Any help would be appreciated

Hi @cTsitouridis,

 

I think you mean the EAP245?  V3?

 

Are your two EAP's wired separately?  Patch panel, to midspan injector, to EAP?

 

How is the signal level on the EAP225?  Is this also V3?

 

Generally speaking, signal penetration through concrete, cinderblock, brick, plaster on wire support mesh (e.g. chicken wire) by any wireless device will always be very poor.  It's slightly better for 2.4GHz and worse for 5.8GHz.  But more significant is the return signal strength (RSSI) from your handset / laptop / Tablet (STA) back to the AP.  The transmit power of the STA is generally much lower than the AP.

 

My EAP's (225V3 and 245V3) have no issues transmitting through many layers of drywall, studs, etc.  I have a two-story house, and the signal from the EAP's works very well across both floors and even outside a little.

 

1) What country do you live in?

2) What are you're EAP transmit powers set to?  Try using the Custom scale and set it to ~20 dBM to start.

3) Turn band steering off.  Use separate SSID's for each frequency (e.g. myssid_24, and myssid_58).  Experiment with different channel selections and transmit powers.  Use 20MHz for 2.4 GHz (this will have the farthest range but lowest speeds) and 80 MHz for 5.8GHz (this will have the shortest range -- but highest speeds).

4) You can leave fast roaming enabled -- it won't hurt and will help Apple phones and tablets.

5) Ideally, ceiling mount your EAP's in the living space (not in the Attic).

 

Not sure of the layout of your home (and how many masonry walls you have), but if your floors are normal carpet/hardwood/plywood/drywall/etc. then your best bet would be to have a few EAP's on the upper floors (ceiling mounted, pointed down) on each "side" of the masonry walls.

 

If there are specific rooms you fequent more often, consider using ethernet, MOCA, powerline, etc. to add additional BW for computers, media centers, additional EAP's, etc,

 

While the EAP245's can be slightly faster under certain circumstances, the EAP225V3 is a very good product and very cost-effective at $59 each in the USA (Amazon).

 

-Jonathan

 

-Jonathan

Hi @cTsitouridis,

 

Also, be sure all your firmware are up to date.  This should be version 5.0 for the EAP225 & 245 (in the USA at least).  OC200 firmware is 4.2.8  I have seen some weird bugs when "Low" "Med" "High" are used.  Using the custom scale with specific dBm values seems to work better in my experience.

 

What kind of insulation do you have (in the attic)?  If you have foil-backed fiberglass (aka the pink stuff) RF penetration through any metal will be very poor.

 

Ideally, use a tool like "inssider" or a similar app for Windows, Android, MacOS to see the true signal strength (bars are ambiguous).  You should be seeing -30 to -45 dBm when very close to the AP.

 

Ideally, you want a signal of around -75 dBm minimum in the spaces you frequent.

 

-Jonathan

@JSchnee21 ,

 

First of, thank you for your thorough reply.

 

1. You are correct my AP's are 245 and 225 both v3 and with the latest 5.xxx firmware and both transmitting at high for both bands.

2. Both access points are connected to the rest of the network via Gigabit Ethernet which terminates in patch panel and then connected to TP link Gigabit switch. The switch has no PoE so I use the power injector they came with. 

3. Omada hardware controller oc200 also with the latest 4.2.8 

4. I live in Greece so all walls are mostly brick but also reinforced concrete. However the AP is within the same floor just 2 meters high. There is a small build storage area where we store things (so attic was the wrong description). I can't really justify why such a drop in the signal. 

5. I don't have apple mobile devices so I switched of Fast Roaming and Band Steering which actually seemed to improve signal penetration, although I am not sure which of the two actually help. So I will try for each selection. 

6. I will try your suggestions with dedicated SSID's although I thought that the whole concept was to have one SSID and enable all the advance features so the system will arrange what is the optimum signal and AP based on device proximity. 

7. There is the option to reposition the AP outside the storage area which should improve the signal and if needed I will add another EAP 225 in the main area however for a 115 sq-m house I believe is an overkill. 

 

I used an application (as you suggested) and the signal just out side from where I placed the AP is indeed -30 to -40 dBm. 

 

Additionally when I change floors and move to the basement (both the basement and the main house are connected through Gigabit Ethernet with different cables for each Access point) the mobile devices (phones and tablets) do not transfer to the AP with the strongest signal. I would set the RSSI but I am afraid that if the signal drops in the main house then I will have cut offs while moving around. 

 

 

Hi @cTsitouridis,

 

One other suggestion, there seems to be a bug / strange behavior in the version 5.0 firmware.  For the 5.8GHz radio, use only the 80 MHz setting and not the 20/40/80 setting.  Many of us have seen the AP negotiating incorrect, and much slower speeds when the 20/40/80 BW setting is used.

 

As for Band Steering, and choosing whether to use the 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz frequency.  You are correct that, in theory, this is how it should work.  It does/can work for some devices, but for many others the results are much less predictable (sticking to 2.4 when it should switch to 5.8, bouncing back and forth rapidly, etc.) so it's best to turn this setting off initially to get a feel for the signal penetration characteristics of each radio. 

 

You can always experiment with enabling band steering later.  In fact, since you can create several SSID's per radio, you could have 3 for example (2.4 only, 5.8 only, and Dual) and then experiment with different clients (joining only one SSID at a time) to see which works best.

 

-Jonathan

Hi Jonathan, What you propose makes sense. I will give it a try. Last question, does the fast roaming create issues? Considering that I don't have any apple devices, should I take it off ?

Hi @cTsitouridis,

 

I've only seen good with the Fast Roaming.  But in reality, very few devices support it currently.  Really only iphones and iPads.  So feel free to turn it off.

 

-Jonathan