Just to tell my experience in this morning meeting up a customer who looking for network solution for his office, about 25 APs required, my initial proposal was using 22 cAP AC and 3 hAP AC2 at desk, with some switches and RB4011i for routing since no crazy VLAN things are needed, everything was smooth until he asked my about k/v/r for roaming, I told him we are not having this option for MT solution and immediately he asked me if I have any other solution for him, got no choice but to change it to 20 UAP-AC-Lite/LR and 3 nanoHD, with some switches for PoE from the same vendor, now they are considering this solution as not much different in cost (a little extra cost for better roaming is acceptable for them, they just wanna spend one time and enjoy good Wi-Fi for years).
What I saw from this case was the market has learned those roaming terms as everybody else is advertising it as selling point, we are really being left out.
Did he give any reasoning behind the k/v/r roaming support, or just asked for the feature “to have it”? From experience, some contracts ask for things without really giving reason why.
Nope, I didn’t ask him, but I think it’s normal, ppl always look for better bang for bucks and future proof is always welcome, network system is not hand phones, nobody will upgrade it for every year or two, if I was him I will also spend a little bit more for better features and future proof gears.
In my opinion, adding those protocols would bring Mikrotik in the true enterprise region. Adding to the existing granularity for wifi settings and capsman and good prices, they would just kill any competition. I don’t get it why it’s not considered ( or maybe it is?) as even the SOHO focused vendors started to implement them ( ex: TP-Link). Furthermore we know the SOC used in the latest APs ( CAP AC, HAP AC2) has wave2 features so the hardware is there, only the software is missing.
In case anyone wonders, here is that the protocols do (in summary, from Apple’s site):
802.11k
The 802.11k standard helps devices search quickly for nearby APs that are available as roaming targets by creating an optimized list of channels. When the signal strength of the current AP weakens, your device will scan for target APs from this list.
802.11r
When your device roams from one AP to another on the same network, 802.11r uses a feature called Fast Basic Service Set Transition (FT) to authenticate more quickly. FT works with both preshared key (PSK) and 802.1X authentication methods.
802.11v
iOS and iPadOS support these 802.11v functionalities on certain devices:
Basic Service Set (BSS) transition management
Disassociation Imminent
Directed Multicast Service (DMS)
BSS Max Idle Service
BSS transition management with Disassociation Imminent allows the network’s control layer to influence client roaming behavior by providing it the load information of nearby access points. The device takes this information into account when deciding among the possible roam targets.
DMS optimizes multicast traffic transmission on wireless networks. The device uses this information to enhance multicast communication and preserve device battery life.
The BSS Max Idle Service helps clients and access points efficiently decide how long to remain associated when no traffic is being transmitted. The device uses this information to preserve device battery life.
When you combine 802.11k and 802.11v’s ability to speed up the search for the best target AP with FT’s faster AP association, apps can perform faster and you get a better Wi-Fi experience in iOS and iPadOS.
I have 3 Mikrotik APs at home with capsman and I roam just fine without those protocols (at least the latest Androids do) but I understand why a company would put those protocols as “a must” when building a wifi network of 30 APs.
Of course there are always different featuresets at different suppliers, and at different pricepoints.
At Ubiquiti I would not select the UAP-AC-Lite but rather the UAP-AC-Pro which performs a lot better and can be used with standard 802.3af/at powering rather than passive 24v.
We have an install of 34 pcs of UAP-AC-HD here and while it works fine in general, we have turned off fast roaming and other “optimizations” (e.g. band steering) because they cause compatibility problems with certain older devices. When you do not have a fixed set of device types that you can test and validate, those options cannot be reliably used.
Also, you require a separate router and controller device. I think a new model has been announced to combine these functions, but it is not yet available.
Of course you can use Ubiquiti APs with a MikroTik router, we do that here as well (those APs are on a CCR1009 router)