WiFi cars is consistently roaming to a weaker signal

So I just got a brand new laptop. I never had this problem on my old one.

I have two routers hardwired to the network in my home. They both have the same SSID. I understand by doing this I do NOT have a mesh network, but rather the device would need to roam from one to the other if the signal strength got too low.

What is happening when I turn off and on my wifi card is, I see it briefly connect to the stronger signal (inSSIDer shows it as -25dbm), but then within a few seconds the card 'roams' to the weaker signal of around -70dbm and then stays there).

This is not a problem on any of my other devices, and additionally I made sure to set the roaming aggressiveness to lowest in the wifi settings (not that roaming should even apply here, since it's already connected to the better signal).

Any thoughts?

 

What card? Is there a router setting you can change? What about setting the aggressiveness to the highest setting instead?

 

Lots of good info out there on this situation as it's a common problem, here's a sample:

WiFi Range Extender Best Setup Guide
https://routerguide.net/wifi-range-extender-best-setup-guide/

"WiFi Extender with Same or Multiple SSID
When you are setting up your Wifi network range extender, some extender models offer you the ability to use the same or different SSID.

We recommend you to use a different SSID than your main router even if you have the choice to use the same SSID. The reason is that having different SSID’s can ensure a proper connection between your device to the “right” place. Many connection problems can arise when you take roaming into consideration when you are moving around with your mobile device inside the house.

Your mobile devices such as Google Android phone or Apple iPhone typically keep a wireless connection even when it is weaker. In short, when you have the same SSID for both the WiFi extender and the router, your mobile devices will almost always stick to the weaker one instead of disconnecting you and switch to the stronger one.

Your mobile devices is usually setup so that it will “look” for a new wifi connection when the existing one drops below a certain rating.

When you have both main router and the range extender with different SSID’s. You will have much easier time to “force” your devices to connect to the wireless node that makes the most sense.

For example, you have a router setup in the living room next to the TV. You installed a Wifi extender by the kitchen since your wifi connection for the bedrooms upstairs on top of the kitchen are much weaker. The poor signal may be caused by the piping between the first and second floor. You are able to achieve much stable connection by using this setup.

However, when you first walk into the house, your phone automatically connects to the stronger wifi signal inside the living room. It keeps the connection alive even when you are upstairs inside your bedroom instead of switching to your Wifi Extender in the kitchen. This failure to roam and switch will then slow your internet connection down whenever you use your devices in the bedroom. Since your devices never switch to the range extender even if it offers better signal strength.

This means that if you use your mobile devices more often inside the bedroom, consider setting the main router’s password security login to “non-autmatic” to improve your overall experience. And if you have the same SSID for both the Extender and the router, this can be tough to do without changing some complicated device settings."

That article covers a lot more topics in that realm, check it out.

 

Here's another helpful post:

Re: 2 different SSIDs or the same one for 2 different Access Points?
09-13-2018 07:24 AM
https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi...ne-for-2-different-Access-Points/td-p/2491293

"You have to remember that when WiFi was first devised the idea that you would want to roam from one access point to another just did not enter into the equation. As such bog standard WiFi does not support roaming. You can of course set up a couple of access points with the same SSID and it will kind of work. However what you will find is that a device will hold onto the first access point it connected to for dear life even if it could get a much better connection from a second access point. It might be physically right next to the second access point but as long as it is getting a sniff of a signal from the first access point it's not going to "roam" to the second. As such unless there are actual dead spots in the coverage it won't work very well. This is likely what you found out.

To make this work properly you need access points that support 802.11k, 802.11r and 802.11v (aka WiFi roaming), which the access point in the Sagemcom 5250 is entirely unlikely to support. Best bet would be to disable the WiFi in the Sagemcom and fit another UniFi access point in it's stead. Though I am not entirely clear if the UniFi access points support roaming. Until fairly recently this was rather esoteric stuff, and there are a range of consumer systems marketed as "whole home" and "mesh" that cover your house and do roaming. Admittedly they target using WiFi mesh for the backhaul, but all the ones I have seen can also be hardwired which is the ideal setup, but not everyone has that in their house."

"Yes, that was it. The signal from the basement (while in the basement) is very strong, the router is down there after all. If you go up the stairs and into the back playroom, the signal from the router drops to either 1 or 2 bars. It is weak and slow. Hence the reason I put the LR there. On my own iPhone, I couldn't find a way to switch to the LR to get a full bar signal unless I named it something different (the SSID). Otherwise trying to tell my iPhone to let go of the 1 bar signal and move to the full bar signal simply didn't work."

