I want to be able to seamlessly roam between access points. Looking at Mikrotik CAP AC and Ubiquiti Unfi AP AC (Lite?)
Comments?
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Depends on the device, and getting the deployment just nice.
I personally find, my android phone and tablet will roam nicely around Unifi AP's, but windows laptop will hold on to an AP as long as possible - that's when "Advanced features" is enabled.
One for @sbiddle or @Crowdie to answer... but it's something about 802.11r and 802.11k.
Never used the Mikrotik CAPsMAN thing, Unifi is just easy all round and allows managing multiple sites sooo much easier.
I use Unifi at home with (two APs) and I find roaming seems to work well most of the time with most devices (not the absence of the word 'all'). I found that roaming wasn't always automatic/seamless with the default settings. I find setting up setting a Minimum RSSI to force APs off when the signal gets too low works well to encourage devices to associate with a suitable AP. I also disable CCK rates (i.e. 1.5~11mbps speeds) to prevent devices associating when they are too far from an AP (note that this breaks compatibility with some very old 802.11b only devices which is an non-issue in my case). While not roaming related, I also enable Airtime Fairness. Turning on these three non-default settings has helped improved overall WiFi performance (including roaming).
The worst issue I've had has been my SO's PlayStation. It always seemed to associate with the worst AP when it starts up, only to associate with the best AP if he went into network settings and forced a reconfiguration. This was despite the best AP being in the same room as the PS, and the other AP in the house across to other side of the section. Very annoying. I ended up just running Ethernet to the PlayStation to keep my SO happy. You should be running Ethernet to as many fixed devices as possible in any case and only using WiFi if absolutely necessary.
YMMV of course. Do report back on what you end up going with. :)
I sue these - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NAPGSM11110/Grandstream-GWN7610-Dual-Band-3x33-AC1750-4501300M
They are cheap and work nicely. They also have the distinct advantage that you can select one as the master so you don't need a separate controller for effective roaming. Also, guest wireless and rate limiting per ssid is also built in.
MichaelNZ:
I want to be able to seamlessly roam between access points. Looking at Mikrotik CAP AC and Ubiquiti Unfi AP AC (Lite?)
Comments?
I'll answer a simple question with a simple answer - you can't. Neither support full 802.11kvr for true seamless roaming.
Of course depending on exactly what your requirements are and what devices you're using the complex answer could be anything from kind of to maybe. UniFi supports 802.11r for fast BSS transitions but support will depend on the device(s) you are using - Windows for example only supports 802.11r using 802.1X authentication.
Enabling 802.11r on a SSID will break WiFi for some devices that don't understand 802.11r if you attempt to use them on the same network.
If true roaming is required for a critical network such as warehouse with roaming devices or for voice you need to look at better quality wireless hardware.
noroad:I sue these - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NAPGSM11110/Grandstream-GWN7610-Dual-Band-3x33-AC1750-4501300M
They are cheap and work nicely. They also have the distinct advantage that you can select one as the master so you don't need a separate controller for effective roaming. Also, guest wireless and rate limiting per ssid is also built in.
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