I cannot find anything reliable on Mr. Google, but long and short of it - I have two devices that keep roaming to my router, when a satellite is literally 5 feet away. And, what's worse - they keep losing connectivity to the router... these are stationary devices that never move. I'm really interested to know if there is any way to "pin" them to the satellite that they are sitting right next to.
<vent>And, mini vent... I just can't believe it keeps pairing to a device that it doesn't have a reliable connection to. </vent>
They have been connected to the Satellite when I rebooted the router (was hoping they'd stay)... So, yes, it does appear they roam over to the router. It's just weird that these two devices constantly have connectivity issues (so I have zero idea how it thinks the router is a better choice).
I did an experiment a year ago with my old RBR50 system. Set up Wireshark in monitor mode to capture the management frames from the Orbi router and satellites. What I found at the time was that when the router and satellites were rebooted, the router began broadcasting Beacon Frames considerably before the satellites did. (as much as a minute). I have intended to repeat the experiment to gain more precision in the numbers, but it is "not at the top of my list" right now.
One consequence of this could be that when the entire system is rebooted, the WiFi signal disappears from all access points (router and satellites). Thus every WiFi device in the house goes into "search mode" in order to regain their network connections. Beacon frames are broadcast between 5-10 times each second. If those IoT devices "see" a WiFi signal that they recognize, they may latch onto the router and stop looking.
It was really fascinating to watch the device in my house probing and associating with the various access points. (at the time I had one router and two satellites.)
An easy experiment would be to power cycle those IoT devices and see what they do.
So, what is a user to do?
Try to keep reboots to a minimum.
Power the router and satellites with small UPS systems so that 'minor' power interruptions do not cause a reboot.
If the system does reboot, make a note to self: cycle those two ignorant IoT things.
You know, you bring up a good point... we just had a power outage in the area a couple of days ago. So based on what you are saying, they may have stuck to the router when power came back. The other things that are staying on the Satellite are OS systems (Mac, AppleTV) but the things stuck to the router are IoTs, as you predicted.
This might be an opportunity to determine how frustrating and disruptive this problem is, and what the cost threshold is for fixing it.
Some examples:
Maybe other IoT devices that fulfill the same function have more intelligent software and will switch to the strongest signal. At the very least it might be worth investing a few dollars in a different brand to see how they behave.
Another tactic would be to install an inexpensive WiFi Extender which connects to the primary WiFi and creates a separate WiFi SSID just for those two idiot devices. By connecting them to that SSID, every time there is a power outage or reboot, they will connect only to the WiFi Extender. (Hmmm. an opportunity to see how :"smart" WiFi extender software is!!!) Will have to dig in my "box of stuff" and get a couple out to test.
The totally awkward part about the IEEE802.11 specifications is that the device makes all the decisions. Yes, there are some advanced standards which offer ways to "nudge" devices, but the bottom line is the device connects.
I found three WiFi extenders in my Box of Stuff and am testing them now to see how they behave.
Test 1 - an ancient TP-Link TL-WA855RE, A 2.4WiFi only device. "End of Life" at TP-Link.
Connected it to the network using the WPS sync button.
Confirmed on Attached Devices that it connected to a satellite just 4 ft. away.
Powered off that satellite.
Sang, "Mary has a Little Lamb" and powered satellite on again.
Two minutes later, satellite status changed from "Disconnected" to "Good"
WiFi extender shows connected to satellite.
Result - SUCCESS
Test 2 - an older Netgear EX3700. Apparently not End of Life, but definitely long in the tooth.
Connected to satellite as before. (It already knew the WiFi SSID/password because I often use it to test.)
Confirmed on Attached Devices.
Powered off satellite.
Sang.
Powered on satellite.
Two minutes later, Satellite is back on-line, but EX3700 remains connected to Orbi router. Did not switch back to satellite. Either:
My 2.4G signals are so strong that the EX3700 felt no need to switch, or
TP-Link's programming was better than Netgear's programming at the time.
Result - FAIL?
Test 3 - TP-Link RE220. Combination 2.4G/4G WiFi extender.
Connected to satellite as before.
Confirmed connected to satellite on Attached Devices.
Powered off satellite.
Sang.
Powered satellite back on.
In two minutes, satellite reappeared "Good"
RE220 shows connected to satellite in Attached Devices.
Result - SUCCESS
When I installed the 4th satellite, coverage of my entire house was complete and I lost interest in purchasing WiFi extenders.
So, I have a strong suspicion that at least some generic WiFi extenders will tolerate a loss of WiFi signal from a power outage and will connect to the best signal when the system returns - if it does connect temporarily to the router, it will return to the better signal. The TP-Link RE220 is a "Best Seller" on Amazon. There are others in the same price range which are obviously "knockoffs" (maybe from the same factory?)
I am tempted to try some newer Netgear WiFi extenders..... nah.
Haha so… good news, magically the two devices connected to the right satellite based on signal strength for about 30 minutes. Then they decided it would be awesome to connect to the satellite that’s two floors up and the opposite side of the house. I just don’t understand the device logic for connecting.
My guess is that the product technical support staff lack much networking expertise, even for a $1,200 product. i.e. "Please ask your 'Level 2' people what the heck is going on!!!"
If a WiFi Extender is installed, such as that TP-Link RE220, it can have a unique WiFi SSID and those IoT devices will connect only to it because there are no other WiFi access points in the house with that unique SSID.
Just to close the loop (I know you were waiting with bated breath)… I had a net gear extender that was in the dump pile. Put that on, worked like a charm.
