WiFi "roaming" ?

[Abandoned Trolley]

My wife has a Samsung A02s which attaches to both of the wifi routers in
the house - but the problem is that its reluctant to let go of the
connection.

If she wanders from one end of the house to the other, it will hang on
to the connection as the signal fades, and not switch over to the
"other" router even when she is literally a foot away from it.

The 2 routers have completely different SSIDs and are operating on
differnt channels- everything else works just fine, including my phone.

I have tried playing with the "auto-reconnect" setting on the phone
(because there dont seem to be any other settings) and it makes no
difference

The phone is not being confused by any mobile data connection


Any suggestions ?

[Java Jive]

Yes, you have to ensure that the SSIDs are identically set up, and with
a router that can handle such a situation, or you need to set up a mesh
system.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

[Andy Burns]

Abandoned Trolley wrote:

> The 2 routers have completely different SSIDs

Then the phone *won't* treat SSID2 as an alternative to SSID1 until
SSID1 loses connection, even if both APs use the same SSID, many phones
cling on till grim-death ... mesh wifi systems will give the phones
hints, or even a heavy shove to make them reconnect.

[Theo]

Java Jive <ja...@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
> Yes, you have to ensure that the SSIDs are identically set up, and with
> a router that can handle such a situation, or you need to set up a mesh
> system.

'handle the situation' means the routers both supporting 802.11s fast
roaming. That may not be so common on random routers.

Theo

[Abandoned Trolley]

As I said in the OP, my phone doesnt hang on for grim death - it flips
over to the router with the stronger signal.

[Andy Burns]

Abandoned Trolley wrote:

> As I said in the OP, my phone doesnt hang on for grim death - it flips
> over to the router with the stronger signal.

Note that I said "many phones", the SoC chipset/firmware may well be
involved, not just android itself.

[Abandoned Trolley]

>
> Note that I said "many phones", the SoC chipset/firmware may well be
> involved, not just android itself.

Fair enough - maybe its a feature and not a bug ?

[Woody]

Have you switched off DHCP in the secondary router so that the primary
does all the address and connection handling?

[Pamela]

This Android app aims to switch to the strongest wifi network, although
I've never used it myself.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tartar.strongestwifitrial

Some users on Reddit seem to like it.

https://old.reddit.com/r/androidapps/comments/vug8b0/better_wifi_switcher/

[Java Jive]

I didn't try and give a detailed response because we weren't given any
details in the OP. Perhaps I should have specifically asked for them,
so let me do so now. We need the OP to tell us:

? What hardware is in use
? How is it wired together
? How is each item of kit configured

As for 802.11s specifically, I'm supposed to be long retired, but I
still have a legacy customer whose hardware is a DrayTek Vigor 2860Vac
router with about 10 AP910C access points, and the manuals of neither
mention supporting that version of the protocol, yet their system works
fine, with staff & customers able to walk freely between areas without
handover problems.

[Abandoned Trolley]

>
>
> Have you switched off DHCP in the secondary router so that the primary
> does all the address and connection handling?
>

Yes - there is no connection to the WAN port of the secondary router

[Abandoned Trolley]

> This Android app aims to switch to the strongest wifi network, although
> I've never used it myself.
>
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tartar.strongestwifitrial
>
> Some users on Reddit seem to like it.
>
> https://old.reddit.com/r/androidapps/comments/vug8b0/better_wifi_switcher/

Thanks - I will give the android app a try tomorrow

[Theo]

Correction, 802.11s is the mesh standard. Fast roaming is 802.11r. I think
it may be possible to have a setup without fast roaming if you just make the
SSIDs the same, but devices will take a while to change their AP rather than
actively handing over to the closer one (which 802.11r is intended to
facilitate).

Theo

[Woody]

This may sound silly:
1 How are you interconnecting the two routers if not using the WAN
connection?
2 Are you effectively using the second router as am access point?

[Abandoned Trolley]

>
> This may sound silly:
> 1 How are you interconnecting the two routers if not using the WAN
> connection?
> 2 Are you effectively using the second router as am access point?
>
>

Its used as an access point - so DHCP is disabled.

The idea is to extend the LAN, not create another one.


Anyway, I am told that the problem is now fixed.

[notya...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday 23 January 2024 at 10:34:00 UTC, Abandoned Trolley wrote:
> >
> > This may sound silly:
> > 1 How are you interconnecting the two routers if not using the WAN
> > connection?
> > 2 Are you effectively using the second router as am access point?
> >
> >
> Its used as an access point - so DHCP is disabled.

Yes this works - a use for retired routers - I did this with an old BT one years ago, but now use plan vanilla Netgear switch.

[Abandoned Trolley]

On 23/01/2024 19:38, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday 23 January 2024 at 10:34:00 UTC, Abandoned Trolley wrote:
>>>
>>> This may sound silly:
>>> 1 How are you interconnecting the two routers if not using the WAN
>>> connection?
>>> 2 Are you effectively using the second router as am access point?
>>>
>>>
>> Its used as an access point - so DHCP is disabled.
>
> Yes this works - a use for retired routers - I did this with an old BT one years ago, but now use plan vanilla Netgear switch.
>
>>

Works for me too, but I am left wondering what difference it would make
to the phone - is it able to tell the difference between a router and an
access point ?

[notya...@gmail.com]

Or extender

Depends - if you give it a separate name then yes, otherwise no apart from increased hop count and possible slight throughput reduction.

BT Halo (I got one free for renewing) has the same ID as the router.