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Forum Discussion
Wireless Roaming not seamless
I am having difficulty with wireless devices connecting to their nearest access point. I have tried enabling or disabling the "enable fast roaming" feature but it doesn't seem to make a difference. A...
You ask 2 questions.
1. Every time the mesh reboots (firmware update, reconfiguration change, or power failure) the base (router) reboots first, then the satellites. The satellites can take 5 minutes longer to come on line depending upon signal strength.
Meanwhile, all devices are searching for a signal, any signal. Naturally they find the base because because it is the only mesh component that is on line yet. The solution is to wait until the satellites come back on line and cycle your devices’ power off then on. In some cases, the device will connect to the sat simply by cycling the device WiFi off, then on.
With the current firmware there is no way to assign a specific device to wait to be connected to a specific satellite. This is a big pia for everyone with WiFi devices that never move (cameras, doorbells, thermostats, speakers, etc.). Hopefully this will be addressed in the future, particularly since the WiFi6 mesh is being marketed as IoT solution. If not, we may find that going back to a router with extenders or WiFi access points will provide a better solution for those devices. I sure hope not.
2. If all of your satellites are on line AND have good signal strength back to the base, walking around (with a phone, tablet or portable pc should result in changing between the base and the strongest satellite automatically. How quickly that happens depends upon the age of your device, it’s operating system updates, and if a pc it WiFi driver updates.
Be sure your mesh system firmware is up to date in the base and all satellites. If still experiencing this, call Netgear tech support or chat on line.
Good luck.
1. Every time the mesh reboots (firmware update, reconfiguration change, or power failure) the base (router) reboots first, then the satellites. The satellites can take 5 minutes longer to come on line depending upon signal strength.
Meanwhile, all devices are searching for a signal, any signal. Naturally they find the base because because it is the only mesh component that is on line yet. The solution is to wait until the satellites come back on line and cycle your devices’ power off then on. In some cases, the device will connect to the sat simply by cycling the device WiFi off, then on.
With the current firmware there is no way to assign a specific device to wait to be connected to a specific satellite. This is a big pia for everyone with WiFi devices that never move (cameras, doorbells, thermostats, speakers, etc.). Hopefully this will be addressed in the future, particularly since the WiFi6 mesh is being marketed as IoT solution. If not, we may find that going back to a router with extenders or WiFi access points will provide a better solution for those devices. I sure hope not.
2. If all of your satellites are on line AND have good signal strength back to the base, walking around (with a phone, tablet or portable pc should result in changing between the base and the strongest satellite automatically. How quickly that happens depends upon the age of your device, it’s operating system updates, and if a pc it WiFi driver updates.
Be sure your mesh system firmware is up to date in the base and all satellites. If still experiencing this, call Netgear tech support or chat on line.
Good luck.
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