Phone and pc sometimes loses Internet on AI Mesh movement

[Mastiff]

Weird problem. At my cabin I have identical RT-AC88U devices as both AI Mesh AP (the routing is done by my Windows Server) and AI Mesh nodes. All have the latest Asus firmware, and I set them up anew a couple of months back (I do that every year to keep the system "fresh".) But both before I did that and now, when I move from the area of one of the nodes and to the AP or vice versa I sometimes loose the Internet connection. The only way to get it back is to turn off wifi and turn it back on again. This is both on my One+ 12 and my Microsoft Surface Pro 9. The device is still connected, but the Surface shows the wire globe that shows no Internet connection, and the phone just won't go to anything internal or external. It happens even more often when I disconnect the Surface from the docking (which has a LAN cable to the same network). Does this ring a bell with anybody?

I have the exact same setup in my house, and when I go from the house to the cabin or the cabin to the house I have to do the same thing: Turn off Wifi and turn it back on again, to make it work. If not, I do not get anything.

 

[degrub]

privacy settings in client device - randomize MAC address ?

Are there logs you can look at in the ASUS boxes when this happens ?

 

[Mastiff]

There is no randomization, but I see in the log that there is a bit of this:

roamast: eth1: disconnect weak signal strength station [b2:8e:1e:df:fb:2b]
roamast: eth1: remove client [b2:8e:1e:df:fb:2b] from monitor list

Could it be that I should turn off roaming assistant?

 

[degrub]

That means that the ASUS AP radio could not hear the client device well enough. Not unusual. Many times the client radio is weaker than the AP radio, so the client can hear the AP, but not vice versa. So there is a weak signal area to perhaps try to remedy by relocation of the AP or just staying out of that area or just expect it to occur as you move about.

You could turn RA off as well as smart connect (if available).
Set the ASUS radios to 20 or maybe 20/40 fixed channel width on the 2.4 GHz band and 80 on the 5 GHz band and see if that helps. Used fixed channel numbers. You may have to do a wifi survey to see what the RF congestion looks like. Apple Airport Utility is good enough. Be sure to enable wifi scan in settings.
Most devices can only use about 100 Mbit/s bandwidth anyway. IOTs 10 Mb/s or less.

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks! There is no congestion, only my own networks. Nearest neighbours only have weak single device networks, and there are not many of them. And the coverage should really be great, I have three RT-AC88U in a cabin that isn't all that big, but L-shaped.

I have 2.4 set to 20 already. As for 5 I assume you mean channel bandwith on 80, there is no channel 80. But should I select channel bandwith 80 and then auto channel, or should I lock that too?

 

[degrub]

Use a fixed channel, non-DFS range ( if DFS is available on that model) . You can let auto channel find a preferred channel and then manually set it to that or just experiment manually. Set channel width (not bandwidth, btw) on any 5GHz channel to 80 MHz manually.

 

[degrub]

Thanks! There is no congestion, only my own networks. Nearest neighbours only have weak single device networks, and there are not many of them. And the coverage should really be great, I have three RT-AC88U in a cabin that isn't all that big, but L-shaped.

I have 2.4 set to 20 already. As for 5 I assume you mean channel bandwith on 80, there is no channel 80. But should I select channel bandwith 80 and then auto channel, or should I lock that too?

What does the plot plan and dimensions of your cabin look like, including interior walls. 3 sets of radios is a lot of RF power, particularly in 2.4 GHz band.

 

[Mastiff]

Weird, in my setup it literally says "Channel bandwith" (in Norwegian). Maybe it's a mistranslation? I set it to 80 and 100, and then we'll see. Thanks for the help so far! I'll be back in a few days to say if it helps.

 

[degrub]

probably mistranslated since it should be "width of band" or "channel width" to be more precise.

 

[Mastiff]

Syncronized posting. The cabin is around 11 meters on each of the L sides. One side is a big room without walls, the other side is six small rooms and a corridor. Two of the Asus devices are in opposite corners, the third one is in a waterproof box outside to cover the patio and for the boat to connect to.

 

[Mastiff]

I just remembered that I had a drone shot of the cabin and the neighborhood. I have marked in red where the three Asus devices are.

 

[degrub]

Nice !
Are the three ASUS connected by ethernet cable or WIFI backhaul ?

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks! We enjoy it. Cable. I have network cables in the ceiling, from when I rebuilt the cabin about 12 years back. 50 mm corrugated tube connects all rooms and all sides of the living room, so it's future proof.

 

[degrub]

i would also do a wifi survey, if you have not already done so, to see if you have too much RF overlap or gaps. The wing with the 6 small rooms probably has the most issues as 2.4 GHz will only penetrate 2, maybe 3 walls if thinly covered and 5 GHz will not likely get through 2 walls with enough signal. There also may be leakage from the outdoor AP into the cabin through the windows depending coatings as the radios on these devices are omnidirectional. Likely to have to identify each radio by its MAC address rather than SSID name, assuming they are the same.

 

[Mastiff]

OK, I will if this didn't fix it. And the SSID is the same, yeah. The problems normally arises when I go from the big room to the small room wing. Sometimes the Surface insists on connecting to the AI Mesh Client in the big room instead of the mesh router in the far corner of the other wing, even if I am in the room next to that router. No idea why, it may be related. But none of the devices are locked to any part of the mesh.

 

[degrub]

quite possibly too much overlap between the two APs. Clients determine when to switch APs, unfortunately. Common issue.
Roaming Assist attempts to help that. Best is to reduce power on the AP that it wants to hang on to. However, with consumer gear, not always possible to lower enough. A "heat" map from the wifi strength survey of the wifi power in each location is helpful.

A signal power level of -67 dB or higher ( smaller negative number e.g. -55 dB) is generally considered good enough for use. However, some clients will not let go until -75 or -80dB signal strength on the band. Some clients may have a setting, but often it is no available to the consumer. Many SMB and most corporate APs will have a setting to drop a client when the client radio received signal power is too low and management software to ease roaming issues.

At the consumer level, all we can do is adjust the transmit power or turn off radios. 2.4 GHz radios are the worst as that signal can penetrate walls reasonably well. 5 GHz is easier to work with. You might find that turning off the 2.4 GHz radios on the inside APs and just using 5Ghz radios will work better. Of course , if you have IOT devices, they may not like that. So maybe only one AP inside broadcasts on 2.4 GHz and the other is turned off.

Looking at the L shape, maybe repositioning an AP to the lower left outside wall so that it is looking straight down the hallway and also covering the large room to the left might help. Then maybe don't need the second AP inside or can use only the 5GHz radio on the 2nd AP if located in the last room (not hallway) furthest away possibly at reduced power.

Too much RF power can be just a bad as too little. It is a balancing act and consumer gear has the approach of more is better, unfortunately.,

 

[Mastiff]

I think it's another problem. Weird one that I didn't expect. It seems like the AI Mesh router is not giving out anything external, only the AI Mesh nodes. I checked with the Surface when I had that problem last night, and it had all the right info in there, for DNS and all. It pointed to the server. But I could not VNC to the server using the IP address, so something in the AI Mesh router stops everything. But when I turned off wifi and on again, and it connected to one of the AI Mesh nodes, all was working. So I need to find out why this is happening.