Hap ac3 wifi stability issues

Hardware
1

Hello

Since I’ve moved from old drivers to qcom-ac on cap-ac2 connectivity is no longer stable.

mobile devices are affected. Can’t confirm if only those devices are affected.

At least, for them it looks like frequent disconnection (re-connection). Sometimes couple of times per minute. Sometimes once in 5-10min.

device may show full signal and at one point clicking on a link does nothing. Several seconds and device reconnects. Everything is operational again.

here is the config

/interface wifi
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] channel.band=2ghz-n .frequency=2412 .skip-dfs-channels=all .width=20mhz configuration.antenna-gain=6 .country=xxxx .mode=ap .ssid=\
    "SSID_NAME" disabled=no security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk .encryption=ccmp,gcmp,ccmp-256,gcmp-256 .ft=yes .ft-over-ds=yes .management-protection=\
    allowed
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] channel.band=5ghz-ac .frequency=5260 .width=20/40/80mhz configuration.antenna-gain=6 .country=xxxx .mode=ap .ssid="SSID_NAME" \
    disabled=no security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk .encryption=ccmp,gcmp,ccmp-256,gcmp-256 .ft=yes .ft-over-ds=yes .management-protection=allowed

Attaching logs

wireless_log.txt (15.5 KB)

Version 7.21

PS have also Cap AX and based on feedback it might have same issue. Can’t confirm for now.

2

HIa,

I have noticed the same thing. But for me it is even worse, as I use a WiFi bridge.
All of a sudden, I get a “reauthentication” request, and the entire part of the subnet connected to the bridge is offline.

had to go through many testing to get a half stable setup so far, this is what it looks like.
interface/wifi set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] channel.band=5ghz-ax comment="5Ghz station link" configuration.country=Latvia .mode=station-bridge .ssid=Station_Network
.station-roaming=no disabled=no security=bridge-sec security.ft=no

security add authentication-types=wpa2-psk encryption=ccmp group-encryption=ccmp group-key-update=1w management-protection=disabled name=bridge-sec

I also disabled all DFS channels to speed up the link reconnect and avoid the 30sec checking any radar frequency around.

If anyone has a better idea, it’s welcome.

PS: I replaced my cAP ac with a cAP ax because the WiFi 7 drivers of my work computer prefer to connect to the basement hAP ax³ running WPA3 instead to connect to the cAP ac which is just next to it (they “Dell” support said: Windows prefers higher security to better connectivity - what a BS).

1 Like
3

Microsoft really got this right.

4

To be honest - if the AP in the basement is barely visible (signal at around -92), it should not connect to it as it is almost impossible to get to get a reliable communication channel open.
This is just brain-dead policy. Especially if I connect it explicitly to the cAP ac instead of the hAp ax³.

IMHO, you want security, you avoid anything that has Microsoft written on it.

5

I thought it is usable signal strength for both (like -55dbm vs -65dbm) and you picky. But trying to connect to -92dbm signal is plain stupid.

6

thank you for answers!

have completed an experiment without changing settings

laptop has signal level around -65 and has no issues at 2.4

iphone has signal level around -65 too at 2.4

but iphone switches to 5 and has around -90

and within a minute or some switches back to 2.4 and it continuous switching like this for the iphone

do not know if it is “mikrotik“ logic of the iphone’s one

I’ll check settings as suggested

7

was wrong. Laptop also changed to 5G band and has signal now around -90

Seems, for that laptop is not that frequent to change. Wasn’t spotted previously

8

tried to keep only wpa2-psk - no difference

now testing with ft disabled

9

the fresh example which I can’t explain (why iphone or mikrotik or both together select worst signal)

iphone is connected

6 A wifi1      SSID  XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX  4s      0ms            -72     wpa2-psk   2ghz-n

And few seconds later

6 A wifi2      SSID  XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX  6s      0ms            -89     wpa2-psk   5ghz-ac

log

2026-01-25 01:23:43 wireless,debug XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX@wifi1(SSID) associated, signal strength -72
2026-01-25 01:23:44 wireless,info XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX@wifi1(SSID) connected, signal strength -72
2026-01-25 01:23:47 wireless,info XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX@wifi1(SSID) disconnected, not responding, signal strength -71
2026-01-25 01:23:47 wireless,debug XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX@wifi1(SSID) disassociated, not responding, signal strength -71
2026-01-25 01:23:47 wireless,debug XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX@wifi2(SSID) associated, signal strength -87
2026-01-25 01:23:48 wireless,info XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX@wifi2(SSID) connected, signal strength -87
10

After some time spent on testing here is the most stable config for now with one common SSID for 5GHz and 2GHz bands.

As I’ve two devices (CAP AX and HAP AC3) then the config below has been applied on both. Not using capsman.

Of course, channels settings are different on devices as well as band settings (CAP AX supports ax obviously).

I’m not really looking for a seamless/quick roaming. If someone moves and something is wrong with connectivity it is acceptable in my case to switch off and on wifi to re-connect to the closest AP.

apple devices seems prefer to select 5GHz band even with weaker signal. Still, in my case I can get around 100mbit up/down despite signal is weak. Switching to 2GHz band is either rare or never as couldn’t notice over past 2 days. Based on reading, there is no really way to force them except splitting SSID into two (one per band) or to reduce 5GHz signal level (which diminishes its presence). I think, kicking devices (especially apple ones) using signal level is not a good idea s they may have issues to reconnect even to 2GHz (haven’t tried, but read it somewhere).

laptop (linux) is smarter and selects 2GHz band directly if 5GHz signal is weak.

Hope, that helps some one else. Please post what else can be changed to improve.

/interface wifi
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] channel.band=2ghz-n .frequency=2412 .skip-dfs-channels=all .width=20mhz configuration.antenna-gain=6 .country=xxxxx .mode=ap .ssid=
"SSID" disabled=no security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk .encryption=ccmp,gcmp,ccmp-256,gcmp-256 .management-protection=allowed
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] channel.band=5ghz-ac .frequency=5260 .width=20/40/80mhz configuration.antenna-gain=6 .country=xxxxx .mode=ap .ssid="SSID" 
disabled=no security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk .encryption=ccmp,gcmp,ccmp-256,gcmp-256 .management-protection=allowed