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Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh

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Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh

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Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh
Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh
2017-08-14 16:32:02
Model :

Hardware Version :

Firmware Version :

ISP :

Hello all, I'm a new user with not a lot of experience. I want to build a home WiFi LAN with AP's which support roaming(fast roaming, seamless roaming, mesh, etc etc) for my clients. This is where it get's confusing. What understand is, is that roaming is depending on the capabilities of the clients(smartphone, Ipad etc.) for switching to the strongest WiFi signal automatically between AP's. Some clients do not have this capability and will stick to the first AP connection until the connection is finally lost. Wifi mesh is a solution where the AP's manage the hand-over of the client connection between AP's. Is this all correct?

I now am testing with a TL SG108PE switch with 1 EAP245 AP. I possibly will add 1 EAP245(or EAP225..), but will this then support roaming or mesh or what??

Also I have read some reviews of EAP245 users who state that the roaming(or mesh...) ONLY works when the Controller Host software is active and running. Is this a known issue?

Hopefully someone can clarify this all for me.
Many thanks in advance for your reactions.
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#1
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6 Reply
Re:Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh
2017-08-14 20:53:25
Fast transition roaming (FTR) is the IEEE 802.11r standard, which introduces a new concept for roaming where the initial handshake with the new AP is done even before the client roams to the target AP. It is useful for devices with delay-sensitive applications such as VoIP. What EAP220, 225, 245, 320 and 330 do is band steering, which means that they re-direct dual-band capable devices trying to connect to the 2.4 GHz WiFi to the 5 GHz WiFi if a certain number of clients is using the 2.4 GHz band already. This is not the same as 802.11r FTR. AFAIK, the EAPs currently do not support 802.11r.

Mesh networking is a network topology in which each node relays data for a network. This has nothing to do with hand-over, but rather with fail-over. If one AP goes down, other APs will seamlessly take over relaying, but the clients need to re-connect. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesh_networking for mesh networks. TP-Link's Deco systems are APs using mesh networking, but the Deco is a SOHO device, not a business class AP like the EAPs are.
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#2
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Re:Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh
2017-08-14 21:24:49
Many thanks R1D2.

So I had "mesh" mixed up with "hand-over" and "roaming". Your explanation about FTR (802.11r) tells me that the roaming/hand-over is less depending on the capabilities of the clients(e.g. smartphone) but managed by the AP's, correct?
Basically that is what I'm looking for, but the EAP's currently don't support this. Is there maybe a firmware upgrade in the roadmap which will support this?

What will happen if I install 2 AP's(e.g. EAP225) in my house, both with the same SSID/password and different channels and an overlapping reach area, and I will move my smartphone from first AP into the reach of the second AP. Will this generate a hand-over for my smartphone wifi connection from AP1 to AP2, or not? Or is this again depending on the switching capabilities of my smartphone?

Is my example "standard and client depending" roaming or is this already FTR and not supported by the current EAP's?

Thanks again.
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Re:Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh
2017-08-14 21:55:30

Corne1964 wrote


Your explanation about FTR (802.11r) tells me that the roaming/hand-over is less depending on the capabilities of the clients(e.g. smartphone) but managed by the AP's, correct?


No, it depends on the capabilities of the stations (clients), which tell the AP they would wish to switch from one AP to another. This already works in standard 802.11 implementations. FTR according to 802.11r was introduced for authentication protocols, which increased the handshaking for transitions from one AP to another. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11r-2008 for the details. But beware: some existing 802.11r implementations are not be able to serve 802.11r-non-capable clients if the AP has 802.11r enabled.


Basically that is what I'm looking for, but the EAP's currently don't support this. Is there maybe a firmware upgrade in the roadmap which will support this?


Any AP supports hand-over and there isn't much difference in terms of speed compared to FTR as long as you don't use extended authentication protocols such as 802.1X or similar, which require use of external servers such as a RADIUS server.


What will happen if I install 2 AP's(e.g. EAP225) in my house, both with the same SSID/password and different channels and an overlapping reach area, and I will move my smartphone from first AP into the reach of the second AP. Will this generate a hand-over for my smartphone wifi connection from AP1 to AP2, or not?


Yes, your smartphone will initiate a hand-over. No need for FTR.
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#4
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Question about the Handover
2018-04-18 02:34:38
Quick question about this.. from what i have seen with the EAP225 or typical wifi routers with the same SSID, when your device is connected to AP#1 and you move into the range of AP#2, unless you have no connection to #1 it stays connected to that AP#1.
If it has one bar signal to AP#1 and AP#2 is full strength it stays connected to the MAC address of 1 and unless you manually disconnect or loose signal completly it does not matter that #2 has a much better signal.
How do you get around this problem?
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#5
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Re:Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh
2018-04-19 08:24:46

bobkaron wrote


How do you get around this problem?


You can set the RSSI Threshold of the EAP225 to force a disconnect if signal is too low.

But the client device always decides for itself to which AP it connects to and unfortunately that's not always working as expected.
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#6
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Re:Support for Seamless/Fast roaming or Mesh
2018-04-20 06:59:44
Thanks!
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#7
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