WiFi Roaming Between Different Routers
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TLDR:
Any ideas how to properly setup WiFi roaming between two different WiFi routers in a single floor flat/apartment?Also anyone know if just configuring Mobility Domains in each router would help? or is mobility domain specific to 802.11r[oaming?] (which does not seem to be implemented on advanced customer products).
Currently I have Turris Omnia (which has customized OpenWRT) as the primary router (DHCP, firewall, etc) and basic TP-Link Archer C6, both dual-band.
Direct line both are rather close to each other but with walls between them.
TP-Link is in the furthest/farthest? room, Turris basically a bit off the center of the space, so there is some overlap of signals and I've hoped that the devices would sort it out, but with that it seemed to happen too late - especially androids tried to really hold onto the basically dead wifi for too long.With this setup I've tried the basic "roaming" configuration:
- Same SSID
- Same encryption and PSK
- Different channels (for each band, per router, bo)
- Even tried tweaking the signal powers for each so that there is less overlap (reducing power of Archer so that it mostly covers only the farthest room)
But, either tp-link does something extra under the hood which breaks this or the routers are just too close to each other and it does not trigger switching in the client devices (androids, iphones, macbooks, thinkpads).
Also with both routers on the same SSID, it was hard to forcefully tell the devices to connect to the other WiFi thats like almost next to you instead of staying on the previous dying one.I could replace the cheap basic Archer C6 with capable Mikrotik to get more control and try setup the Mobility Domain but I have no idea how it works and if it even helps with roaming.
One earlier web search hinted that for the usual "roaming", all the broadcasted networks have to be in the same 802.11 mode (N vs AC) for devices to even consider roaming (as in, they like to stick with AC even if there is N network with better signal). -
S [email protected] shared this topic
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@taaz Have a look on OpenWrt for wifi extender with wps
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Ha, I didn't specify it but both routers are connected by normal ethernet cable (TP-Link -> Turris).
Don't think extender (as in forwarder) is good solution here as it would needlesly increase latency for the secondary, though will check! maybe there are some important bits about the mobility domain and roaming in it. -
Need some clarification here:
So you have the Omnia as the primary routing device, and the tp-link in AP mode connected via Ethernet to the Omnia, correct?
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@taaz Ok there is a wired extender version of the guide on the OpenWrt website. Just done it
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Yeah didn't add that bit before, edited in.
Archer is here as just dumb AP/routing box for the furthest room, connected to Omnia by ethernet (so yes, Archer acts as client device @ .1.20 and forwards everything to Omnia). -
Both running OpenWRT, or the Archer still runs stock firmware?
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I've found that a lot of clients just don't roam well, they hang on to even unusable weak signals.
On my Unifi setup I've ended up turning on minimum RSSI on the APs so they force kick off any devices with a signal that is too low.
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In the past, what has worked for me is to configure the routers to disconnect clients whose signal level drops below a specified threshold. Clients aren’t savvy about this / will stay connected to a poor signal when a better one is available. You’d have to look at router-reported signal levels in your physical space to figure out where to set the thresholds.
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Tp-link is stock sadly, but could replace with more capable one (Mikrotik L009 probably, I don't care about single-band in this case because it literally covers a single, open space room)
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Use OpenWRT and enable Fast Transitioning, works perfectly.
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Kicking low-signal devices didn't occur to me, and should be easy to implement on the OpenWrt one, thanks!
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Good tip, thanks!
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Looking into it, ty!
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This is what I do with my Asus AX mesh setup, running a Merlin fork (gnuton).
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Yeah give it a try, I use -75dBm as my setting. Currently only on the 5ghz band, but you can try on all of them, 2.4ghz might want more like -80dBm.
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Well what you're probably looking to setup is 802.11r, but I think you're still going to run into issues because of the proximity of where your routers are.
The issue you're seeing is related to band shaping and signal-to-noise ratio. Your wifi client is actutthe thing that is supposed to be more smoothly handling the transition between access points with your current setup, but it may not work as expected without the signal for one or the other to be drastically worse than the other. 802.11r helps with that. Results are hit or miss though, so don't go buying new equipment just to try it out.
If you had two OpenWRT devices though, I would just make a mesh and skip the above.
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This is really smart!
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Is that working better now? Every time I've turned it on in the past, half my devices lose connection.
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Thanks, especially for that openwrt mesh bit, that might end up as the the best solution.
