I have a very annoying issue with clients not switching from AP to AP in a warehouse.
We have 12 APs with hand-set frequencies (1,5,9 and 13) and the clients are constantly remaining logged onto the AP they catch up during night when they are recharged. They force that poor AP and don’t want to switch over even if the signal is much better from another nearby app when they are 30-40 m + obstacles away from initial AP.
I have 6.44.5 on 3011 and I don’t have a clue what should I do next to fix this.
I tried setting setting access lists from -70 to 120, but if I turn that and devices get rejected they try to reconnect the original AP like crazy while standing by another AP.
Tx Power is mostly at 17 dB, sometimes at 15 for test, and basic rates are set from 12-54, and B is turned off (n preferred).
Sounds like your clients are somehow locked to an AP (through channel and/or MAC) once they’ve successfully established a connection with it. As the Mikrotik access lists generally work as expected, can you change the clients’ config? What are your clients, anyhow?
Clients are handheld devices with barcode readers that connect to RDS server to use WMS system. They have quite powerful WiFi and it seems they are also quite sensitive.
For the time being I turned off access lists, as I had issues with places where signal is low. I will probably have to experiment with appropriate signal level that will work fine.
I disabled warehouse SSID anywhere else except in the warehouse itself (it was useful to have it around sometimes), to see if some other WiFi access point is being the troublemaker.
As for locking there is literally none, but I do see a strong preference to specific access points that are the most open. I have access points that see almost zero clients connected, even if they see a lot of clients working around the AP.
We use 4 channes, as we have two additional ones (EU). I checked some papers on the issue, and there should be no significant overlap.
The APs are spaced relatively far apart (at least 15 meters), and I have turned the power down significantly. - I have it set to 4-6 db on capsman TX Power value.
That enables nice transfer speeds, and devices roam quite nicely. Defaults are set at 20, which is terrible (max).
As for the access control rules… I had no luck with them. If I set the rules and they kick a device out, that is fine, but the devices usually try to reconnect to that same AP like crazy. They hold on it like a dying man holds onto his last breath. And then they loose connection and you have to wait for them to reconnect. Reducing Tx power seems like a better approach.
I also set disconnect timeout to 00:00:00 (00:00:03 is default), which seems to have made devices roam a bit better.
However, my situation is not yet solved as those unbelievably stubborn handheld devices disconnect in 1 of 5 hops. In comparison, my test laptop and mobile phone both roam like happy with no disconnection but I have to fix the handhelds
Clients have a tendency to “stick” to an AP so correct setting of Tx Power, channels and access lists is essential. Perhaps try using a tool like Netspot to check your Tx overlap and channel staggering at the site. Then decrease (or increase) as required to “just” overlap each AP’s coverage. Then tune your Access lists for optimal handoff.
