Mesh wifi vs Access point

[rizexor]

So I have the main router in my hall and I want wifi access to be seamless there and my bedroom. Good wifi signal does not come there due to thick concentrate and cupboards.

I have a single Ethernet cable going to my bedroom from the main router. So I was thinking of going for openwrt fast roaming access point with a second router in my bedroom. And I can use the free lan ports on it to connect my PC.

But I have heard fast roaming depends on client I have an old Redmi note 5 pro idk if it supports fast roaming.

Or the other option is wired mesh wifi which I think is a little expensive for just a simple use case.

So which option should I go for guys?

 

[Sushubh]

i have three routers around my place and none of them are on mesh or fast roaming. i do have them using the same ssid and encryption setting. and it does work pretty well. i rarely have to manually turn off/on wifi to get the phone to connect to closer router. i did have to play around with router settings for broadcasting power. what i am trying to say is that even with a basic router, it should not really be a big problem roaming around your house. invest in better networking hardware when your needs are more complex and maybe you are on very high speed plans.

 

[Aashish.007]

What I did in such a case was to buy a cheap 2nd router like Mi3c / 4c and use them as the 2nd router. You need to set the 2.4ghz band on main router to channel 1 and the other router to channel 11 and force 40mhz on both. Select the encryption on both as WPA-2 AES and the trick is to use the 2nd router in Router mode (not AP mode) with DHCP disabled and eth cable connected to lan port.

 

[rizexor]

@Sushubh @Aashish.007

I have configured both to use same encryption and SSID.

Unfortunately It doesn't switch to the AP. But it easily switches to the main router. Even when im right next to the AP it sticks with main router and iperf3 sends 0 bits /sec.

EDIT: Yes the secondary router (AP) is configured as a dumb AP (disabled DHCP etc)

 

[Aashish.007]

Reduce the broadcast power of the main router a bit, change channels of both routers.

 

[rizexor]

Main router medium transmit power, channel 46.
AP is channel 36

It seems to work now but it takes 15-30seconds to switch, can fast roaming help with this? I want to kind of seamless, for example in video calls.

EDIT: when im doing iperf3 transfer, its not switching

 

[wheatbread]

I have this setup, two dual-band APs on FT(802.11r Fast Transition Roaming) and another one without FT but the same SSID, for the most part, FT works great. On newer devices it's seamless you don't notice a thing (automatically switches between bands too, doesn't stick to Wi-Fi 4 band). On older devices, it's kind of aggressive (and doesn't reassociate fast enough and has to go back to previous AP, although you can change reassociation deadline and it should get rid of this loop) with FT and it gets worse without FT.

I think Redmi Note 5 Pro should fall into the newer device category here. You can also look into 802.11k and w, since it's seamless with FT only for most people I didn't bother. Also, I don't think reducing transmit power and forcing clients to switch or manually setting channels is a good idea, you'll be making too many assumptions.

Proprietary mesh things don't perform any better and are very expensive comparatively, automated setup is the only thing you get for the price.

Edit: I should add even on the oldest device I have with Wi-Fi 5 support from 2015-16, switching does take a little time, enough to interrupt your video call but not enough to drop your call. For some reason this isn't that bad on older Wi-Fi 4 only devices (I don't think they even recognise FT). Also, your apps getting back online depends on your clients getting their connectivity check response.

 

[Aashish.007]

I have set my routers at a distance that the 5ghz channels don't interfere and the 2.4 ghz are set to channel 1 and 13 with 40mhz forced (no interference here too) @ maximum power on both. All my devices including smart speakers switch seamlessly between those.
Also I see your OpenWrt is WPA2/WPA not WPA2 only.. might be the cause.

 

[wheatbread]

I don't think mixed mode has anything to do here unless the client is trying both modes (which I don't think happens, atleast on android (?) or with wpa_supplicant in general or even iwd)
Also, I don't think your smart speakers or anything is switching "seamlessly" without FT, it's not even possible without another monitor.

 

[rizexor]

Also I see your OpenWrt is WPA2/WPA not WPA2 only.. might be the cause.

The TP-Link (archer c5 v4 doesn't support openwrt without opening the router and doing some serial stuff) doesn't support WPA2 only thats why i made it mixed.