Seamless Roaming - Zero Handoff

[Midaz]

Hello Netgear - Do you have seamless roaming in the works for your current line-up of wifi-routers and access-point?

I am in the works of expanding my network and therefore need to buy some extra devices.

I have seen other commerial brands such as Linksys, Ubiquity etc.. that already has this function in their line-up.

As I understand it this zero handoff does not require any hardware modification and does not rob any performance while operating really.

I personally think Zero handoff is more important that Arlo platform support on every router.

It is important for me to know this so that I might choose my path hereon.

Kindly

Peter

[TheEther · Accepted solution]

I'm curious, what is your use case for zero handoff?  VOIP call or video streaming while walking through the house?

While I'm not an expert on seamless roaming, I did a little reading on 802.11r, the key IEEE standard for fast roaming, and it looks like it benefits Enterprise environments more than home.  In the Enterprise, authentication is often quite extensive and time consuming, with 802.1X and, possibly, RADIUS employed.  In the home, WPA2-Personal, the authentication most often used these days, uses pre-shared keys.  The cost of roaming to a new AP is, therefore, much less.  802.11r can still benefit a network secured with WPA2-Personal, but the improvement may be much less, possibly inconsequential.  I haven't been able to find any data quantifying the benefit that 802.11r provides in the home.  If you have any data, I would be interested in seeing it.

Revolution Wi-Fi: It's Time for 802.11r (see Andrew vonNagy's comment at the bottom about the benefit of 802.11r to home environments)

802.11r and Open networks (see another comment by Andrew where he describes how 802.11r can help non-Enterprise Wi-Fi)

Apple iOS Fast Roaming with Aerohive Wi-Fi APs (802.11r performance measurements by Andrew, though some people have criticized his methods and, therefore, his results)

Robust Security Network (RSN) Fast Transition (FT) (a really dry whitepaper on 802.11r)

You can always try putting a suggestion for Netgear to add support on their Idea Exchange For Home forum, although the forum doesn't get enough visibility to be effective, IMO.  In the meantime, if you are determined to get seamless handoff, you will have to look at other brands.

[TheEther]

Do you have links for Linksys and Ubiquiti seaming roaming support?  I couldn't find anything about Linksys.  

Ubiquiti used to have a proprietary Zero Handoff feature that tuned all APs to the exact same channel and BSSID and used a controller to force clients to switch.  This is not very bandwidth efficient.  I saw a thread that says they are working on 802.11r and 802.11k support but it's in Beta.

I wouldn't hold my breath on getting seamless roaming support in a consumer grade router.  It's usually only found on business-class gear.

[Midaz]

I think Ubiquiti has had it for some time now and Linksys can be found at linksys.com under featured products like EA9500, RE7000

Seems Apple has had it since iPhone4 so it seems its not targeted to just business products.

I am willing to trade the Arlo function in my router for some seamless roaming instead 🙂

[TheEther]

I stand corrected.  Thanks for the info!

[Midaz]

Ok thanks, so conclusion is if I want zero-handoff functionality I better look at other brands

since Netgear is not interested in implementing this in current line-ups of routers externders

that are of commersial grade but only in business grade?

The reason I ask is because they ofcourse will have to implement it very soon it's just tiresome to

find out that it only applies to some future wifi router when you have recently bought one!.

Thanks

[TheEther · Accepted solution]

I'm curious, what is your use case for zero handoff?  VOIP call or video streaming while walking through the house?

While I'm not an expert on seamless roaming, I did a little reading on 802.11r, the key IEEE standard for fast roaming, and it looks like it benefits Enterprise environments more than home.  In the Enterprise, authentication is often quite extensive and time consuming, with 802.1X and, possibly, RADIUS employed.  In the home, WPA2-Personal, the authentication most often used these days, uses pre-shared keys.  The cost of roaming to a new AP is, therefore, much less.  802.11r can still benefit a network secured with WPA2-Personal, but the improvement may be much less, possibly inconsequential.  I haven't been able to find any data quantifying the benefit that 802.11r provides in the home.  If you have any data, I would be interested in seeing it.

Revolution Wi-Fi: It's Time for 802.11r (see Andrew vonNagy's comment at the bottom about the benefit of 802.11r to home environments)

802.11r and Open networks (see another comment by Andrew where he describes how 802.11r can help non-Enterprise Wi-Fi)

Apple iOS Fast Roaming with Aerohive Wi-Fi APs (802.11r performance measurements by Andrew, though some people have criticized his methods and, therefore, his results)

Robust Security Network (RSN) Fast Transition (FT) (a really dry whitepaper on 802.11r)

You can always try putting a suggestion for Netgear to add support on their Idea Exchange For Home forum, although the forum doesn't get enough visibility to be effective, IMO.  In the meantime, if you are determined to get seamless handoff, you will have to look at other brands.

[123abhi9473]

Hi ,

when I configure R7000 in WPA/WPA2 Entreprise ,

In RSN informtaion can see it supports pre-authentication

but it does not show any FT transition parameter ?

R7000 supprots 802.11r?

[TheEther]

Nope, no 802.11r support AFAIK.