@TornadoTP 

With my Deco mesh running in AP mode I solved this for Android smartphones by disabling 2.4GHz on Main Network.

For other devices you may wish to google "wifi roaming aggressiveness" and see what recommendations are there to improve it for a specific type of device you have.

@Alexandre. 

Thanks for the reply. I tried turning off 2.4Ghz but not only it doesn't solve the problem, I have many IoT devices that doesn't support 5Ghz.

It seems like a firmware/hardware issue. Can the firmware be updated to allow us to configure the RSSI threshold before the Mesh kicks out the device so that its forced to connect to another node?

I have read few posts and it suggests that maybe I am connected to another further node because the device still thinks that that is the strongest signal, but this cannot be the case when I am only getting 1 bar with a link speed of 8Mbps.

Thanks!

@TornadoTP 

Something is not right in the story you are telling. If you are getting weak 2.4GHz signal from the WiFi node, the 5GHz signal from the same node will be non-existent. That is the point of turning off 2.4GHz: with only 5GHz remote WiFi nodes providing extremely weak signal will drop from your smartphone view. It won't be able to connect to them. That is just physics (google WiFi 2.4GHz vs 5GHz signal comparison).

To find what does your smartphone actually see and how it is really connected, I would recommend installing WiFi analyzer app on smartphone. I use WiFiman fom UBIQUITI and find it very useful in troubleshooting WiFi mesh.

When it comes to 2.4GHz devices, you have two options: you can enable 2.4GHz on your ISP router and connect IoT devices to it, or you can utilize Deco mesh Guest network. In my household, I went with Guest network, all my 2.4GHz devices are connected to it, all high speed 5GHz devices connected to Main network.

This is how configured my Deco mesh WiFi:

@Alexandre. Hi,

What I'm implying is that I'm facing similar predicament even after switching off 2.4ghz band, whereby my device will connect to the Deco unit that is not the nearest, and not the one having the strongest signal.

I cannot use the Guest network because some devices are essential part of the home network and need to exists in the same subnet.

But interestingly, I turned off 'randomized MAC' feature on my Android phone and my phone is actually roaming seamlessly now. I will try this for another few days and report back on the finding.

From some reading, it appears that Android will assign a random MAC for every single unique AP that it connects to, and technically all the different Mesh nodes are actually unique APs (which somehow carries the same name)

But can anyone from TP Link confirm that there's dependencies on MAC address in facilitating roaming between nodes, and that such function may break if the same device appears to each nodes with a different MAC address?

Cheers!

@TornadoTP 

In regard to having all devices on the same subnet. Please take a look again at screenshot of my Deco mesh WiFi configuration settings I posted, see toggle at the bottom. All my devices are on same subnet, while connected to Main and to Guest with Deco in AP mode.

There are other good reasons to split bands of Deco mesh, but if it works for you as is, obviously no need to mess with the settings. Glad you have found workaround.

@Alexandre. 

Thanks! I have done additional testing and I confirm that this feature is due to Randomised MAC function on my Android phone. I believe that is how Deco identifies that the same device is roaming. With this function turned on for Android, the different Deco will consider my phone as a separate device. In the Deco app, I see different MAC address for my phone when its connected to each nodes and it also being assigned a different IP address by the router! (not Deco as I'm running on AP mode)

It appears that Samsung phones have been configured so that Randomised MAC function is turned on by default.

Perhaps TP link wants to update the FAQs or maybe update the firmware so that it can build a MAC table for devices carrying the same name?

Further research shows that Apple devices will not have this issue because the MAC address is changed once per 24 hours, so all AP will see the same MAC address in the same day, whereas for Android the MAC remain the same forever for each unique AP