AP ONE "handoff" to another AP ONE in local network not working well

hi @TK, so do i need to put 20 if I want the thresh hold to be -75dBm? as shown below?
This is taken from my AP ONE ENT in our office with firmware 3.5.4

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@rocknolds, yes you are right

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How does 20 convert to -75dBm?

The default Client Signal Strength Threshold is -95dBm. This will be the calculation if you enter 20.

-95 + 20 = -75dBm

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thanks TK :slight_smile:

Does the seamless roaming work with 6.3.5 or 8.0 firmware if the controller with AP one stations?

@TK_Liew @sitloongs we have 2 AP Rugged and 2 AP One Enterprise (all running 3.6.1 – 1170) on one network, all managed through a Balance One Core (8.0.2 build 4407).

In order to improve the access point handoff for the best reliability, we have added the Client Signal Strength Threshold value, but it does not seem to make any difference. We started with a setting of 30 (-65dB) then changed it to 40 (-55dB).

After waiting for all AP’s to synchronize the new settings, we ran several tests where the client was in a position with a signal weaker than the defined threshold (e.g. the client was at -65dB when the threshold was set to -55dB) but the client was never disconnected from the AP even after several minutes at these signal levels.

We also do not see any related events in the logs.

Kindly advise. Thank you.

Edit: It seems the setting DOES have an effect on the signal strength necessary to establish new connections. For example, for devices that are still maintaining the connection despite the threshold change (even when they should not), disabling wifi and re-enabling it on that device does result in an inability to connect (on Mac OS and iOS devices it results in an “incorrect password” error). However, the setting does not seem to drop already established connections that are on the wrong side of the threshold. If this is by design, it makes the setting useless for improving handoff for mobile or portable devices.

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Hmmm, two differing definitions for the setting “Client Signal Strength Threshold” (see below). Which is correct? It seems once a connection has been established, the original connection is NOT released. The manuals just say that clients whose signal is lower than the threshold will not be allowed to connect. Nothing about releasing. I believe this setting is only for allowing a new connection (not booting one off). My cheap old Verizon Actiontec AP’s released clients beautifully.

According to the Surf SOHO router manual, “This field determines that maximum signal strength each individual client will receive. The measurement unit is megawatts.”

According to the AP One Rugged manual, “This field determines the minimum acceptable client signal strength, specified in megawatts. If client signal strength does not meet this minimum, the client will not be allowed to connect.”

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Megawatts. My, that’s quite some amount of power! :smirk:

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That is a direct cut and paste from the pdf Surf SOHO manual! :grin:

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Hello @peppypeplink & @Rick-DC,
Now that is so big a typo it is funny, I had to see that for myself and can confirm that typo does exist in the current manual on Page 74, with in the file pepwave_surf_soho_user_manual_fw8.pdf

Try substituting that with “milliwatts” to be more realistic.
Happy to Help,
Marcus :slight_smile:

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I know. After all, what’s a few orders of magnitude here or there … :smirk:

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@TK_Liew @sitloongs any feedback? Is there any way to have the Peplink wifi routers drop existing clients if their signal strength reaches a certain threshold?

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@adeebag

No such feature will allow you to do that.

I would suggest to check on the 802.11r for the Fast transition.

AP firmware 3.6.0 and above:

Balance/MAX :
Firmware 8.0.1 and above.

@mldowling

Let us further check on that and update you shortly

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Thank you for your reply @sitloongs. We already enabled the Fast Transition setting as soon as it was available, but it did not seem to make any difference.

Can you confirm if this setting is supposed to work with iOS and Mac OS devices?

@mldowling, thanks for highlighting to us, we have updated the user manual and changed it to “dBm”.

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There is another thread that helped me with my similar handoff problem (between my Surf Soho Router and my AP One Rugged as well as an Actiontec access point). Apparently there is a known handoff issue in the Soho router if you have created a VLAN and assigned a LAN port to be an Access Port (instead of a Trunk). I removed my VLAN and voila, all our iOS devices are now handing off seamlessly to the access points. Perhaps this also affects your Balance? Here is the other thread: Trouble with WiFi handoff on AP One Mini

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Thanks @peppypeplink for the suggestion and the link to the thread. I am not sure if the suggested solution is applicable to my situation as my AP’s are all connected to our LAN switch (Cisco) and controlled by a Balance One Core which is on the WAN side. There are no VLANs defined on the BOC and it has no problem managing the AP’s, so I would assume that the Hand Off and Fast Transition should work reliably. If not, I do not clearly understand what changes are required.

I am also not sure your post was describing the same issue I am having. In your case you mentioned problems connecting to a different AP and getting a new IP in the case of moving from one location to another. However, you did not make it clear if the device fell outside of the signal range of the original AP before the switchover happened.

In my case, I have identified two general patterns:

  1. If the original AP signal is lost completely (regardless of the Client Signal Strength Threshold or Fast Transition settings), then devices do connect successfully to the nearest available AP. However, if the signal is just weak and another AP with a stronger signal is closer, the device does not automatically switch over.

  2. Even if an apple device is in the same location for an extended period of time, the internet connection seems to get dropped even though the wifi signal is almost at full strength. I am facing this on a daily basis. This may be due to a problem with the DHCP lease recycle/refresh and the process may be taking a very long time. I have never tried to intentionally wait it out, but manually toggling my wifi gets the internet working again within seconds.

Hi Adeebag.
My solution is likely not for you, unfortunately. But just to clarify my setup for others:

My Pepwave Soho MK3 serves as both a router and an AP. I also have a Pepwave AP One Rugged (for coverage in a different part of the building) which just relays IP addresses from the Soho (which serves as the DHCP server).

Without a VLAN enabled and port assigned as “access”, the iOS devices handoff between APs perfectly upon leaving signal range. However, with a VLAN enabled and port assigned as “access”, the iOS devices that go out of range of the Soho will connect to the Rugged AP but drop the DHCP relayed IP address. The iOS device will then self-assign an internal IP number (i.e. 169.254.xxx.xxx) about 6 times over the course of ten minutes before finally obtaining its correct original IP address relayed from the Soho DHCP server through the AP One Rugged, once again establishing network/internet access.

Again the workaround for this issue is to disable VLANs with ports assigned as “access” (it’s possible that ports assigned as “trunk” may be OK).

The actual fix is available in beta firmware 8.0.2s005, and Pepwave support messaged me today that it will be included in the next G.A. firmware.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help your situation Adeeebag as I now know how frustrating handoff problems can be! Anyway, I hope this helps someone.

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