ORBi RBK13 Fast Roaming and connecting to closest Sat

[alexinnes]

I received the Netgear Orbi WiFi System AC1200 (RBK13) system yesterday, for most features it works good

In the centre of the house I have the router, at one end of the house I have a satellite in the office and at the other extreme end of the house I have the other satellite in the garage 

The garage satellite is only for the smart bulbs outside and my ISP provided wifi kept dropping them

So today I am sitting in the office and setting up multiple devices, my mobile (iphone 11) and my work laptop (dell latitude) all connected to the wifi fine and when I check the connected devices on the config page, they are correctly connected to the office satellite which is 2-3 feet away.

Now the problem, I tried adding the missus' mobile (iphone XR) when she was sitting in the office.... 1 foot from the satellite..... and after several hours, her mobile is still connected to the main router

Also her Apple Watch connected the the garage satellite which is at the extreme other end of the house, when she is sitting right in front of the office satellite

Garage--------------------------------------------Router-------------------------------------------Office

Here are the settings I have configured in the advanced tab

Enable Daisy-Chain Topology
Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices
Enable MU-MIMO
Enable Fast Roaming

Shouldnt her phone automatically connect to the office satelitte? It is an iphone XR so shouldnt work any different to my 11?

Googling suggests turning her wifi off then on and it should connect to the closest but doesnt that defeat the purpose of fast roaming?

Am i doing something wrong?

thanks

[FURRYe38]

30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router

Most wifi devices will pick and choose which signal source to connect to, even thought the signal is near. Your case maybe right on the findges of single overlap which the devices still prefer the farther signal. Regardless of roaming or not. Roaming is for when the phone is on a wifi call and your roaming around the house, Orbi would help the phone connect to a better signal if needed. However again, the phone would make the determination to change.

For the phone, you can disable the wifi radio on the phone for 5 seconds then turn it back on. The phone should connect to the closer signal as remain connected there. 

[alexinnes]

ah okay, if roaming is only for when ON a wifi call then I dont think this product is for me and I will return it

I just want a system where if I sit in the living room RIGHT NEXT to the router...i connect to the router. And if I am out in the garage I connect to the sat in the garage. having to manually switch wifi off and on everytime i move around I could do that with cheap repeaters or using old routers as APs etc

I understand what you are saying about being on the overlap but they couldnt be further apart and there is no way the signal is better or even close

   Office--------------------2 dry walls----------------------router-----------------------2 brick walls------------------------Garage

phone here                                                                                                                                             connects here

Thanks for your response

[FURRYe38]

Even with other wifi mesh systems, it's still up to the wireless device to pick and choose which signal source to connect too. 

Good Luck.