2.4 Roaming Methods?

[dfish]

Aside from clients smart enough (a rarity) to use things like 802.11r/k/etc, what router side method might I have to force a client off one 2.4 channel and onto another?

FYI, I'm using an AC-86U as a primary router with a downstream hard-wired AX-68 in AP mode. Channels 1 and 11 respectively, both using the same SSID.

Clients (Ring devices) don't seem to honor Asus RSSI Assist, and I don't (so far anyway) see how I can make smart connect do what I need vis a vis moving to a different 2.4 channel.

Any suggestions?

TIA!

-d

 

[Tech9]

With two different radio hardware routers your clients will prefer one or another and you can't change that behavior. Multi-AP systems work best with the same hardware APs so the clients have no preferred AP and roam based on signal strength only. This is valid for AiMesh as well - works best with all the same model routers (and wired backhaul). This is the reason "mesh" kits like Orbi and eero perform better than AiMesh mix of different routers.

 

[dfish]

Interesting. You're telling me clients can differentiate hardware platforms. OK, I learn something every day. Do you mind sharing w/me how a client can tell, and or what is different client side when using the exact same hardware (these use the some software revision) somehow?

For that matter, if clients don't support 802.11k/v, what enables them to roam at all?

 

[tgl]

For that matter, if clients don't support 802.11k/v, what enables them to roam at all?

They'll still roam if they see another AP with better signal. However, different clients are very different about how aggressive they are about changing, and there's also a wide range of responsiveness to 802.11k/v information. I'm not real sure about @Tech9's opinion that clients will consider the AP make/model as opposed to raw signal strength and perhaps channel bandwidth.

Have you read the sticky thread about this?
What Are Sticky Clients?

 

[Tech9]

This is what I mean in real life experiment:

a) Two routers in AiMesh - AX86U main + AC86U node. AX86U set to Wi-Fi 5 to match the node. Reset all Wi-Fi connections on clients and re-add again for cleaner results after the AiMesh is up and running. No matter how close I get to AX86U router most of my test clients connect to AC86U and stay there.

b) Two routers in AiMesh - AX86U main + AX86S node. Both running with Wi-Fi 6 enabled, run the same firmware and have the same radios. Repeat the procedure above resetting Wi-Fi connections, same clients. Now roaming is working and the clients connect to the closer router with stronger signal.

 

[dfish]

TGL:
Thanks. Yes, read it some time back but I re-read it to make sure a fresh reading didn't mean more to me. Nope. Push come to shove clients like IOT devices, so often using mystery radios and drivers, and with incompetent technical support (looking at you Ring), are in an operational abyss. I was hoping there was a way to have Smart Connect force de-auth to a client from a given AP/channel band, but nothing I've found. I may just build some individual guest SSID's and thus manually force devices (I'm mostly concerned about Wi-Fi security camera's) to a "dedicated" SSID. They don't roam so I don't give a rats patooty, and at least I can sorta brute force distribute them as I deem best.

Tech:
Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[tgl]

... I may just build some individual guest SSID's and thus manually force devices (I'm mostly concerned about Wi-Fi security camera's) to a "dedicated" SSID.

Yeah, that's the brute-force, sure-to-work way. But I've heard that each SSID an AP is broadcasting eats a bit more airtime (which makes sense, because it has to send out a beacon frame every so often). So the advice is don't use more SSIDs than you really have to. I don't have any quantitative idea how much overhead is involved, though.

 

[thiggins]

STAs decide when and where to roam. APs can try to influence the decision. But, in the end, STAs decide. That's the way Wi-Fi works.

Forcing de-auth can end up with a disconnected STA.

@tgl Yes, each SSID takes a little more airtime. But the handful involved in the typical home WLAN are not going to noticably affect available bandwidth.

 

[tgl]

Yes, each SSID takes a little more airtime. But the handful involved in the typical home WLAN are not going to noticably affect available bandwidth.

Agreed. After posting, I did a little googling and found that Wikipedia says that "for the 2.4GHz spectrum", more than about 15 SSIDs can be problematic. It isn't clear what beacon transmit speed they are assuming, nor how bad problematic is, so this doesn't seem like very precise advice. It might be a good thing to avoid making one SSID per client, though.