Piste Basher wrote:
Well that's not what PC Pro appear to understand by the "mesh" operation - their "test" involved iPads streaming HD video from You Tube. On turning off the AP to which the iPads were connected they describe the result as a "seamless" switch-over to another AP in the mesh, with the video uninterrupted.

I would expect it to work too (either in "mesh" or "AP" mode) ... and indeed it does, for me - but I don't have any Apple products to try it with.

BTW, do you mean IT Pro, rather than PC Pro? (maybe it's a coincidence, but IT Pro tested the AP903 the same way: https://www.itpro.co.uk/wifi-hotspots/33924/draytek-vigorap-903-review-seamless-self-healing-mesh-wifi . Their measured 17% overhead for wireless mesh mode throughput seems suspiciously low - unless they'd inadvertently tested over 2.4GHz - leaving 5GHz for the mesh itself.)

I came across Apple's in-sight into Roaming etc : https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203068

It was indeed PC Pro in their review of the AP1000C, January 2021 issue.

"Both iPads silently jumped over to the root AP and our videos continued to play with no interruptions".

But as I say, this doesn't work for me. I get the feeling that there's something I'm not understanding about all this. It's almost as though the magazine client devices are somehow connecting to the "mesh" itself, rather than to an individual node AP which just happens to be part of the mesh. Unless of course both magazines didn't test long enough to notice that all they were seeing was a buffered video feed - but that couldn't be right, Shirley :?:

I'll take a look at that Apple stuff and see if more fiddling will help....

..and I guess I should try NOT using 802.1x and see if that makes any difference :?

Piste Basher wrote:
but that couldn't be right, Shirley :?:

It could be right, and don't call me ...etc :lol:

..and I guess I should try NOT using 802.1x and see if that makes any difference :?

'Fraid so :wink:

You could also try swapping frequency - from 5GHz to 2.4GHz or vice-versa. This will then use different hardware at both ends of the links, different propagation, different signal strengths etc. If you still get the same effect, it's got to be - Shirley - software.

(During my Roaming Tests, I noticed a not dissimilar effect, when there was only one AP available. The phone hung on and hung on - not dropping the connection, till I stuffed it behind the TV set and shielded it from any vestige of a signal. However, moving it back from behind the TV wasn't enough to make it re-connect - as though some hysteresis was applied. Of course, in normal operations I wouldn't notice that, because it would have definitely picked a more local AP. I'm still suspicious, that your 'more local AP' isn't being picked up as strongly as you think, at the location in question.)

Interesting discussion. I wonder if the person who said that the AP kicks out a client, the client connects to another AP on 2.4Ghz, which then uses the band steering and boots it off onto 5Ghz, causing the client to just reconnect back to the original AP, is correct. Maybe I should try turning off Band steering.

In the meantime, I found that the 5Ghz signal more or less penetrates the whole house (the 5Ghz from my main 2862ac).

We buy all our kit from SEG, I might ask them for guidance on this

Piste Basher wrote:

PC PRO wrote: "Both iPads silently jumped over to the root AP and our videos continued to play with no interruptions".

I happened to have access to one of those Ipad thingys today... possibly an IPAD 10.5" 'pro' and definitely running IOS 14.

My APs are not in Mesh mode any more - just two separate APs, with the 'collaborative' Roaming turned on.

Sat next to the AP802 (5GHz), I checked I was connected to it, using a fairly noddy Wifi Analyser I found in Apple's appstore and fired up a Youtube video. I then pulled the power from the AP802, and the IPAD seamlessly flipped to the distant AP903 - with no interruption whatsoever. It even flipped back again, when the AP802 rebooted. (Given that the RSSI of the AP903 was at -78dBm, that is what I would have hoped for).

I don't know if this helps actually you, or not!

Ok now that the excessive alcohol consumption is out of the way I've done another test...all AP903s still in mesh mode

Switching off 802.1x and connecting the iPad via WPA3/WPA2 Personal results in - instant switch over to another AP903 when the initially connected one is turned off

So on the basis of this limited testing it would seem that the "benefits" of mesh and/or "Fast Roaming (802.1x)" are not realised when 802.1x is actually used.....

Since the "mesh" facility is supposedly targeted more towards the enterprise user this does appear to be a trifle disappointing.

Edit this evening:-

Hmm - still using WPA3/WPA2 Personal this evening but my iPad Pro is now saying "Incorrect Password" iPhone next to it is connected fine, with the same password of course :wink:

Nothing changed since this afternoon - starting to become seriously disenchanted with Draytek... :evil:

Further edit:-

With security set to WPA3/WPA2 Personal on the AP903s my iPhone 11 Pro and iPad Mini 4 were perfectly happy to connect. However a new iPad Pro and older iPad Pro both claimed "incorrect password".

Setting the security to WPA2 Personal and all iOS devices connected straight away

Yet a further edit - last night my iPhone decided to display "Incorrect Password" This was one problem I didn't have when using 802.1x......