Can I force wireless gadgets to use the router rather than the repeater?

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FritzFun

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#277326 8-Oct-2020 01:38

Hi all,

Am in need of a little help. I have an FB7590 and Fritz 3000 repeater, which works fine, except that almost every device in the house has recently connected itself to the repeater, even those much closer to the router. The repeater's connection to the router is OK but not great, so having 6 or 7 devices using it is causing bandwidth problems. Is it possible to force a couple of them to use the router?

Thanks

Dynamic

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#2581031 8-Oct-2020 08:05

If the two devices are broadcasting the same SSID, then normally no we don't have an opportunity to choose.

If this repeater gives you the option of changing its SSID, then you have options. :)

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sbiddle

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#2581038 8-Oct-2020 08:24

Regardless of the wireless hardware used the only way to force a client device to connect to a specific AP is by either giving the AP a unique SSID so the client device can only connect to that AP, or if the client device has the capability to bind to an AP MAC address by binding it to the MAC address of the required AP.

tanivula

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#2581057 8-Oct-2020 09:23

Are the 2 fritz's in proper mesh setup or is it just 'repeating' becuase it doesn't sound like it's working properly.

If you look in the home network/mesh area in the 7590 does the 3000 show up with the blue mesh icon?

FritzFun

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#2581062 8-Oct-2020 09:37

Thanks for the replies.

Yes - the mesh icon is there. I have to say it's a somewhat new problem, I've had the setup for months and until now at least half the devices have connected to the Fritzbox, but for some reason everything except my phone moved to the repeater a few days ago and have stayed there. The TV/Chromecast are particularly daft as they're barely 1m from the router.

tanivula

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#2581087 8-Oct-2020 10:08

Sounds a little like the Fritz 7590 lost power/rebooted and the repeater stayed active. Have you tried power cycling the repeater (this should 'force' the other connections to migrate back to the router as it'll be the only connection available). Once it comes back online, the devices, particularly your TV and chromecast, *shouldn't* move across.

surfisup1000

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#2581096 8-Oct-2020 10:18

I have 3 wifi access points in our house, each on 2.4/5gz bands.

For whatever reason, I find client devices often do not connect to the strongest signal/fastest band.

Case in point, in our movie room -- ceiling mounted unifi AC pro with same ssid for 2.4/5 ... my laptop wifi board configured to 'prefer' 5ghz -- but, even in the same room, about 70% of the time it connects to the 2.4ghz band. I got sick of the disconnect/reconnect lottery, so I give every wifi ap, and each band , a unique ssid. So, we have 6 SSID's, and we can manually connect to the closest/fastest band.

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nztim

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#2581120 8-Oct-2020 10:47

These reasons people listing above bring to the attention why you should have a managed access point solution (unifi / aruba / ruckus / etc) that have proper handover of devices from one AP to another

I guess it all comes down to cost

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muppet

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#2581280 8-Oct-2020 12:28

nztim:

These reasons people listing above bring to the attention why you should have a managed access point solution (unifi / aruba / ruckus / etc) that have proper handover of devices from one AP to another

I guess it all comes down to cost

"Handover" isn't something the APs do, it's a client decision.

nztim

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#2581328 8-Oct-2020 13:51

muppet:

nztim:

These reasons people listing above bring to the attention why you should have a managed access point solution (unifi / aruba / ruckus / etc) that have proper handover of devices from one AP to another

I guess it all comes down to cost

"Handover" isn't something the APs do, it's a client decision.

for 802.11k and 802.11r to work properly the APs need to be managed two independent APs with the same SSID and Key don't (well it does but the Client makes its own decisions)

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

KiwiSurfer

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#2581415 8-Oct-2020 15:14

Even with Ubiquiti gear I find handover to be pretty crap if one AP's coverage is well within range of another AP. In situations like these, devices can obtain a 'good enough' signal from both APs. Some devices self-manage this OK but to varying degrees. Apple devices for instance will only handover once signal falls under a certain level. Other manufactures seem to either do similar or just hold on until it loses signal. So really for WiFi you do need to set things up so that there is minimal overlap in the coverage area between two APs (i.e. just enough overlap that there is an opportunity for devices to hand over when waking in/out of the target area). This can be tricky with mesh set ups, but easily done for Ethernet or PtP wireless backhauls. For my Unifi gear I ended up manually adjusting the power levels of the APs to ensure the coverage didn't extend too far from each APs towards the other APs. Our main house AP has coverage extending to halfway across our backyard; and the sleepout AP (at the back of the backyard) has coverage extending across the backyard and stopping before it reaches the house. This stopped devices from hanging on to Sleepout AP when we walked into the house and vice-versa but still allowed smooth handover in both directions. For some reason Unifi didn't manage this automatically (Auto mode set all out APs to High power levels!).

Think the suggestion above to turn off the repeater forcing devices to attach to the main AP is a good idea.

FritzFun

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#2581706 9-Oct-2020 06:52

Thanks again for all the replies. I haven't tried anything "technical", but did follow the suggestion of turning the repeater off and on. Having left it off for a couple of minutes everything has latched onto the FB, and so far stayed there, the only downside is that a couple of them would be much better off on the repeater 😄 I might try restarting those two individually and see if they'll find the repeater ...