My iPad refuses to roam

[steve23094]

One of my devices refuses to roam.

I have a Synology RT2600ac router and Synology MR2200ac wireless point hooked together using Synology’s mesh system.

The two access points are located at opposite ends of the house. When at one end the signal of the point at the opposite is pretty weak. All my other devices roam without a problem as you move around the house, this includes an iPhone SE, iPhone XS, iPad Pro 11, MacBook Pro 2017 and iPad mini 2.

The only device that refuses to roam is an iPad 2017. It hooks onto the RT2600ac and stays there. Disabling WiFi causes it to drop off the RT2600ac and then when turning it back on it just hooks back up to the RT2600ac, despite being in the room with the MR2200ac and a much stronger signal. The only way to force it to hook onto the MR2200ac is to reset network settings which is a temporary fix. Moving to the other end of the house it will connect back to the RT2600ac and stay there again.

Does anybody have any thoughts on a fix?

 

[thiggins]

Apple has added 11kvr support, which might help. But support varies by product.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202628

 

[Klueless]

Brute force? Have an extra SSID for each end of the house (e.g., north side, south side) then simply connect iPAD as needed. Not very elegant but some devices are just plain recalcitrant.

 

[steve23094]

Apple has added 11kvr support, which might help. But support varies by product.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202628

Thanks. All my devices are supposed to support kvr.

 

[steve23094]

Brute force? Have an extra SSID for each end of the house (e.g., north side, south side) then simply connect iPAD as needed. Not very elegant but some devices are just plain recalcitrant.

I have considered that, but as you say it’s an ugly solution. I’ll probably see what iOS 13 brings in case it’s a bug.

 

[sfx2000]

The only device that refuses to roam is an iPad 2017

Reset network settings in the iPad 2017 - I've seen this fix many issues.

 

[Trip]

Beyond what's already been said, I wonder how possible it might be to fine-tune 802.11r/k/v settings on the Synology?

802.11r - It's possible iPad may be too sluggish doing reassociation request processing, such that it could be missing the RDT (reassociation deadline timeout), which if allowed on the Synology, could be adjusted to a larger interval.

802.11k - The proper .11k IE's (Country, Power Constraint and RM Enable Capabilities) should of course be there in the beacon transmits, so .11k integrates properly with Apple iOS stuff. Not so much you can do about that on the Synology, but if you ever did a WireShark capture, that might tell you something. Then again, if you have other Apple devices that are roaming just fine, it may just be the iPad's wnic driver stack that is to blame - largely nothing you can do there.

802.11v - If the Synology allows for changing (decreasing) the baseline RSSI value required for BSS transition management requests, you might be able to coax the iPad into more aggressively requesting queries, and roaming better/sooner as a result, hopefully without adversely affecting the behavior of other clients, and/or battery life of them too much either.

I know much of that is probably wishful thinking, especially with most SOHO type products. At that point, @Klueless 's advice may be the best option, as ungraceful as it may seem.

 

[Klueless]

Klueless's advice may be the best option, as ungraceful as it may seem.

<lol> You're absolutely right but it did tickle my funny bone!

One can collect multiple wireless access points under a single SSID or under multiple SSIDs. Either should work but there is always the recalcitrant client. Occasionally one won't roam properly under a single SSID but will roam properly through multiple SSIDs. (The reverse is also true.) The OP may get "lucky". Worse case he can force a flip when he's on the wrong side of the house

 

[Trip]

Absolutely. I think that's about the best he can hope for... besides perhaps paying the Apple Tax® again and ponying up for a replacement iPad to see if newer/different client hardware does the trick.

 

[steve23094]

Reset network settings in the iPad 2017 - I've seen this fix many issues.

Yep, tried that (more than once). Thanks though.

 

[steve23094]

802.11v - If the Synology allows for changing (decreasing) the baseline RSSI value required for BSS transition management requests, you might be able to coax the iPad into more aggressively requesting queries, and roaming better/sooner as a result, hopefully without adversely affecting the behavior of other clients, and/or battery life of them too much either.

Hmmm... you have got me thinking.

Synology RSM does have a feature called Smart Connect. This is designed to steer a device to either the 2.4 or 5Ghz band. If you want you can manually configure this to select your own RSSI levels when it will switch from one to the other. Perhaps I can manipulate this to achieve the same thing?

 

[Trip]

Absolutely worth a shot, but first I would do some testing for RSSI levels at/around the mid-point overlap of the router and AP unit (where levels are weakest and clients are most likely to start roaming). Then compare this to what's set in the Synology platform, then increase the sensitivity by, say, -5 or so dB (so if it's set to -75dB, adjust to -70dB), which should cause BSS roaming requests to be sent at a slightly higher drop threshold. That might work just well enough to "coax" the iPad into behaving better. You want to be careful with this, though, so you don't make all client roam too quickly, and end up on too weak a signal in the overlap to not end up pinging back and forth from AP to AP.

Also, this is where power level adjustment and/or AP placement come into play. You want to get the broadcasts and power levels such that radios are close enough and/or power level high enough to provide adequate service in overlapping coverage and during roaming, yet far enough away and/or low-enough power that signal strength over distance maps very clearly towards one radio or the other. This will keep clients homed to the proper AP more naturally in the first place.

Hope some of that helps!

 

[coxhaus]

What iPad is it?

Never Mind. I found it.