Fritzbox + Unifi AP

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Huskie

143 posts

Master Geek

#190770 11-Jan-2016 20:40

I purchased a Unifi AP a couple days ago as my family couldn't get any signal down the other end of the house through the Fritzbox. I need the FB for my voip hence I went with the AP instead of a new all in one.
Anywho, I read a few threads that say "simply turn off your FB WiFi, plug UniFi in, and away it goes".

I connected the AP to my Fritz, and set it up via the software - has been working great and no complaints yet due to lack of signal etc

Only thing is, I haven't disabled my fritzbox WiFi yet.
Is there a reason for having to disable the WiFi on the FB?
Aside from having 2 "separate" networks listed, I don't mind keeping the FB WiFi up as well if it doesn't cause issues.

Jase2985

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#1467982 11-Jan-2016 20:44

you can actually have them on the same name :) this can allow your devices to roam a little easier as opposed to having to connect at the other access point

Huskie

143 posts

Master Geek

#1467985 11-Jan-2016 20:49

Cheers Jase - I have done that previously (at a different house) so will definitely do that again down the road.
Just gave it a separate name for now just so I can monitor it and make sure everything is stable on this AP :)

richms

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#1467987 11-Jan-2016 20:50

Dont put them on the same name. Roaming will only work properly between identically configured accesspoints, and when they are that different then you cant guarentee that they are configured the same. Sure, the phone may connect to both of them, but roaming between them will have issues more often than not.

Richard rich.ms

Huskie

143 posts

Master Geek

#1467993 11-Jan-2016 20:54

Oh - thanks for the headsup. Last time I did that, I had 2 fritzboxes so that maybe why it was okay.

Would you suggest keeping them separate or just disabling the FB one altogether?

richms

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#1467997 11-Jan-2016 21:03

Seperate SSID so that everything is renegotiated when it connects to the other one.

I was finding that thruput was stalling when on a fritz if it roamed over from a unifi to it. I have them bridged to the lan here and only use it for its voip features, its not doing the internet connection or NAT or anything. - Have just left them with the default fritz name and that all seems good, but due to range issues it doesnt ever see a roam directly between the 2 of them. They are barely in dect range of each other.

Richard rich.ms

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1468001 11-Jan-2016 21:15

richms: Dont put them on the same name. Roaming will only work properly between identically configured accesspoints, and when they are that different then you cant guarentee that they are configured the same. Sure, the phone may connect to both of them, but roaming between them will have issues more often than not.

my experience has been quite different. never had any issues with roaming across many devices. - not to say it doesnt happen, simply that in my experience it hasnt over multiple setups.

The big downside to not being a managed solution though is its up to the client to handle it however, Andriod, iOS and windows devices seem to all handle this perfectly.

The only time roaming has not worked as expected is when i used an app to force connections to a particular AP, this hardcoded the channel into my phone and required the network to be "forgotten" and resetup to clear off.

roaming between 2.4ghz and 5ghz doesnt often happen but thats okay as a fixed device is likely cabled anyway.

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Huskie

143 posts

Master Geek

#1468005 11-Jan-2016 21:31

I may just leave it as is.

My family members just sit in their room and play their mobile games, so shouldn't need to "roam", and I myself run a wired connection and never go outside the fritzbox range anyways for my mobiles, so I guess it wouldn't do us any good changing the settings if it's working well already.

Thanks for the input!

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Jase2985

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#1468119 12-Jan-2016 06:01

hio77:
my experience has been quite different. never had any issues with roaming across many devices. - not to say it doesnt happen, simply that in my experience it hasnt over multiple setups.

The big downside to not being a managed solution though is its up to the client to handle it however, Andriod, iOS and windows devices seem to all handle this perfectly.

Im in the same boat as hio77, never had an issue with the roaming at home or at my parents. have an app on my phone to help with it to switch to another access point if the signal strength drops below 55dBm. has worked flawlessly.

many people run it like this and have had no issues

Mattmannz

471 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1468160 12-Jan-2016 08:22

I recommend running separate SSID's for the 2.4 and 5ghz networks as some devices can't manually select a specific network - mainly Apple.

Huskie

143 posts

Master Geek

#1468192 12-Jan-2016 09:00

I've always run the 2.4 and 5ghz network with separate SSID's.

Maybe I'll give both methods a shot and see if issues arise. If not I'll join the names together so they roam, otherwise I can always go back to how it is now.

@Jase may I ask what app you use on your mobile for the switching?

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1468290 12-Jan-2016 10:38

Jase2985:
hio77:
my experience has been quite different. never had any issues with roaming across many devices. - not to say it doesnt happen, simply that in my experience it hasnt over multiple setups.

The big downside to not being a managed solution though is its up to the client to handle it however, Andriod, iOS and windows devices seem to all handle this perfectly.

Im in the same boat as hio77, never had an issue with the roaming at home or at my parents. have an app on my phone to help with it to switch to another access point if the signal strength drops below 55dBm. has worked flawlessly.

many people run it like this and have had no issues

personally i found those apps counter-productive..

walking around the house, my M8x doesnt even buffer streams, just hops along as signal gets low.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Jase2985

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#1468448 12-Jan-2016 14:07

im only on the 2.4ghz band and its called wifi roaming fix (for android)

my 5ghz network is a different name so have to connect manually. But I don't really roam wit the 5ghz devices and the phones can just stay on 2.4ghz as they don't need to be super fast.