AImesh issues (roaming + connectivity)

[houmi]

I am on AIMesh on two Asus routers RT-AC1900P, connected via gigabit lan, main router is downstairs, mesh node is upstairs.

Main issues I have are:
- Facetime/Whatsapp disconnect when going downstairs or upstairs while in a call
- Sometimes when I am upstairs or downstairs, I am connected to the node that is the farthest from me as opposed to the one I am standing next to (I tested it via the Asus App or AIMesh node connectivity on web gui)

Current Version : 3.0.0.4.384_32799-gfe72567

 

[HuskyHerder]

Try and enable Roaming Assistant, you'll need to research your own values for the signal levels. They will need to be set appropriately for your own given situation. This will help with connecting to the wrong Router/Node/AP

I think @OzarkEdge has a good write up on how to set it up. Ill see if I can dig it up. He has some good knowledge in some of his posts and his startup tutorial (I forget what he calls it).
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/o...-supported-products.44375/page-14#post-381537

As for the app I am not sure this would help, it may.

 

[houmi]

I had Roaming Assistant already on and the majority of things in that page (thanks for linking it btw!)

I'll play with the signal levels a bit more... it's really weird that I could be walking from one router to another one and it never disconnects me from the old one.

Try and enable Roaming Assistant, you'll need to research your own values for the signal levels. They will need to be set appropriately for your own given situation. This will help with connecting to the wrong Router/Node/AP

I think @OzarkEdge has a good write up on how to set it up. Ill see if I can dig it up. He has some good knowledge in some of his posts and his startup tutorial (I forget what he calls it).
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/o...-supported-products.44375/page-14#post-381537

As for the app I am not sure this would help, it may.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

I had Roaming Assistant already on and the majority of things in that page (thanks for linking it btw!)

I'll play with the signal levels a bit more... it's really weird that I could be walking from one router to another one and it never disconnects me from the old one.

Not weird at all. The client only gets handed off to another node/router if the signal gets below the Roaming Assistant threshold. It has nothing to do with which is the "best" signal.

 

[houmi]

You're right, the routers are so far apart, I had forgotten about the signal part and was thinking distance in meters.

Do you know of any iOS apps that would show RSSI from iPhone to connected router, or is that a trial & error type of a thing ?

 

[HuskyHerder]

@houmi

I personally used my Macbook and checked the RSSI with it. For the iPhone see this article. https://www.accessagility.com/blog/free-wifi-scanner-for-iphone-and-ipad-without-jailbreak

Turns out its Airport utility. You need to enable the scanner in settings.

 

[empyrials]

@houmi

I personally used my Macbook and checked the RSSI with it. For the iPhone see this article. https://www.accessagility.com/blog/free-wifi-scanner-for-iphone-and-ipad-without-jailbreak

Turns out its Airport utility. You need to enable the scanner in settings.

Omg that Airport utility is awesome! I spend HOURS searching last week for an IOS app that did that and came up with nothing. Thanks for the link!

 

[houmi]

Thank you! I had actually downloaded the app yesterday per someone's recommendation on reddit, but couldn't figure out why the Wifi Scanning wasn't working... and I had completely missed the scanner option in settings.

The app explained a lot about the network layout in my house. My upstairs AIMesh node has way more throughput that I had originally thought and my downstairs router based on its location not so much, so I have a big overlap I have to work with.

Unfortunately the Asus AIMesh Web Gui doesn't seem to allow granular setup per router for RSSI (per band) or TX power (per router). I think reducing TX power can help with controlling overlap but it seems like it's a global setting now. Or I could move everything to 5ghz...

Very neat, thanks again! The App should be put on a sticky or FAQ (unless it already is)

@houmi

I personally used my Macbook and checked the RSSI with it. For the iPhone see this article. https://www.accessagility.com/blog/free-wifi-scanner-for-iphone-and-ipad-without-jailbreak

Turns out its Airport utility. You need to enable the scanner in settings.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Unfortunately the Asus AIMesh Web Gui doesn't seem to allow granular setup per router for RSSI (per band) or TX power (per router). I think reducing TX power can help with controlling overlap but it seems like it's a global setting now. Or I could move everything to 5ghz...

But it is the router/node receive signal strength that triggers roaming. So the tx power won't do much. I guess the client might disconnect if it got a weak signal and drop the connection but I doubt that would be seamless and no better than just using an AP instead of AiMesh.

I think the best design would allow all nodes to have individual RSSI settings as roaming thresholds. Maybe a future enhancement.

 

[houmi]

But it is the router/node receive signal strength that triggers roaming. So the tx power won't do much. I guess the client might disconnect if it got a weak signal and drop the connection but I doubt that would be seamless and no better than just using an AP instead of AiMesh.

I think the best design would allow all nodes to have individual RSSI settings as roaming thresholds. Maybe a future enhancement.

I agree, I think individual RSSI settings would be nice.

I have to say that when I used to have my upstairs node on wireless AP via ethernet wired to the router on Merlin, I had somehow a better roaming experience in the house.

I actually had much better roaming overall previously on two Netgear WNDR3700 which offered the best seamless roaming in the house, but Asus in general offers so much other things including Qos, OpenVPN and traffic analyzer/statistics, that the roaming shortcoming isn't all that important. I just switch off wifi and enabled it when I am next to another router or just use my LTE data if I really need to.

 

[HuskyHerder]

Unfortunately the Asus AIMesh Web Gui doesn't seem to allow granular setup per router for RSSI (per band) or TX power (per router). I think reducing TX power can help with controlling overlap but it seems like it's a global setting now. Or I could move everything to 5ghz...

That is exactly what I am doing, I reduced my power to balanced, and with setting my RSSI levels for my particular setup, I have pretty great handoffs now. Almost seamless as of lately. I think I have a pretty darn good setup right now.
You can individually set the power level on the 2.4 and 5g bands. I have mine exactly the same though.

 

[houmi]

That is exactly what I am doing, I reduced my power to balanced, and with setting my RSSI levels for my particular setup, I have pretty great handoffs now. Almost seamless as of lately.
You can individually set the power level on the 2.4 and 5g bands. I have mine exactly the same though.

Aha! Nice! I'll give it a shot tonight.

I might have to bring my RSSI on 2.4 ghz to -55 or even -50... I'll also test the Tx power to balanced...

 

[Kingp1n]

Is there an android app that would similar to Airport utility?

 

[houmi]

Is there an android app that would similar to Airport utility?

Maybe one of these would work for you: https://www.netspotapp.com/wifi-analyzer-apps-android.html

 

[houmi]

So I just wanted to give a wrap up on where I am currently at:

- Changing the TX power to balanced made connection a little bit worse, some devices would just drop the connection at some parts of the house and wouldn't even be able to connect to the other router
- Changing RSSI for 2.4 to values like -60, -55, -50 etc was hit or miss, because the 2.4 overlap is pretty big in my house, and with the airport utility scanning there was no real number that would work best.

So after chatting with a friend of mine, I decided to use all my roaming devices on 5ghz, since the 5ghz has a shorter distance, it is actually working quite good, when I drop from a router to the next one, it will never switch back. There are some places in the house where it's borderline overlap where it could ping-pong between them, but I left the RSSI at -70 and it's working nicely. All other devices like IoT are on 2.4

My 2c on AIMesh is that everyone is different, there is no magic solution work for all, in terms of TX power, RSSI values, etc... but I have to be honest that the airport utility app is excellent way to find out where your house stands in terms of 2.4 / 5.0 overlaps.