Why my clients don't roam or connect to the nearest AP

Contents

Objective

Requirements

Introduction

Factor 1: Interference or Network Congestion

Factor 2: Signal Strength Threshold

Factor 3: Wireless Clients’ Limitations

Factor 4: Coverage and Placement

Factor 5: Configuration on the Controller

Conclusion

Objective

This article covers factors to help you resolve roaming issues in your Wi-Fi network, such as interface and network congestion, signal strength, coverage range and placement etc.

Requirements

• Omada Controller (Software Controller / Hardware Controller / CBC, v5.9 and above)
• Omada AP

Introduction

After your APs have established the mesh network, your wireless clients will automatically connect to the nearest AP. However, a few of the wireless clients will connect to the further APs, which may be determined by the roaming mechanism of themselves. This article will introduce some of the factors that cause the wireless client not roam or connect to the nearest AP.

Factor 1: Interference or Network Congestion

Fast roaming requires a strong and stable Wi-Fi signal. High levels of interference or network congestion may hinder fast roaming. Other Wi-Fi networks, electronic devices, or physical obstacles can interfere with the Wi-Fi signal, which weaken AP's roaming performance to a great extent. Therefore, please avoid crowded Wi-Fi environments and minimize interference sources as much as possible.

Factor 2: Signal Strength Threshold

Roaming is primarily determined by signal strength. If the current AP's signal strength remains relatively strong, wireless clients may choose not to initiate a roaming process to connect to a closer AP. To trigger roaming, ensure that the current AP's signal strength is below a certain threshold.

Factor 3: Wireless Clients’ Limitations

Some wireless clients have roaming aggressiveness settings that determine how quickly they move between APs. If the roaming aggressiveness is set to a low value, clients may be less likely to roam to another AP. On the other hand, some clients may have limitations or compatibility issues with specific roaming protocols or AP configurations. For this case, please check your clients' settings and adjust the roaming aggressiveness as needed.

Factor 4: Coverage and Placement

Roaming performance can be affected by inadequate coverage or incorrect placement of APs. It is important to ensure that the APs are strategically positioned in areas where clients are expected to roam for providing sufficient coverage and overlapping signals. Conducting a site survey can help identify weak signal areas or coverage gaps. Ensure that your Wi-Fi network has appropriate range and signal strength, allowing seamless roaming without any disruptions.

Factor 5: Configuration on the Controller

• When the Lock to AP function is enabled on the Controller, the wireless clients can only connect to the selected APs. If the nearest AP is not selected, the client will not be able to connect to it.
• When a specific frequency radio is disabled for certain APs on the Controller, while the client happens to be connected to the disabled radio, the client will not be able to connect to it which is exactly the nearest AP.
• When the SSID Override function is enabled for certain APs on the Controller, the APs in the network may not all have the same SSID, which may result in the client unable to connect to the nearest AP.
• With WLAN Optimization enabled, the network will try to use more non-overlapping channels. Some outdated clients may not support all the channels currently deployed in the network, which may result in the client unable to connect to the nearest AP as well.

In summary, Any of the above factors may cause wireless clients fail to roam / connect to the nearest AP. To benefit from the Fast Roaming feature on Omada AP, please ensure:

• All the APs and the wireless clients support 802.11k and 802.11v protocols.
• Omada Controller is managing the APs properly and keep running.
• All the APs are having the same SSID and security settings.
• The wireless coverage between adjacent AP is overlapped for 20%-30%.
• It's better to choose different channels to reduce wireless interference between APs.
• As the roaming-related information is maintained by the Omada Controller, Fast Roaming function takes effect only when the Omada Controller is running.

Conclusion

If the problem still exists after trying the above operations, please contact TP-Link technical support for the further help.

Get to know more details of each function and configuration please go to Download Center to download the manual of your product.