ASUS aiMesh dropping WiFi Calling during switch

[ShinyRobot]

I'm brand new to home networking but realized I should upgrade my system when I learned Apple would discontinue their routers. I replaced 2 Airport Extremes with 2 ASUS RT-AC88U and basically dropped them inline connected with ethernet and switches where the Airports were:

[Modem] --> [RT-AC88U] --> [1Gbps switch] --> [1Gbps switch] --> [RT-AC88U]

The 1st router is located in my 2nd floor office with a Cat7 cable running to the switch in the bedroom, and then runs down to the 2nd router, located in the living room, which is an aiMesh node.

Wifi is strength is now incredible! But if I'm on a phonecall on my iPhone (with wifi calling turned on, because we are in a massive deadzone) and I walk around my house and go upstairs, it drops the call.

It also seems to only connect to wifi Calling downstairs, and won't ever connect to wifi calling on the upstairs access point, leaving me with 1 bar of cellular, or even "No Service", but full 100% strength wifi. It's very strange.

I was curious if there was a way to tweak the settings to eliminate any dropping of calls or service between AP? Some hidden setting in SmartConnect maybe? Thanks!

 

[ShinyRobot]

I believe I have fixed it, in case someone else has this issue. It's related to Smart Connect auto-setting the Control Channel, it turns out 3 of my neighbor's wifi were on the same channel. In addition, the location of both of my access points were close enough that they were competing with each other, and I can't quite figure out how to use the Smart Connect settings to 'decrease' the range of each AP, or modify one AP individually... aiMesh seems to take total control and I'm not sure I like that, it would be nice to be able to tweak individual node's settings.

No more deadzones where my AT&T WiFi is kicked, our phones now switch between AP seamlessly without any issues.

 

[ShinyRobot]

UPDATE: I wanted SmartConnect back since it's supposed to be easy, so to get it working I tweaked the steering and trigger conditions to eliminate any capable device from using 2.4Ghz (https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...-1-is-now-available.42127/page-13#post-359726).

I also found that SmartConnect will use 153 as the default channel, which 3 of my neighbors' routers are also using, and it will get set here when you reset the router. I found I can "force" a channel of my choosing though, by turning SmartConnect OFF, applying, and then setting the Control Channel, apply again, and then reenable SmartConnect, finally applying again. It will set the channel to the specific channels you chose, and it looks like it keeps it there unless the router is reset. A minor annoyance, we'll see how it goes though. So far everything is working great, no more dropped calls and my iPhone switches between routers just fine as I walk through the house and even out in the yard where there is a lower signal.

 

[ShinyRobot]

Ok, this is ridiculous... SmartConnect decided to change me back to channel 153 and now I'm getting disconnects and my iPhone isn't connecting WiFi Calling. Before changing the channel can't this feature scan surrounding networks to make sure it assigns a channel not being used??? Am I the only one having this issue?

 

[ShinyRobot]

Probably not the channel. I have no clue what's up... It has reverted to only connecting to AT&T WiFi when it's connected to the node downstairs, and upstairs even though I have excellent WiFi and only one bar Cellular, it won't connect to AT&T WiFi...

 

[KevTech]

Try disabling airtime fairness and you may want to disable or adjust roaming assistant.

These are in wireless > professional.

 

[ShinyRobot]

Try disabling airtime fairness and you may want to disable or adjust roaming assistant.

These are in wireless > professional.

Disabling Airtime Fairness did something - all of a sudden my iPhone is now connected to AT&T WiFi. What is the downside of disabling this?

 

[KevTech]

Disabling Airtime Fairness did something - all of a sudden my iPhone is now connected to AT&T WiFi. What is the downside of disabling this?

Should not be any.

The default setting in stock firmware is enabled and in Merlin it is disabled.

Seems to cause a lot of issues so it is recommended to disable it if devices are having disconnect issues.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/airtime-fairness-question.40948/

 

[firebladeRR1k]

I experience this same issue though I have all those settings already disabled.

 

[ROBERT CARLSON MD]

Yikes! I just went to all the trouble and expense to move to an AIMesh system, and now I find that ATT WIFI Calling is seriously broken. WIFI Calling was the major reason for going with the mesh is the first place.

I'm running 2 AC-1900p and 1 AC68U all with the latest firmware, but WIFI calling will only work intermittently at best, even if using an AC-1900p simply as a router, with nodes turned off. The WIFI calling will sometimes connect on one band or the other, but when disconnected, it won't reconnect again.

I've turned off Roaming Assist and Airtime Fairness to no avail.

I've tried isolated the router with nothing connected except the WAN and an iPhone and the WIFI Calling only works for a little while after re-booting. As soon as I disconnect and reconnect the iPhone, no more WIFI Calling again.

I reverted back to my old RT-66U, running Shibby Tomato and it works perfectly with WIFI Calling.

I'm going try to downgrade my firmware on the AC1900p and AC68U to before the AIMesh stuff to see where exactly the WIFI Calling broke.

No WIFI Calling is a deal breaker, for me and many other people, I'm sure.

-- R Carlson MD

 

[OzarkEdge]

Yikes! I just went to all the trouble and expense to move to an AIMesh system, and now I find that ATT WIFI Calling is seriously broken. WIFI Calling was the major reason for going with the mesh is the first place.

I'm running 2 AC-1900p and 1 AC68U all with the latest firmware, but WIFI calling will only work intermittently at best, even if using an AC-1900p simply as a router, with nodes turned off. The WIFI calling will sometimes connect on one band or the other, but when disconnected, it won't reconnect again.

