Wifi roaming issue on Android Client

[salvatore.parisi]

Hello to everybody,

we would like to share with you some problems we have raised in our wifi infrastructure. The subject is  the client roaming from an AP to another. We wish you can have some suggestions to solve the roaming issues described below.

Infrastructure Data:

- WLC Cisco 5520

- Software Version  8.1.102.0

- Access Point : AIR-CAP3702

Mobile phone witch we have to use in our company:

- Cisco CP-7925

- Samsung Galaxy S3 (GT-I9300) with Jabber

- Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9505) with Jabber  [CCXv4]

- Samsung Galaxy A3_2016 (SM-A310F) with Jabber [CCXv4]

- Samsung J5 with Jabber (SM-J500F) [CCXv4]

For the Mobile Phone Service we have made a WLAN ad hoc ("WIFI-VOICE"). The main parameters are the following:

- General: Radio policy: 802.11 b/g only

- Security: Layer 2 security: none

- Security: Mac filtering enabled

- Security: Fast transition enabled

- Security: Fast Transition over the DS enabled

- Security: Fast Transition Reassociation timeout 20 seconds

- QOS: Platinum (voice)

- AVC profile: Jabber

- Advanced: 11K Neighbor list enabled

- Broadcast SSID : NO.

ISSUES:

The mobile phones have all the same roaming problem: the roaming is not transparent and they loses the connections when the device passes from an AP to another. It’ s important to notice that the CISCO IP Phone CP-7925 roams correctly in the same scenario.

We made a debug session  (from CLI, debug client <MAC addr> ) and we noticed that, in the log of the CP-7925 we find:

Reassociation received from mobile on BSSID 80:e0:1d:fd:d2:0b AP Office-P2-Ap142 when the client roams from an AP to the following.

In the case of Mobile Smartphone (we caught the log of Samsung A3_2016 and Samsung J5) we find only a series of Association phases: when the client roams, it makes just a disassociation from the old AP and a new Association to the new AP.

This condition causes different problems like the phone Applications (e.g Jabber) disconnection and, generally, the breaking of all TCP connections.

Here we are some logs (an Samsung Galaxy A3_2016 that passes from AP Office-P2-Ap140 to  Office-P2-Ap138) :

*apfMsConnTask_7: Jun 14 13:10:21.070: [PA] 2c:ae:2b:5a:87:ac Association received from mobile on BSSID 80:e0:1d:fd:cf:44 AP Office-P2-Ap140

*apfMsConnTask_7: Jun 14 13:11:22.069: [PA] 2c:ae:2b:5a:87:ac Association received from mobile on BSSID 80:e0:1d:f8:5a:94 AP Office-P2-Ap138

In attachment you will find the logs we caught during the debug session.

Do you have some suggestions to solve this problem?

The roaming behavior of the Cisco IP phone 7925 is perfect; with the same configuration the roaming of the other mobile phones is intolerable.

Thanks a lot.

[Nashja]

Hi Salvatore,

How about all your Android devices after upgraded to version 8.2.110? Are they OK for roaming?

Do you turn on 802.11r? Please share your configuration.

Thank you.

[salvatore.parisi]

Hi,

after the upgrade to the 8.2.110 my clients roams well.

I have a problem with clients with android 5 or later. These clients roams well only if the DHCP (client side) is off.

A device with android 4 roams well in all scenarios (DHCP off and DHCP on).

For Android 5 I see :

- If the DHCP in on (client side) I see that when the client roam (to another AP) the client IP address for a little while (1 second) take a 0.0.0.0 as IP address! After that interval he return to the correct IP address.

- If the DHCP is off (client side) when the client roam (to another AP) the client IP address is alwasy correct.

Salvo

[slyfox]

Hello [@salvatore.parisi]  

Did you solve roam issue with Android 5 and higher devices?

we have two the same way configures test networks, Net.A with 802.11r over DS only enabled

and Net.B with 802.11r DS, 802.11k and 802.11v

 For the Net.B we experience absolutely the same issue like you mentioned

Tested device Sumsung S7 (Android 7.0)

[salvatore.parisi]

Hi VLISOVSKIY  

we still have the problem.

We found a workaround : we use static ip on the devices.

If the device has been configured with a static ip, we get a trasparent roaming.

I have a question for you. 

Do you have a configuration (Net.A) where the Samsung devices roams transparently ?

Can you share with me the configuration. 

I did many test, and i never get a configuration where Samsung devices (with DHCP) roams transparently.

Thank you,

Salvo

[slyfox]

Hello @salvatore.parisi,

wlan info attached.

With disabled 802.11k Samsung roams without breaks,

[salvatore.parisi]

Thank you for sharing.

WLC running version ?

DHCP is enabled on Samsung devices, right ?

Salvo

[slyfox]

WLC run under AIR-CT2500-K9-8-2-151-0

yes, DHCP enabled.

[rezende.c]

Guys,

    Look that post. I have similar problems and found this. I will try the test yet.

   https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/12543176/workaround-android-devices-do-not-roam-wifi

Regards,

[sapeney925]

If your MacBook is displaying the error message WiFi has self-assigned IP address and cannot connect to the internet One of the reasons for this error message to appear on your MacBook is that your “WiFi has self-assigned IP address”,

[JPavonM]

Have you tried to disable "DHCP Required" on the Cisco WLAN profile?

If DHCP Required is enabled, everytime a device roam it needs to send a DHCP Request and receive an ACK for the AP to allow client to roam, if not it is disassociated and need to go through the full association process again.