wireless access point and roaming problem

[davidvandeborne9089]

Dear Community

We have a problem with our devices not willing to roam to the Cisco AP’s.

This happens on different locations, with different Cisco WAP models and different brands of devices.

Models that we tested:

CISCO WAP 121
CISCO WAP 321
CISCO WAP 571
CISCO WAP 150

All models have the same latest firmware installed.

All configurations where done via the wizard, and ap’s were configured into a cluster.

All the ap’s in a cluster are the same model.

All computers (HP, DELL, ASUS, LENOVO) Apple iphone, ipad were not roaming correctly between access points.  Connection drops sometimes.  We have also noticed that some computer connect to an access point further down the office while it has almost no signal, while you are sitting next to an AP.

Tests are not when ap’s when only a couple clients are connected, so not overloaded.

Has anyone an idea of what we can check ?

Kind Regards,

David

[patoberli]

What security settings are enabled on the affected SSID?

[davidvandeborne9089]

All WPA2 + AES

[patoberli]

Ok, yeah then it should normally work, unless the signal between the two APs is too weak.
It's important that TKIP is NOT enabled and that the cluster is correctly operating. I sadly don't know the WAP very well and can't help you further.

[davidvandeborne9089]

TKIP is nowhere enabled.
The signals between the AP's are fine... its just that it does not seem to work. When we manually drop the connection and reconnect to the SSID, then it picks up the nearest AP. After a certain while, some clients loose connection again with the nearest and are falling back on another AP, further down... very weird...
Its at different locations with different models... like i said initially...

[patoberli]

I think you should do a site survey for the signal coverage.

Don't forget, it's always the client that decides when to roam and to which AP to roam to. More importantly, it's the clients Wi-Fi adapter driver. I have seen a lot of issues with Intel drivers from 2014 - 2016, the newer drivers are usually ok.

[nwirwille]

Have you found any answers? I keep striking out. I have one location with 1852s, and my house has 1832s. So far these are the worst APs, regardless of manufacturer, I've ever worked with. I replaced my 1142n with the 1832s and I'm tempted to go back to the 1142n. Everyone always says it's the clients responsibility to switch APs, and that may be, but I've never had a problem on any other APs.

[davidvandeborne9089]

Hi
I never got a reply on my problem. These ap's don't seem to roam like it should be. I have tested with all the apps from Cisco almost... all the same behaviour...
I heard from colleagues of mine to swap over to another brand like Cloudtrax or something similar. I have tested those, these cost nothing and are working good, they have the same performance, and the clients seem to roam correctly... However in a professional environment i dont like to sell "white products"...
I have really no idea anymore...

[patoberli]

The 18xx, 28xx and 38xx models are a bit picky with the installed software. I suggest you install the latest 8.5 release, or maybe the latest 8.8 one. They typically work well.