chrisgtl wrote:
Do you see problems with clients dropping to the 2.4GHz band for absolutely no reason?

I had all kinds of strange Band (and SSID) switching to start with.

I seem to get much better performance from my two 903 AP's when I set them up in AP mode as apposed to Mesh mode.

Just double-checking ... you do have one as Mesh-root and the other one as a Mesh-node, don't you? (sorry, just had to ask :lol: )

Running iperf3 from my laptop to my hardwired computer results in either 300Mbit/s or 90Mbit/s depending if the laptop has dropped the 5Ghz band (even though I have Band Steering enabled on both AP's).

It can be really hard to figure out with SSID / AP you're actually connected to. On Android, with Developer mode enabled, you can "Enable Wi-Fi verbose logging", which I find extremely useful. (When you go to the phone Wifi status page, it shows you MAC addresses and RSSI figures, instead of just the SSID). It's quite handy for doing a walk-test and actually watching the 'AP hopping' take place.

I really don't understand why the laptop would drop to 2.4GHz when I am literally sat on top of the AP.

Most of what I (think I) know, is gleaned from watching the AP903 and AP802 SYSLOG output. You can see a dialogue, where one reports it has a client with a low RSSI. If the other reckons it can do better, the first one temporarily adds it to the 'block list' and boots it off. If the client doesn't take "no" for an answer, it can't get back on and must (should) try elsewhere - there's another AP waiting for it. Lots of messing with the Roaming parameters, finally got this to happen when I want it to. The band-switching seems to be a simpler version of this, that only involves one AP.

Of course, some clients really don't like this sort of behaviour and pull of kinds of stunts ... switching to another AP, when they're only supposed to be switch band. Or, even better - switching to a totally different SSID, if they can find one. That, I find particularly irritating!

Under the "Station List" menu, there are two (undocumented) tabs "Block list" and "White List" - not in any manual I can find. Clients that are being steered from band-to-band, or AP-to-AP often appear here. "Block list" seems to be a kind of short-term version of "Access Control". I'm yet to figure out what "White list" does.

I wish I could just drop 2.4Ghz completely but my printer and Sonos speaker does not support 5Ghz. AAArrgggggg........

I have an Epson printer, which is much happier connecting to the 2860n two floors down, than the AP903 across the corridor

--exceeded 3000 byte limit... 3000 bytes, I ask you :lol: --

//cont//

FWIW, here are my Roaming parameters. I'm sure these are peculiar to my house though...

2.4Ghz

Band Steering [x] 5GHz Minimum RSSI = -70dBm

Roaming
[x] Enable 802.11r - "Over the air"
AP-assisted Client Roaming Parameters [x] Minimum RSSI = -66dBm, with Adjacent AP RSSI over 5dB
Fast Roaming [x] Enable - PMK cache 30minutes

5Ghz

Roaming
[x] Enable 802.11r - "Over the air"
AP-assisted Client Roaming Parameters [x] Minimum RSSI = -62dBm, with Adjacent AP RSSI over 5dB
Fast Roaming [x] Enable - PMK cache 30minutes

As hornbyp says above, faffing with the roaming settings appears to be the way to get these things to play most of the time in accordance with your wishes. I use 802.1x for my "main" SSID and have found that things seem to improve if I disable the Fast Roaming option. The other two SSIDs are on plain vanilla WPA2; I also have different roaming settings on different APs, probably not finalised yet!

I also have (iOS) clients on the 802.1x SSID which decide now and then to "hop" to another SSID - of course I only notice that when something doesn't work....

We could all sign-up to Draytek's webinar on the subject...

Explore Wi-Fi and Mesh Wi-Fi Solutions on this upcoming technical webinar from DrayTek. Get tips on set-up, management and expert know-how to:

Set up VLANs over Mesh
Prioritise and manage Wi-Fi traffic
Secure your DrayTek Wi-Fi network
Improve Wi-Fi coverage
Conduct site surveys using Diagnostic tools on DrayTek access points
Use DrayTek VigorACS for centralised management

It's at a ridiculously early hour though :lol:

Earlier, I wrote:
Most of what I (think I) know, is gleaned from watching the AP903 and AP802 SYSLOG output. You can see a dialogue, where one reports it has a client with a low RSSI...
etc, etc, etc

I was poking around among the Draytek support articles and came across this one, on the subject of "AP-assisted Client Mobility" . It's not dated, but the AP802 isn't mentioned, so it has "some age" to it.

It says, more or less, what I'd said (which is a relief ) - and even includes some sample SYSLOG output. It makes absolutely no mention of "Mesh Mode" though

Seemingly, the conversation between Access Points is not a Mesh function ...

In the guide, they wrote: In this example, the Original VigorAP detects that its client has moved out of range, checks Signal Strength with other VigorAPs and receives confirmation that the wireless client can achieve better Signal Strength with the Closest VigorAP. The access points then move the client between the two VigorAPs, keeping the wireless client connected to the VigorAP with the clearest signal:

So ... maybe when using wired mode, there is nothing to be gained - after all - from enabling Mesh Mode :?:

(In my case, there is something to be lost: my mesh node is an AP802, which can only handle two SSID's. If I disable mesh mode, I can perhaps use all four on the AP903 - albeit with reduced coverage on two of them. When I tried this in the past - after waiting for the mesh to sync - it caused all sorts of mayhem and I had to abandon the experiment)

OK, I tried this.

To recap - as an example - in Mesh Mode, an AP903 and an AP802 (both wired), generate the following dialogue, as my phone moves between them:-

Code:

17:15:06 AP903 Ask if there is any Wifi device can roam. 17:15:06 AP903 24:f5:6b:6c:4f:e3's RSSI is low(-75 dbm). 17:15:06 AP802 Reply 24:f5:6b:6c:4f:e3, the RSSI of AP with it is -53 dbm. 17:15:06 AP802 24:f5:6b:6c:4f:e3 may roam from AP903(Channel 44). 17:15:11 AP903 There is a Wifi device's RSSI with 24:f5:6b:6c:4f:e3 is better(-53 dbm), ready to kick.

With both AP903 and AP802 set to "AP mode", this dialogue does not occur. Roaming still takes place according to the parameters I have set, but it seems more "jerky", with a delay between leaving one AP and connecting to the other.

I only see the behaviour detailed in Draytek's article when in Mesh mode