Setting up a roaming network -- not working

[rickeames]

I thought I had set this up right according to the support document, but things aren't working perfectly.

The situation: Our house is spread out and one unit can't reach everywhere. So I put one up in one corner of the house, and that is the one connected to the cable modem and doing NAT.

The second one, I have on the opposite corner downstairs -- so everyone is now covered. I have it setup in bridge mode and it's ethernet is fed to the upstairs unit via a switch. They both have the same SSID and password.

I can be upstairs with my mac and go downstairs and it won't autopair with the stronger network signal. It just tenaciously clings to the first base station it found. Not quite how roaming is supposed to work. To get it to connect, I have to turn wireless off and on and it will find the stronger signal.

Any ideas?

 

[NogbadTheBad]

I think the only way to get it to work is reduce the power settings on the access-points and have a walk about.

Intel WiFi devices running under Windows have a setting called roaming aggressiveness, if set to the highest it constantly tracks the link quality & strength and roams as soon as required, set at its lowest it stays attached to the original access-point for as long as possible.

I've not come across a way to set wifi aggressiveness in OS X.

Roaming is entirely as client decision.

 

[Bruno09]

They both have the same SSID and password.

Just to be sure :

You set up the AE with the same SSID as the router and same password, intending to create a roaming network.

Did you fill the 2 others conditions for a wifi roaming network :

- same type of password (WPA2 for instance)
- different channels

For example, if the "same" password is WPA for one access point (AP), and WPA2 for the other AP, the device will only switch to the second AP when it has lost the signal of the first AP.
If the signal is very low but not lost, the device will not switch from an AP to the other, even if the signal of the second AP is much stronger.

If you have made changes in your computer network set up, first check the points above, then erase the current configuration in the computer (system preferences / network + Keychains / system, and Keychains / user), then re-create the wifi connection.

 

[drsox]

I thought I had set this up right according to the support document, but things aren't working perfectly.

The situation: Our house is spread out and one unit can't reach everywhere. So I put one up in one corner of the house, and that is the one connected to the cable modem and doing NAT.

The second one, I have on the opposite corner downstairs -- so everyone is now covered. I have it setup in bridge mode and it's ethernet is fed to the upstairs unit via a switch. They both have the same SSID and password.

I can be upstairs with my mac and go downstairs and it won't autopair with the stronger network signal. It just tenaciously clings to the first base station it found. Not quite how roaming is supposed to work. To get it to connect, I have to turn wireless off and on and it will find the stronger signal.

Any ideas?

Try using the same channel for both AEs. That way it will switch. (I have this with 4 AEs). Have you used the WAN socket of the second AE as the connection point for your ethernet cable ?

 

[Bruno09]

Try using the same channel for both AEs. That way it will switch.

In a wifi roaming network, each access point must have its own channel.

This is one of the four rules for wifi roaming.

(several access points with the same channel = interferences)

Quote :

"Make sure the wireless settings of the second router is the same as the first router. Same SSID, same security type, same password. The only difference will be the channel. Moreover, we'll want to make sure the channels are sufficiently far apart."

 

[drsox]

In a wifi roaming network, each access point must have its own channel.

This is one of the four rules for wifi roaming.

(several access points with the same channel = interferences)

Quote :

"Make sure the wireless settings of the second router is the same as the first router. Same SSID, same security type, same password. The only difference will be the channel. Moreover, we'll want to make sure the channels are sufficiently far apart."

I had this conversation with someone else on this forum. I ignored it then also. Works fine for me with 4 AEs and I don't have to futz around with switching stuff on and off.