Multiple WLAN APs

[marche]

I set-up my home network with two wireless APs with a Moca back haul that connects the two. however, while in the room where the second AP is located, my iPhone is not connecting to the AP in the very same room. It is "stuck" with the AP that is downstairs, connected at -70dbm while the AP in the room is at -30dbm only. Both are using the same SSID, same WPA2 AES, different channel but different brands (Linksys and Asus, however, both running DD-WRT). I have to turn off then on the wifi switch for my Iphone to connect to the AP in the room. Is there any way for me to achieve this automatically? Or am I doing something wrong with my setup?

 

[bigben]

Not much you can do about it. I think this post says it all:

My suggestion: It's an issue of bandwidth while walking... Seems unlikely that anyone would care much about continuing to watch a streaming video while walking room-to-room. If this were the case, then using a single SSID makes for a faster change-over of access points. But it's likely that the signal strength will degrade as the person walks, and get to the point where the stream is unwatchable. Then the client device "may" choose the better access point; or not!

With two SSIDs, the client device "may" react to the too-weak signal and "may" choose the other SSID as it would be in the preferred SSID list of the WiFi configuration. But if the device dumbly chooses again the weak signal access point (or WiFi router), the crummy streaming reoccurs.

So if one simply goes from room A using AP/router A, to room B, then begins using the device again, the two SSID scheme is best. If the device chooses the weaker signal, which some may do, the user can then cuss and manually select the better SSID.

(Enterprise/professional WiFi doesn't have this issue, as systems like Cisco and Aruba have driver software that runs on client devices (PCs, many PDAs, maybe smart phone by now, such as Cisco's CCX). This software expects to receive a broadcast in the beacon of the access points, a list of access points IDs, a "neighbor list" if you will. The special driver software uses this list as a clue on how to do a fast handover to the best AP. This is often done for WiFi based VoIP handheld devices. All this fall-de-rall is needed because the IEEE 802.11 specs don't yet define, nor have vendors adopted a standard for fast handoff as is ever-present in cellular. Even better, managed WiFi networks have means for the clients to be directed by the controller as to which AP to use.)

 

[sfx2000]

I set-up my home network with two wireless APs with a Moca back haul that connects the two. however, while in the room where the second AP is located, my iPhone is not connecting to the AP in the very same room. It is "stuck" with the AP that is downstairs, connected at -70dbm while the AP in the room is at -30dbm only. Both are using the same SSID, same WPA2 AES, different channel but different brands (Linksys and Asus, however, both running DD-WRT). I have to turn off then on the wifi switch for my Iphone to connect to the AP in the room. Is there any way for me to achieve this automatically? Or am I doing something wrong with my setup?

Switch both routers to the same channel... and ensure that the downstream router is configured as an AP (disable DHCP, connect to LAN port, etc, check the article that Tim wrote up about using a router as an AP only).

Might work better for you...

 

[marche]

I'll try that later. However, it seems that once the iphone goes into sleep state, and wakes up, it will reconnect at the better signal. not 100% of the time though..

 

[stevech]

Some WiFi clients just pick the first-heard rather than best signal. If APs are on different channels, this can affect those clients with firmware that takes the trouble to look at each SSID in the preferred SSID list, or even scan all channels.