Cambium Wireless - Handover issues

[newpersn]

Hello, 

 

We have had a few reports of this so i thought i would ask now.. 

 

We use a mix of Cambium XE3-4 and XV3-8 around the school. We try and keep one area to one type of AP and other parts to the other AP, We do have 2 of the same AP's in large study centre's. 

 

We have noticed that the WIFI doesn't like handing over to other AP's (Either the same type or the other model) - Can take a minute for the devices to connect back to the WIFI. 

 

We do nearly have a AP in each room so it shouldn't be a connection issue. 

 

Is there anything that can be done in the settings for the handover?

 

[andy_nic]

We had issues i think it was with devices not handing over, might be wrong as was a few years ago. but with a different model but on the WLANs section we enabled "Fast Roaming Protocol"  802.11r Configure roaming protocol (not applicable when authentication type is Open)

[RedwayNetworks_Michael]

24 minutes ago, newpersn said:

Hello, 

 

We have had a few reports of this so i thought i would ask now.. 

 

We use a mix of Cambium XE3-4 and XV3-8 around the school. We try and keep one area to one type of AP and other parts to the other AP, We do have 2 of the same AP's in large study centre's. 

 

We have noticed that the WIFI doesn't like handing over to other AP's (Either the same type or the other model) - Can take a minute for the devices to connect back to the WIFI. 

 

We do nearly have a AP in each room so it shouldn't be a connection issue. 

 

Is there anything that can be done in the settings for the handover?

 

So in regards to roaming, it's important to understand that this is a client decision, each APs advertises it's SSIDs but the client devices decides when to connect and when to leave. That said, there are some things we can do to influence the decision. If you haven't already turn on Dynamic Power as this allows the APs to adjust the transmit power, to prevent the transmit power being too loud. However, if it takes 1 minute for devices to reconnect it would suggest that the device is perhaps trying to join an AP but failing. I would check for missing VLANs on the switches and also for RADIUS errors (for example "RADIUS response is not seen from RADIUS server").

[newpersn]

Hi Michael, 

 

Dynamic Channel and Power are turned on. - See screenshots below. 

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, andy_nic said:

We had issues i think it was with devices not handing over, might be wrong as was a few years ago. but with a different model but on the WLANs section we enabled "Fast Roaming Protocol"  802.11r Configure roaming protocol (not applicable when authentication type is Open)

 

I saw this - I was thinking of turning it on. We only use open on our Visitors WIFI (they get a code from reception) so that shouldn't be a issue)

 

[RedwayNetworks_Michael]

802.11r can help with roaming when using WPA2 or 3 enterprise. Just a word of warning some older devices dont support 802.11r and it may prevent them from joining the SSID (but this is quite uncommon) 

 

[ITGuyNW]

We have the same Cambium setup as you. Don't have 802.11r enabled but don't seem to have issues with roaming, I can walk across site without losing connection. We have HP Elite 840 laptops.

[Chris_Cook]

We had some issues with Cambium and some Lenovo Flex chromebooks not roaming smoothly. We ended up turning 802.11r off and that improved things - I'd recommend trying both on and off.

 

Basically 802.11r removes some of the re-authentication steps when roaming between APs. Without it on, the time to roam should be roughly similar to the time to reconnect from scratch, so if you have a long delay, that could point to an issue with Radius or whatever authentication system you use.

 

It could also be a signal level issue as @RedwayNetworks_Michaelsays.

You could use the unifi design tool and/or wifiman app on a mobile to get an idea if there are coverage issues. Whilst you wouldn't be able to model the exact AP, you could look at a similar one and it should give you a rough idea of how walls etc are reducing signal.

 

On of the issues we hadn't planned for in our current wifi system was SLT roaming the corridors with laptops. We had good coverage in most classrooms, but not corridors or particularly stairwells. It might be good to try and narrow down with users where they are physically when they get issues as it could just be a few dead spots.

[RobFuller]

Are you using VLAN Pooling?

[JazzFlute]

I had a couple of connection issues in classrooms with Cambium AP's with devices not connecting to or slow speeds in the room the AP was in and for quickness to rule out the AP I unplugged it and solved both issues as all devices connect to the AP next door or close by.  Maybe try that for a quick fix then you can look into it more when you have time.