[NEBULA] AP Client Steering

Draegan · April 2018

Hi,

I would like to find out more about client hand-off between APs, how is that currently handled?

For instance, I am busy designing a network for a client that has a Mansion of a house and he would like continuous connectivity while walking through the property. If he were to place a call via Wi-Fi (Skype, WhatsApp), how would the APs behave while he is roaming? Would the call drop when he moves from cell to cell or would the APs hand off the client once he is closer to a new AP?

Is the steering handled by the NSG, is it Cloud Controlled or is the decision to roam solely at the discretion of the client device?

Thanks in advance!

WebberIT · April 2018

Basically the client device decides when to roam , the APs only acts as a medium to assist your client to make the decision.
We have a guy in our office with a laptop that we eventually gave up trying to letting it roam smoothly while other people have no problem at all.
And the other thing is we use skype for our daily jobs and my experience is that if your coverage is spread out correctly, it's needless to worry about dropping calls with skype or wifi disconnection.

CrazyTacos · April 2018

You definitely need to be careful of older devices with those out-of-date drivers! But if we're talking about a customer who lives in a "mansion of a house", I'm guessing that wouldn't be a problem.

Coverage area is definitely a key factor in roaming. You need to juggle that with the number of AP you plan to deploy, their distances apart, and the radio's output power. Just mindlessly increasing the output power to maximum does not guarantee the best coverage area.

But don't expect a seamless hand-off between APs! A short delay in audio/video is unavoidable during this transition. I wouldn't worry much as apps like Skype or WhatsApp were developed with lags and delays in mind.

Hope this project works out @Draegan !

Carlos4311 · April 2018

Hi , I think you can look at this post. It is quite detailed telling the aspects of roaming.
https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/roaming-over-wi-fi/

RUnglaube · April 2018

This has been widely discussed.
It's indeed the client device that has the main role to determine when to perform roaming, as it's also true that we can tweak access points to force the disconnection of the client earlier but this might not apply to every deployment as mentioned already.

I recall there was a test made by the nebula staff somewhere in the forum

Zyxel_Dean · April 2018

Hello @Draegan ,
Welcome to the forum!

I believe the above replies are very well useful and had already answered your question.

In general, the client is decisive in roaming, there are topics with the client's roaming capabilites and lots of other factors involving protocols and mechanism which the client or AP supports and also the software you're using to make call etc.

It is sophisticated work to get all variables correct but as to planning wireless deployments without experience, I think you can start off by deploying with the right coverage. You can use ZWO (Zyxel Wireless Optimizer) to plan the layout then fine tune the coverage through some trial and errors measuring the received signal strength with a phone or laptop APP.

Nebula, or other Zyxel APs should perform well under default settings if the coverage is correctly established.

As mentioned by @RUnglaube , here's the link of a roaming test we performed before.
https://businessforum.zyxel.com/discussion/424/nap-roaming-test-with-skype-call-using-iphone-android-phone#latest

Skype and Whatsapp should be less effected against roaming, as far as we have tested and gotten feedback, these applications have some sort of buffers to ensure the quality of the voice. Other applications such as SIP phones will probably have some voice breaking while roaming due to the nature of it's protocols.

Overall, goodluck with the project and let us know if you have other questions.

[NEBULA] AP Client Steering

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