Home devices do not switch to another deco for better signal
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I just moved into a 2 storey house and attached 2 Deco M9 to a AX1500 (VX220-G2V) VDSL model. I put the 2 Deco at almost exactly the same spot from a floor plan perspective just that at different level of the house.
Interestingly, even though I moved my ipad from Lv1 to Lv2, it still connects to the Deco M9 in Lv1, and showing a weaker wifi signal and doesn now auto switch to the Deco M9 on Lv2.
Is there anything I can do to make sure devices would auto switch correctly? how do devices (or the deco mesh network) decide on their mesh network attachment? The only thing I can thing of is there are a lot more walls on the Lv2 from the Deco M9 to my office rooms...
This forum topic gives good introduction of devices roaming on Deco mesh: Get to Know Fast Roaming / Seamless Roaming on a Deco System
There is one more thing. To decide where to roam, device must rescan WiFi networks and figure which WiFi node to choose. Frequent scanning drains battery. That makes mobile device manufacturers look for a balance between frequent roaming and battery discharge speed. They may decide to have device roam only when signal gets weak. Definition of "weak" may be different for different manufacturers, or even change for same device between its software upgrades.
Try this: when on LV2, turn iPad WiFi off/on. When device WiFi turned off and then on, device is forced to rescan WiFi networks. If after that iPad connects to M9 Plus on LV2, this is the optimal WiFi node.
That would also mean, when you just walk from LV1 to LV2 with iPad, it does not want to roam as long as signal from LV1 is "good enough."
You can install WiFi analyzer app on your tablet or smartphone and see what device sees. That app will also help to figure if you have places at your house with weak WiFi signal. The picture below will tell what different Internet services can different levels of WiFi signal provide to device.