"OK, all upgraded now. Power level and channels tweaked. So now I can change the SSID to match the routers SSID, but I suspect I will have the same problem again. iPhones / tablets will connect in the basement, and keep that connection even when presented with the stronger signal in the playroom or the backyard. And with the same SSID, there won't be a way to tap on the LR's network to have it pick up that signal instead. Is that correct?"

"The way to get your phone to move between the two is turn the WiFi off and on again. When a device connects it will pick the strongest signal automatically."

"Right, which is what we were doing. The alternative, which seems easier, is to have 2 different SSIDs and just touch the one you are closest to, which is what we are doing now. Hmmmm, I think if I make all the same SSID, I'll just end up changing back in a month or two......"

"The alternative is to open one's wallet and invest in a "whole home" WiFi system that supports roaming. Systems like TP-Link Deco, BT Whole Home, Google WiFi etc. all do the roaming that you want seamlessly."

" Thanks, I looked into Google Wifi. It's certainly an interesting solution, but it would be $500 for the 3-pack. That is an awful lot to cough up for what is not a very big problem..."

 

Just one. After my own woes, I now know that not all laptop modems are up to the job. Some won't handle 5Ghz.

Make sure that you actually need more than one router rather than a cheap upgrade to your laptop.

And (sigh) if that's so make sure your laptop's whitelist won't reject an upgrade.

 

Sadly 5ghz only makes the problem worse, if the problem is "distance" vs signal strength.

2.4ghz still has the best distance coverage, as long as you use a wireless monitoring tool to keep your center frequency off that of other nearby routers.

Much of the time simply setting the 2.4ghz router's channel away from 3 or 6 to another part of the "band", another channel, will solve most congestion problems.

 

hmscott

Distance is, well, all about distance. In my case distance to a lot of nabours with their own WIFI.

The 2.4Ghz option has only 13 channels. That means in a built up area they are all noisy and you can't reliably blast through the noise from one room to another. So, paradoxically the "short range" 5Ghz has the longer range.

And yeh, another channel supposedly could be better but my box looks for the best. Case of the best not being good enough.

 

Yup, every location is different, so you have to work with what you have, and knowing where all those other routers are sitting in the band is a real benefit to making it all work.

Even in a congested area you can make pools of connectivity in your own home / business if you keep your power "low" and increase the locality of nodes, and keep off channels as much as possible with other traffic.

5ghz can be useful within 4 walls, but I've found too much power is needed to break beyond the barrier of walls otherwise.

Also, I use a lot of wired networking to keep as much traffic off of wifi as possible.

 

Well there you have it. A complex problem where considering all the solutions can benefit.
In my mum's house I solved the problem of range by relocating the box as close to the center of the house as possible and well above the steel central heating radiators. Not a penny spent!

 

You don't have 13 channels to choose from in the 2.4GHz range. There are only the main 1, 6 and 11 channels to logically choose. This is how it was designed, to give fair use for all local routers/networks within the 'hearing' range of each other.

Using these channels and with the router set to 20Mhz operation only is the best use case when you comprehend that the local wifi includes your neighbors wireless routers/networks too.

When using channels in-between 1, 6 and 11, you are affecting all the nearby networks on both the 1 and the 6 or the 6 and the 11 'control' channels. This means those networks are also affecting your wifi performance too.

If there are others on your block that are using in-between channels, ask them nicely to change it. Wireless is a shared medium but it doesn't work well, and in heavily congested areas (high-rises) when a few users think they know more than the original designers of these networks.

 

Well 13 was what I read elsewhere. If it's just 3, well no wonder.
Hmm. Don't know how things are where you come from but here in london we keep ourselves to ourselves. Plus it has been some time since I saw a box that had any more user control beyond the on button. They come free with the internet package and they make up their own mind what channel they are using.

 

You can use any channel you want, and sticking to those 3 channels won't work in congested areas, there are just too many nodes.

The worse interference is at the center of the channel set in the configuration - if you can move between 2 nodes halfway in between, you'll remove interference from those nodes to yourself and you to them.

If you don't need high speed throughput - just browsing or video watching you can set the channel width to 20mhz from 40mhz (or automatic) and fit more cleanly between nodes.

Also, reducing power will reduce interference and nearby nodes can - not necessarily will - reduce their power, some automatically, as your interference with them is reduced due to your reduced power.

I've found tuning nodes for lowest power works best, a bit counter intuitive and it depends on the situation, but usually low power is enough to make the distance and higher power is only needed to punch through interference. When you reduce interference by adjusting channels, you make higher power unnecessary.

If you can't get in touch with the owner of a node, sometimes all you can do is make the adjustments on your end, and it makes for good practice exercising all the options available to you.

 

Just because you can use any channel doesn't mean you should. Poor understanding of how WiFi works and shouldn't be recommended to others.