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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1663433
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:I have separate SSIDs.


Even if you set them the same it won't help -that- much. Most WiFi devices will cling on for dear life to the AP they are connected to. So you could end up being sat right next to one router with your phone or whatever still connected to the one the other side of the house. This applies to any scenario where you're hacking together a bunch of disparate components rather than setting up a proper solution.

Proper mesh networking stuff (like the Ubiquiti stuff I mentioned above) monitors the signal level of your device on each AP, and nudges you onto the most appropriate one. (This is a gross simplification of what actually happens before any pedantry is forthcoming.)
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By stevelup
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#1663434
rikur_ wrote:....albeit I think there's a link back to the 'If I won the lottery thread' - not cheap.


You can get three decent AP's that will behave like this for less than £300. Hardly lottery winning territory!
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By rikur_
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#1663443
stevelup wrote:
rikur_ wrote:....albeit I think there's a link back to the 'If I won the lottery thread' - not cheap.


You can get three decent AP's that will behave like this for less than £300. Hardly lottery winning territory!

You're perhaps being a bit literal - my point was that at at £323.50 per access point, the Aruba stuff is in a different league than the £200 for a pack of three stuff. It's replacing Unify stuff that hasn't lived up to the job.

stevelup wrote:Even if you set them the same it won't help -that- much. Most WiFi devices will cling on for dear life to the AP they are connected to. So you could end up being sat right next to one router with your phone or whatever still connected to the one the other side of the house. This applies to any scenario where you're hacking together a bunch of disparate components rather than setting up a proper solution.


I think this depends a lot on the devices that you use. I was warned of this problem, and haven't found it a problem in reality. The only devices that move around the house are laptops (Mac, Acer, Asus, Lenovo) and mobiles/tablets (iPhone, Samsung, Sony, Fire, Lenovo) and all of these seem willing to swap to stronger connections. I suspect some of the dumber stuff - e.g. IPcameras, Pis, Wii, etc might not be as dynamic - but they don't move.
It's absolutely not a proper solution, and relies on the quality of network management in the end devices, but it's free to try the same SSID on existing kit - it may or may not work - but might save £s.
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By stevelup
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#1663456
I manage over 100 WLANs - all running Ubiquiti and all with zero problems and excellent performance.

I know another supplier who manages tens of thousands of devices. I don't accept there's anything wrong with Ubiquiti par se. Got no first hand experience with Aruba.
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By JonathanB
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#1663461
Thanks Steve. It was better but never completely flawless all over. I’ll look into the ubiquiti stuff.
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By rikur_
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#1663464
stevelup wrote:I manage over 100 WLANs - all running Ubiquiti and all with zero problems and excellent performance.

I know another supplier who manages tens of thousands of devices. I don't accept there's anything wrong with Ubiquiti par se. Got no first hand experience with Aruba.

We effectively got backed into a corner by a supplier. The Unify network was put in 2 - 3 years ago by an networks "specialist" whereas the rest of the school IT is on a managed IT contract with a different supplier. I strongly suspect the Unify issues could all be fixed with configuration or at worst firmware .... but find ourselves in a situation where the main supplier will only support the Unify on a 'time and materials' basis with no guarantees that they can resolve the issues, or will put in Aruba at fixed price and guarantee that it will work. Short of spending more money on another supplier/consultant to referee them.... I'm hoping the unify stuff has decent residual ebay value to offset some of the cost!
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1663471
rikur_ wrote:
stevelup wrote:Even if you set them the same it won't help -that- much. Most WiFi devices will cling on for dear life to the AP they are connected to. So you could end up being sat right next to one router with your phone or whatever still connected to the one the other side of the house. This applies to any scenario where you're hacking together a bunch of disparate components rather than setting up a proper solution.


I think this depends a lot on the devices that you use. I was warned of this problem, and haven't found it a problem in reality.

I concur.
The Powerline adapters don't pretend to have any fancy "mesh" ability, but I can seamlessly walk from my lounge to my kitchen (where wifi doesn't seem to penetrate, so I have a second powerline wifi AP) without issue and I can see the connection strength jump on my phone from High (lounge), Medium (hall), High (kitchen on other AP).
Perhaps devices are getting cleverer :)

The powerline TP-Link wifi APs and Sky broadband router don't appear to have much penetration from one room to the next in my house - maybe Glasgow 1930s bricks are just a bit too thick. My house isn't large!
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By JonathanB
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#1663545
I might try a single Ubiquiti UAP-AC-LITE in the understairs cupboard where all my network stuff is except for the router (I have one cat 5 cable running from router by telly at the back of the house to the cupboard where I then have a network switch and a couple of Rapberry Pis). The cupboard is a much more central. If it's better but still not 100% for the top of the house then I can more easily add some more cat 5 up a level or two from there (well, any holes would be hidden in the cupboard there and on the landing above hopefully!)
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By Flyin'Dutch'
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#1663560
Pleased to report that the further whirl has paid off and I have managed to get the Fritzbox and TP Link power adapters to all have the same SSID.

Whether it will make a big difference time will tell.

Looking at the Fritzbox settings it says 25 Mbps down but speediest reports as low as 6. How is that possible? Volume of traffic?
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By stevelup
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#1663563
Did you do the speed test via WiFi or an ethernet cable?

Which speed test service did you use? I recommend using speedtest.net and manually setting the speed test server to Vodafone Newbury.

Finally, do the same test at different times of the day - this will show if it's network congestion. Who is your ISP?
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By JonathanB
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#1664380
Ubiquiti AP all set up with the whizzy controller software on my Raspberry Pi - lots of config options and stats to play with, although have kept it pretty standard for now! :D
By LapsedRinger
#1665138
We have Decos. Needs 6 of them to get everywhere - reasonably large house, with thick walls between the 1930s original and the several 1970s extensions. One of them gets upset regularly for being too close to its neighbour, but without it we are without internet in the Master bedroom. (Checking Twitter at 5:30am is a necessary part of my waking up routine.)

Not perfect, but an order of magnitude better than the previous powerline solution.
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By Flyin'Dutch'
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#1665148
stevelup wrote:
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:I have separate SSIDs.


Even if you set them the same it won't help -that- much. Most WiFi devices will cling on for dear life to the AP they are connected to. So you could end up being sat right next to one router with your phone or whatever still connected to the one the other side of the house. This applies to any scenario where you're hacking together a bunch of disparate components rather than setting up a proper solution.

Proper mesh networking stuff (like the Ubiquiti stuff I mentioned above) monitors the signal level of your device on each AP, and nudges you onto the most appropriate one. (This is a gross simplification of what actually happens before any pedantry is forthcoming.)


Yup, I can confirm this from, now recent, experience.

In fact it is worse as previously you could, when things slowed down to a grind, look at the SSID and change it to one which worked better in that part of the house. Now the SSID is of course always the same so you dont know which part of the network it is connected to.

Hey ho.
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