S9+ Wifi connection

[tintin82]

Hi all,

Hopefully someone will be able to help on an issue I have discovered with my S9.

My home has BT Fibre 900 with the router in the lounge and a BT disc installed in my back kitchen.

When I am in the lounge and turn on my phones WiFi it will connect to the 5Ghz mode and download at 300mbps. When I move to the back kitchen it flicks over to the disc and still has a respectable download speed. However it never flicks off the disc when I move back into my lounge, and the download speed drops to 30mbps. It will not leave the disc unless I turn the phones wifi off and on again. It does not appear to be prioritising the fastest connection. Occasionally it will even go to the 2.4 ghz connection when within 10ft line of site to my main router???

Any thing I should could try?

Thanks

 

[Orcvader]

I don't have experience with the BT discs but it sounds like it doesn't have proper roaming/hand-off. Do other devices move between the two just fine?

 

[tintin82]

I don't have experience with the BT discs but it sounds like it doesn't have proper roaming/hand-off. Do other devices move between the two just fine?

Yeah this appears to be across all devices. I just conducted a test with both my phone (S9), and wife (M31). Both connected to the kitchen disc and downloading around 30mbps. When wifi on both devices is toggled then they connect straight to the lounge router and download at 300mbps.

 

[Christmas themed thank]

BT doesn’t support roaming it seems. I have a mesh system and my devices roam seamlessly

 

[tintin82]

So after a day of tinkering I think I have found the issue. Using a wifi analyser I found that the router and disc switch over when the signal falls below -72db. So when I go into my kitchen the signal drops and it switches to the disc, but then i got back to my lounge and the signal drops to about -70db. Close to the trigger point, but doesn't switch over. Some routers you can change this, but I don't think with BT you can.
Only solution might be to move my disc.

 

[Christmas themed thank]

So after a day of tinkering I think I have found the issue. Using a wifi analyser I found that the router and disc switch over when the signal falls below -72db. So when I go into my kitchen the signal drops and it switches to the disc, but then i got back to my lounge and the signal drops to about -70db. Close to the trigger point, but doesn't switch over. Some routers you can change this, but I don't think with BT you can.
Only solution might be to move my disc.

Proper Wi-Fi roaming support would resolve this.

I think only Macs have a specific dB value and they ignore the router suggestion but I thought that was 70 db

 

[WJA96]

The figure you want to access on the WiFi is RTSP. We very commonly set this to as high as -45dB to force mobiles onto the access point in the room or corridor they are in. If you’re doing a bigger building with lots of access points set to low power output then you can force a client onto the closest access point.

I would very much doubt you would notice the difference between -70bB and -72dB. Certainly it’s unlikely your device would force you to switch for such a small improvement in received signal power. If you have WiFi Calling enabled the phones typically drop the handoff threshold so you get continuous calling rather than good signal. Voice data is very robust but the call will drop if you change access points so WiFi calling doesn’t change access points unless it pretty much completely loses the signal.

This is why a more complex Wireless LAN solution (like Ubiquiti UniFi or TPLink Omada) is better because it gives YOU control of when clients get kicked onto another access point rather than what a design engineer thinks will work best for the vast majority of home owners.

 

[tintin82]

The figure you want to access on the WiFi is RTSP. We very commonly set this to as high as -45dB to force mobiles onto the access point in the room or corridor they are in. If you’re doing a bigger building with lots of access points set to low power output then you can force a client onto the closest access point.

I would very much doubt you would notice the difference between -70bB and -72dB. Certainly it’s unlikely your device would force you to switch for such a small improvement in received signal power. If you have WiFi Calling enabled the phones typically drop the handoff threshold so you get continuous calling rather than good signal. Voice data is very robust but the call will drop if you change access points so WiFi calling doesn’t change access points unless it pretty much completely loses the signal.

This is why a more complex Wireless LAN solution (like Ubiquiti UniFi or TPLink Omada) is better because it gives YOU control of when clients get kicked onto another access point rather than what a design engineer thinks will work best for the vast majority of home owners.

Thanks for this. Very informative. Unfortunately I don't think my BT Smart Hub router allows for changing the RTSP, nor even splitting 5Gz and 2.4Ghz channels.