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Forum Discussion
ORBI RBK50 Dropping between nodes
Problem: The main router is downstairs. When I move from downstairs to upstairs where the satellite is, I notice that I have transition between the two that causes a loss of connection for about 10 seconds. I thought that mesh systems are supposed to provide an seamless transition between the two? I ONLY have problems in two certain areas, which is where the nodes switch. Is there any true solution for this?
3 Replies
Do you have have Fast Roaming enabled. Even with this enabled its up to the device and it's design and support that you may see longer interuptions as the device switches signal sources. Orbi only provides the platform. It's up to devices to pick and choose where they connect to and how they get connected.
- Fast roaming is disabled. With it on, I get random disconnects when walking through out my home, even downstairs
Rast Roaming refers to the IEEE 802.11r standard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11r-2008
I particularly like the use of Latin (status quo ante).
An internet search will show that almost every WiFi vendor has adopted several 802.11 standards designed to improve device mobility. For example, see Apple's statement: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202628 WiFi vendors clearly expect customers to use Fast Roaming.
Unless the device is going completely out of range of both Orbi units, a 10 second interruption is not normal.
Perhaps it would be useful to know which device (or devices) exhibit this behavior?
It is technically possible to document the device transitions from one access point to another, but requires investment in hardware and time (In my case lots of time. I'm slow.) Set up a computer with a WiFi adapter that operates in 'raw' mode (not all do). Open Wireshark to collect management frames from the correct WiFi channel (5G for most smartphones and modern tablets). Collect information during a transition, then analyze the time stamps for the connection messages. As the Wikipedia article points out, not all devices send the "I'm leaving you" message. I did this once, and it was a huge effort for me. (I wasn't looking at Fast Roaming, but the principle is the same.)
