an IP address of 169.254.45.12 confirms that the tablet authenticated to the wireless access point but could not reach a DHCP server.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) and Mobile Wi-Fi DHCP Troubleshooting