Does TX power affects how well the signal penetrates obstacles?

[Terepin]

Or it's only general range.

 

[Tech9]

Yes, but Wi-Fi is 2-way communication and the client may not be able to reach to router through the same obstacles. How loud the router is doesn't matter much in most cases. The clients and obstacles in between define the range.

 

[Terepin]

I see. I was lowering the power because of mesh and routers are relatively close to each other, but the flat is made of steel-concrete walls. Should I keep the power at default performance level?

 

[Tech9]

The mesh points or access points have to be at around -65/70dBm for better roaming, but if you are talking about AiMesh the available settings to achieve this are very limited.

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, but Wi-Fi is 2-way communication and the client may not be able to reach to router through the same obstacles. How loud the router is doesn't matter much in most cases. The clients and obstacles in between define the range.

Yep, and generally the client determines the range, not the AP...

 

[user114514]

Range is limited by STA's txpower. But raising AP txpower appropriately does increase the DL rate within that limit. Therefore, there is no need to lower the txpower as long as your STA itself switches intelligently enough.

 

[Tech9]

Yep, and generally the client determines the range

In my own testing increasing the Tx power over 400mW or 26dBm is pointless. Perhaps the reason most business class APs are up to 26dBm with ~30dBm EIRP. Also the power by itself is not good measurement because my current APs at 400mW have similar range as home routers with up to 1000mW. You know well, antenna design is important. I had Ruckus APs before and with their antenna arrays and BeamFlex they had stellar performance through walls. Unfortunately, wife didn't like the industrial design much.

Therefore, there is no need to lower the txpower

With multi-AP system roaming works much better with lower power. I have 4x APs at home at 100mW on 5GHz band, transitioning happens at around -70dBm. It also helps with balancing of Tx/Rx links and the end result is overall better user experience.