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Forum Discussion
DaveIRE
Oct 09, 2018Aspirant
EX8000 802.11k when in AP mode
I know the EX8000 supports smart roaming using the 802.11k standard, however I need to know if this only works when using the unit in extender mode or if it also applies when you are using it in AP mo...
schferenc
Nov 20, 2018Aspirant
Hi,
as I promised I've made some testing with my EX8000s configured as access points. One Wifi Name is enabled. So even tough that EX8000 officially supports 802.11r fast roaming feature and my tested client (Galaxy S7) also supports the fast roaming (see this article: https://support.samsungknox.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013403768-Enhanced-Roaming-Algorithm), the client does not want to roam to the closer AP. This is the signal strenght diagram, you can see, that even tough the closer AP has significantly higher signal strenght, my client still linked to the fare end AP.
In some cases the client changed the AP correctly within 1-2 seconds, in other cases it sticked to the far AP for more than 15 mins. I'm still consider this AP as a great product, because the total througput is more than 550Mbit/s with single client. Even if my clients connects to the wrong (far) AP, I could get ~200Mbit/s from them, which is fine.
But still, Netgear, please correct this behavior in the coming fw updates, and enable 802.11r fast roaiming in AP mode as well!
ChrisL1971
Nov 20, 2018Guide
schferenc wrote:
In some cases the client changed the AP correctly within 1-2 seconds, in other cases it sticked to the far AP for more than 15 mins. I'm still consider this AP as a great product, because the total througput is more than 550Mbit/s with single client. Even if my clients connects to the wrong (far) AP, I could get ~200Mbit/s from them, which is fine.
But still, Netgear, please correct this behavior in the coming fw updates, and enable 802.11r fast roaiming in AP mode as well!
I think it's about load distribution between AP's as well.. So you should prevent any other device to connect to the near one as well otherwise it starts to distribute the load... even is there is little to no trafic..