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Darkness89
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Network Mesh?? How To?

Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:54 pm

Good afternoon,

I'm looking for the best solution to implement Wi-Fi in my company.

The building is three floors, and I have a RB951G-2HnD device wired to each one working as AccessPoints.
They're configured as WISP AP like a bridge with a static IP and the DHCP is served by the firewall behind.
Currently they have the same SSID, the same PASSWORD and are configured in the same CHANNEL, therefore when the computer runs out of coverage it jumps to another device, but sometimes it gets very little coverage and then it does not jump to the next one with better coverage.

Could be the best solution for this to create a Mesh network? Or what configuration do you propose?

How should I configure this network?
The DHCP server should still be the firewall behind it and the internet as well, that is, they should continue to function as AP's.

Is there a step by step tutorial on how I should do it? (The mesh network or the solution propose).

Thanks in advance.
 
Cablenut9
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Re: Network Mesh?? How To?

Wed Feb 24, 2021 4:00 pm

Mikrotik doesn't do mesh well, unless you get some Audiences and link then together. Even then, putting multiple APs one one channel is janky because they're sharing the same bandwidth.
 
Darkness89
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Re: Network Mesh?? How To?

Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:13 am

Then the best solution for this could be change the AP's to different channels 1, 6, 11?

Could it fix the problem that I have when the clients walk around the differents floors and the coverage is to low?

If they're with the same (hidden) SSID, same Password and different channel it jump automatically?

Thanks for your reply.
 
erlinden
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Re: Network Mesh?? How To?

Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:31 am

Lots of recommendations here:

- don't use hidden SSID, it really makes no sense at all
- besides SSID and password, the security settings have to be identical
- as mentioned above, always use non-overlapping channels
- optimize transmission power, "as low as possible" (especially in the 2.4G band)
- remove any unnecessary speeds (i.e. 802.11b)
- you might want to consider using accesslists (to kick clients when their signal is too low)

Clients will look for better accesspoints if the signal is below their threshold (which varies per client). I prefer to leave it up to the client to roam, instead of kicking the client. You have to see for yourself what suits you best.
Mesh is a marketing term for having a wireless backhaul, always use a wired backhaul. And at last, I think you are referring to roaming instead of meshing.
 
Darkness89
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Re: Network Mesh?? How To?

Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:13 am

At first place, thanks for the reply and recomendations.

My level of networking isn't the best, but I'm trying to learn using best practices.


- I have the SSID hidden because it's a require of my boss. He think that it's a little more secure.
And if I haven't the SSID hidden the name is overlapping and showed like "Test" - "Test2" ..

- The SSID, Password, Channel, Band and the other security settings have the same config.

- Overlapping channela are changed, right now they're configured on 2422, 2442 and 2472.

- About transmission power, how I can/should configure it? At this moment I think it's on default cause I don't know how to change it.

- I'm using 2GHz-G/N, in these mikrotik devices I connect laptops and mobile phones, it's enough?

- I'm using ACL's, but for the moment I prefer to leave it up instead of kicking. If it doesn't work as expected I'll create a rule to kick the client when the db is -75 or higher.


About mesh, yes, I mean roaming, but I thought the best way to do it is through a mesh network.

One more time, thanks for your help!
 
erlinden
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Re: Network Mesh?? How To?

Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:47 am

It is REALLY easy to find out the SSID of a hidden network. Though conceptionally it sounds better to make it hidden.
Transmission power can be set in de Advanced mode of the wireless interface.
 
ykleet
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Re: Network Mesh?? How To?

Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:53 pm

I use wireless -> access list to kick off weak connections at my MT routers.
I set the signal strength to -67..120, so when device connection signal drop below -67 for more than 10 sec, MT router will drop the connection which will force the device to look for another ap to connect to, most likely, the best signal strength.
 
xavierbt
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Re: Network Mesh?? How To?

Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:21 am

I read somewhere that hidden SSID is bad for clients battery life and clients takes more time to roam between wifis.


It is REALLY easy to find out the SSID of a hidden network. Though conceptionally it sounds better to make it hidden.
Transmission power can be set in de Advanced mode of the wireless interface.

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