I've turned off Roaming Assist and Airtime Fairness to no avail.

I've tried isolated the router with nothing connected except the WAN and an iPhone and the WIFI Calling only works for a little while after re-booting. As soon as I disconnect and reconnect the iPhone, no more WIFI Calling again.

I reverted back to my old RT-66U, running Shibby Tomato and it works perfectly with WIFI Calling.

I'm going try to downgrade my firmware on the AC1900p and AC68U to before the AIMesh stuff to see where exactly the WIFI Calling broke.

No WIFI Calling is a deal breaker, for me and many other people, I'm sure.

-- R Carlson MD

I Googled 'wifi calling stopped working' and the first hit is from Apple and says 'Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset Network Settings'. I trust you will know if that is worth trying. I've got no Apples here.

OE

 

[ShinyRobot]

Yikes! I just went to all the trouble and expense to move to an AIMesh system, and now I find that ATT WIFI Calling is seriously broken. WIFI Calling was the major reason for going with the mesh is the first place.

I'm running 2 AC-1900p and 1 AC68U all with the latest firmware, but WIFI calling will only work intermittently at best, even if using an AC-1900p simply as a router, with nodes turned off. The WIFI calling will sometimes connect on one band or the other, but when disconnected, it won't reconnect again.

I've turned off Roaming Assist and Airtime Fairness to no avail.

I've tried isolated the router with nothing connected except the WAN and an iPhone and the WIFI Calling only works for a little while after re-booting. As soon as I disconnect and reconnect the iPhone, no more WIFI Calling again.

I reverted back to my old RT-66U, running Shibby Tomato and it works perfectly with WIFI Calling.

I'm going try to downgrade my firmware on the AC1900p and AC68U to before the AIMesh stuff to see where exactly the WIFI Calling broke.

No WIFI Calling is a deal breaker, for me and many other people, I'm sure.

-- R Carlson MD

Yep, I'm in the same boat, I think I'm going to disable aiMesh and set my network up as individual access points. I thought it was the 2.4Ghz channel or SmartConnect so I set that on another SSID - no dice. It seems to work as soon as I change something in professional settings, but then after a while it stops working again. I thought it was that it was trying to switch between channels, but I don't think that's it, things seem pretty stable. Maybe it's because aiMesh syncs the channels on the network? I have no idea...

My plan is to install Merlin firmware and set things up like a normal AP system, since I already have ethernet backhaul to all points. I spent good money on these routers, but now my wife thinks Apple's POS routers are better. No thanks, not going back to 5gbps wifi speeds just to get wifi calling. If I'm desperate I'll set up my Apple routers as a WifiCalling Only network, but I shouldn't have to.... Hope someone from Asus is reading this...

 

[ShinyRobot]

Getting stable results (both my wife and I still have AT&T WiFi in many parts of the house using both AP) by enabling QoS. I set VoIP as the priority, but maybe this is less important, the average speeds I'm getting are 350gbps. This might all change in 12 - 24 hours, so knock on wood...

 

[ShinyRobot]

Damn... Still working great for me, but my wife has lost WiFi Calling... Next test I will run is resetting everything, installing @RMerlin's firmware and finally setting up the network again using the normal AP method, instead of using aiMesh. I will update here again when it's up and running for a bit (hopefully successfully).

 

[lunchbox]

I'm wondering if AiMesh is supposed to be able to do seamless handoffs between AP's? I was under the impression that it was not able to do this. If you have to roam between AP's I'd almost certainly expect drops without implementation of some sort of seamless handoff protocol.

 

[ShinyRobot]

I'm wondering if AiMesh is supposed to be able to do seamless handoffs between AP's? I was under the impression that it was not able to do this. If you have to roam between AP's I'd almost certainly expect drops without implementation of some sort of seamless handoff protocol.

I guess I assumed it was the same as AP mode (albeit optional wireless/wired backhaul), but I hope you're right. I'll be reworking my network this weekend. I want seamless handoff, I had it with my Apple routers, I know it's possible with Asus.

 

[lunchbox]

I guess I assumed it was the same as AP mode (albeit optional wireless/wired backhaul), but I hope you're right. I'll be reworking my network this weekend. I want seamless handoff, I had it with my Apple routers, I know it's possible with Asus.

I'm curious as to what you find. I'm going to be setting up something similar soon and would prefer seamless handoffs but am prepared to not have them.

 

[thiggins]

ASUS routers do not support roaming assistance standards 802.11k,v or r. Apple routers do and so do iPhones. That's why your iPhones won't "seamlessly" roam.

Why did you replace the Extremes anyway?

 

[OzarkEdge]

ASUS routers do not support roaming assistance standards 802.11k,v or r. Apple routers do and so do iPhones. That's why your iPhones won't "seamlessly" roam.

Why did you replace the Extremes anyway?

You're the one to ask... are there other non-Apple consumer grade routers that do support roaming assistance standards 802.11k,v or r? If not and if Apple is out of the router business(?), then this would leave iPhones out of standards-based roaming assistance.

OE

 

[coxhaus]

I had good luck with old Cisco WAP321 wireless access points. I have 3 setup in my house which use 5GHz in Cisco's Single point software setup. They do not drop FaceTime calls. The problem is WAP321 are old and at end-of-life.

I have bought a couple of Cisco WAP371 wireless access point and hope to do the same thing. But I am in the process of still acquiring equipment to make it all work.

The easy thing with these Cisco small business wireless access points is once you set one up the other units will acquire the same settings when they are joined to the cluster automatically. They are menu driven.