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Wifi roaming not seamless on Galaxy note 4
I'm using Orbi RBS50 in AP with two satellites, in a star setting (not daisy-chain, that setting is disabled). Firmware is 2.0.0.74 .
I have recently added 13 Chromecast audios to my home for a whole house audio system. They are all running off of Orbi (in AP mode), 5 from the main router downstairs, 8 from one satellite upstairs. The Wifi connection between the Chromecasts and the main network seems to be mostly OK - most are at 0% packet loss after overnight ping. A few are at 1-2%. Some are on the 2.4 GHz band and others are on the 5 GHz band.
I'm controlling the system from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 which supports Wireless AC.
The problem is that when I walk around the house and the phone switches between Orbi AP router/satellite and sometimes goes back to cellular. This really messes up with the Google Home app which then loses track of the state of all the Chromecast audios in my home ! It then often has to be killed and restarted, making for a very poor user experience.
Worse, this automatic switch back to cellular also happens even when the phone is stationary on my desk, 8ft away from the Orbi main router AP, and much farther from either satellite. It is seemingly random. This would not be big a problem for internet access, but it is a major problem for controlling local devices on my home network.
I have tried a lot of combination of Orbi router wireless settings I could think of, to no avail, including switching on/off "Fast roaming", "MU-MIMO", "Implicit Beamforming", and "20/40 Coexistence". The phone always reverts randomly to cellular.
I do have a 4G LTE cellular local tower in the house which works off the wired ethernet connection to Comcast. It is located in the same room as the Orbi router.
I have Wifi calling disabled on the phone because the call quality and reliability is still much better using the local in-home 4G LTE tower than Wifi with Orbi.
On the phone side, the only exposed relevant setting I can see is "Smart network switch" which states :
"Automatically switch between Wi-fi and mobile networks, and also between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band, to maintain a stable internet connection".
I don't mind at all that the phone switches between 2.4 and 5 GHz bands - that's a good thing - but I don't want it to revert to cellular when I'm at home.
Also "Keep Wi-fi on during sleep" is enabled in advanced Wifi settings.
Is there anything else I can do on either the phone side or the Orbi side to make seamless roaming work ? I thought that was one of the main points of Orbi.
9 Replies
I seem to be having the same problem with a iPhone 7+. I have tried all the same things you have tried. I just recently tried lowering the Transmit Power and it seems to help but I cant be sure.
Edit: did a short ping from a wired machine to the IP of the Note 4 (statically assigned by my wired Netgear R7000 DHCP server), and this was the result . It's on my desk 8ft from the main Orbi router.
ping -t 192.168.0.17
Pinging 192.168.0.17 with 32 bytes of data
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=734ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1371ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1403ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1444ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1469ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1448ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1443ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=2177ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=708ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=123ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=683ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1534ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1432ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1462ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=612ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=361ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=1285ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time=847ms TTL=64
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.17:
Packets: Sent = 38, Received = 32, Lost = 6 (15% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 2177ms, Average = 643ms
Control-C
^CDefinitely something very weird going on between my Note 4 phone and the Orbi router !
ping latency with devices much farther away (Chromecast audio) is much less, as is packet loss.
The Orbi device page is showing the Note 4 is attached to the Orbi main router using 5GHz band.
As a test, I powered off the Orbi router and the two satellites. Then enabled the Wifi radio back on my R7000.
Did another short ping to the phone and this was the result.
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.17:
Packets: Sent = 75, Received = 75, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 102ms, Average = 46msStill inconsistent latency, but at least zero packet loss or errors.
FYI, the R7000 and Orbi router and literally 3 feet apart, and wired to each other by a Gigabit cable. Was using Orbi router in AP mode and R7000 as wired router. Right now using R7000 for everything. But of course I don't have Wifi coverage everywhere around the house now, especially not outside, which is the main reason for Orbi. Coverage is useless if connection drops off, though.
FYI, I compared the Wifi settings in the R7000 (which was giving decent ping with the Note 4) to the Orbi .
Noticed the R7000 had 20/40 coexistence disabled, and Orbi had it enabled.
Also, R7000 had "long preamble" set, Orbi had it set to "auto".
I switched the Orbi settings to match the R7000.
Also rebooted my phone.
Then wireless switched radios back to Orbi (turned off R7000 wireless radio).
I first turned on the Orbi router only. Pings to the Note 4 seemed to be pretty reasonable at that point.
Then, I turned on the downstairs satellite (which is in a remote area with no wireless devices connected). After a couple reboots to uptake the Orbi router config change, ping to the Note 4 didn't change.
Then, I turned on the upstairs satellite, which has a bunch of Wifi devices hooked up (8 of the new Chromecasts). The moment I did that, the pings to the Note 4 started increasing dramatically, averaging 309ms.
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.17:
Packets: Sent = 255, Received = 255, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 821ms, Average = 309msAt this time, I'm not experience any packet loss to the Note 4 or errors in the ping anymore. However, the latency is problematic, and it's probably the reason why I can't use Wifi calling on my phone without experiencing issues. I have not tried walking around the house with the phone yet to check the Wifi roaming. Speedtest app from the phone is relatively slow (44 Mbit down / 29 Mbps up, vs 200+/29 up wired). Speedtest ping claims only 12 ms, but local ping from Windows PC to the phone says otherwise.