Keeping connected to a specific router.

[Baldy Pevsner]

Hi. I have set up an AiMesh in my house, I have an AC86U in the front bedroom connected to the modem, another AC86U in the back bedroom which has a wired connection to the first one and a AC68U downstairs in the middle of the house connected wirelessly. The set up works great, I get high wireless speeds throughout the house, it's set to the Smart Connect option.

One thing bothers me though, the back bedroom is my office where I have a wireless printer and a couple of tablets that always stay in that room, even though these are 3 foot from the second 86U they keep connecting to the one in the front bedroom. If I turn them off, put them next to the office router and then turn them on they will connect to it but 5 minutes later they will be back on the other router. This means that out of 11 wireless devices in the house 10 of them are all connected to one router (the exception is the downstairs TV which stays connected to the 68U which it is right next to).

I can't find a setting that would let me permanently link the devices to the nearest router, is there one?

I realise devices need to be able to switch between routers when I move about the house but for those devices which don't move I'd like them on the nearest router.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi. I have set up an AiMesh in my house, I have an AC86U in the front bedroom connected to the modem, another AC86U in the back bedroom which has a wired connection to the first one and a AC68U downstairs in the middle of the house connected wirelessly. The set up works great, I get high wireless speeds throughout the house, it's set to the Smart Connect option.

One thing bothers me though, the back bedroom is my office where I have a wireless printer and a couple of tablets that always stay in that room, even though these are 3 foot from the second 86U they keep connecting to the one in the front bedroom. If I turn them off, put them next to the office router and then turn them on they will connect to it but 5 minutes later they will be back on the other router. This means that out of 11 wireless devices in the house 10 of them are all connected to one router (the exception is the downstairs TV which stays connected to the 68U which it is right next to).

I can't find a setting that would let me permanently link the devices to the nearest router, is there one?

I realise devices need to be able to switch between routers when I move about the house but for those devices which don't move I'd like them on the nearest router.

Have you tried using a WiFi Analyzer app to confirm signal strength and overlap? And then adjust node location and/or Roaming Assistant node steering dBm thresholds for each band for less signal overlap. How far apart are the nodes?

Also, the 68U does not support Smart Connect node band steering... you may need to use separate SSIDs for each band.

Or, depending on the size of your house, maybe you only need a 2x86U AiMesh... same SSIDs with Smart Connect... one node in the office bedroom, one node downstairs. Maybe less WiFi would improve the connectivity.

Also, see the Roaming Block List tab in the router... but you should investigate your signaling first.

OE