Continuous roaming between EAPs
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I have three EAPs that are centrally managed by an OC200. It's probably due to overlap in coverage but I see clients switching continuously between the EAPs. And continuously means a minute up to every couple of seconds, going back and forth between the same two EAPs. It's as if the slightest difference in signal strength triggers the roaming
Any ideas on how I can limit this?
Steven
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Likely you have hgh transmit power on the APs. You should try to set 5GHz radios to medium power and 2.4GHz to low power on all 3 APs ( or rather have one middle AP 2.4 radio turned off and have other two 2.4 radios set to low power).
Also you should enable rate control for both 2.4 and 5GHz and set them to 24Mbps and 54Mbps respectively.
Hope this helps.
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I've modified the settings as you recommended but it hardly makes a difference. Some devices - but not always the same ones - are flipflopping every couple of seconds. It's hard to compare as the set of devices present on the WiFi aren't the same as a couple of days ago.
Limiting the rates per device is something I'm not going to do for two reasons:
- I don't see how limiting the bandwidth per device will reduce the roaming unless the EAPs are overloaded (which isn't the case at all)
- There have to be better ways or mechanisms to limit the roaming which have been developed for this purpose
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I did not say to limit bandwidth on the devices. I recommended to implement rate-control (the basic radio connection speeds, that has nothing to do with throughout or bandwidth).
To roam or not to roam is decided bu the client and not by the AP ( unlike cellular phones where roaming is dictated by the cell tower / base station).
Setting minimum connection speed to 54Mbps on 5GHz SSID wll cause devices to stop latching on to a weaker signal AP.
Maybe you have smaller area and too many APs. What is the AP to AP distance (horizontal and vertical separation)? Yes we need 10 to 15% overlap of coverage for data applications and 15 to 20% for VOIP over wireless. Multiple APs unless they are really spaced 40 feet or more, will definitely require reducing power and shutting down some 2.4 radios.
What is the use case? is it home or a small business with 3 APs? If you simply have 3 floors each with an AP on each floor, I will stagger the 3 APs on 3 floors ( something like lowest floor can have AP on one side, middle floor in the middle and upper floor on the other side, so all 3 APs are then in a diagonal line. Disable 2.4 on the bottom and top floor, leaving it on only on the middle floor. Disable 5GHz radio on the main floor. You can then keep power for all these 3 APs to be high.
I will also recommend that you test by creating separate SSIDs for 5GHz and 2.4GHz (unless you already have those).Try 5Hz capable (new phones and laptops) to use 5GHz SSID and forget the 2.4 SSID on them.
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Thanks for the clarification.
I have three APs for home use. Two at the ground floor, roughly 13m (40ft) apart from each other, and one at the first floor right in the middle of the first two. I now have one combined SSID with both 5G en 2,4G. Will try with separate SSIDs tomorrow.
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I think this bug is fixed in 4.2.8 release. Her is changes in windows release. OC200 have not this upgrade yet.
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