Droputs with multiple wifi access points -- RADIUS server?

arciere

esuhl wrote: »

The issue may just be poor internet speed/latency. The complaints are (as always) somewhat vague, involving complete amnesia of anything technically relevant... :-/



I had a (very quick) google, but it looks like Meraki/Ubiquiti solutions just provide a mesh network and allow packet analysis(?).

The network doesn't get much traffic, so I don't think any kind of control (QoS, packet analysis, etc.) is necessary.

And a mesh sounds great, but at the extremities, only one wireless AP is in range, so it would need a lot more APs in intermediate positions to work.

Or... could I plug the remote mesh nodes into Ethernet to provide a contiguous mesh network...? Do mesh nodes have to connect to each other wirelessly...?

No, no mesh (they probably also have mesh systems, but I haven't used them).
Basically, you install as many access points as you require in order to cover the whole area and then you control them from a single point (the controller). In simple terms, rather than setting up each access point individually, you set up the site. Then, every access point connected to that network will automatically be given the same settings.
This helps because you can disable low connection speeds: I believe what is happening now is that the devices cling on a WiFi AP even if the signal they get is so bad that nothing can be transmitted/received. With a centralised controller it's much easier to hand over a client to another AP if the signal has degraded.
I use Ubiquiti at home and it's great. You can obviously analise what's going on in terms of packets transmitted, but personally I use it because it's 10 times more reliable than SOHO equipment (TP-Link and similar).
If you don't need to transfer huge amount of data and don't have too many devices (like less than 30), you don't need to buy the latest and greatest model, you can get a good AC Ubiquiti UniFi access point for £70 or so.

In regards to RADIUS, if you want to use it (although it won't help with the WiFi issues), double check that the router can do RADIUS, it's possible that you can only specify the address of a RADIUS server, not that the router can do RADIUS

that

[STRIKE]without a mesh, every time you change ip (move to another wifi point) you will lose the current session, gain a new ip address and your connected sessions lost as you are connecting to a different network. Granted this will happen seamlessly if set up correctly, but you will still loose your connected session and have to start over, and possible refresh the page and type new details in.

this is an answer to one company
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ask/questions/Tx2IRZGL4BAKUB9/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza[/STRIKE]

arciere

that wrote: »

without a mesh, every time you change ip (move to another wifi point) you will lose the current session, gain a new ip address and your connected sessions lost as you are connecting to a different network. Granted this will happen seamlessly if set up correctly, but you will still loose your connected session and have to start over, and possible refresh the page and type new details in.

What are you talking about?
IPs are given out by the DHCP server, which, often is just a router.
All the Wireless Access Points (WAP) do is link a wireless device to a network. They don't give any IP address or any network configuration at all.
The moment you connect to a new access point, once the connection between AP and device is established, the device will check with the DHCP server again as to what IP address it should use.
If the IP address previously used has still got time left in its lease, the DHCP will assign that device the same IP address (unless the IP address is reserved, but that's another story).

The DHCP server doesn't know (and doesn't care) how a device is connected to the network (if wired or wireless), or through what access point is connecting.

Also, I have no idea what a session is.

arciere

that wrote: »

this is an answer to one company
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ask/questions/Tx2IRZGL4BAKUB9/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza

That question doesn't make sense at all.
As you know, when you watch streaming videos, Netflix, YouTube or Amazon, you get the 'buffering'. Even if your connection drops for a few seconds, your video will still play until it runs out of buffered data.
This doesn't happen with Skype simply because, for obvious reasons, Skype doesn't (can't) buffer too much data.

that

[STRIKE]if you are not 'meshed', every time you roam from one area to another you may get a new ip, but your live connection session will be broken and possibly lost, so if on skype etc and even after connecting again your connection will be terminated as she is currently experiencing.[/STRIKE]

You can change the roaming aggressiveness within windows, but not sure about android

Mesh is probably the only decent answer - like Ubiquiti and make everything look like one big network, the problem it is expensive

debitcardmayhem

that wrote: »

without a mesh, every time you change ip (move to another wifi point) you will lose the current session, gain a new ip address and your connected sessions lost as you are connecting to a different network. Granted this will happen seamlessly if set up correctly, but you will still loose your connected session and have to start over, and possible refresh the page and type new details in.

this is an answer to one company
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ask/questions/Tx2IRZGL4BAKUB9/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza

that wrote: »

if you are not 'meshed', every time you roam from one area to another you may get a new ip, but your live connection session will be broken and possibly lost, so if on skype etc and even after connecting again your connection will be terminated as she is currently experiencing.

You can change the roaming aggressiveness within windows, but not sure about android

Mesh is probably the only decent answer - like Ubiquiti and make everything look like one big network, the problem it is expensive

Nonsense, what gives you that idea?

that

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Nonsense, what gives you that idea?

experience

Come up with a better idea

esuhl

arciere wrote: »

This helps because you can disable low connection speeds: I believe what is happening now is that the devices cling on a WiFi AP even if the signal they get is so bad that nothing can be transmitted/received. With a centralised controller it's much easier to hand over a client to another AP if the signal has degraded.

Oh, I seeee! That makes sense!

I'm surprised that this centralised management of wifi AP handoffs wasn't built in to 802.11 standards long ago... :-/

arciere wrote: »

If you don't need to transfer huge amount of data and don't have too many devices (like less than 30), you don't need to buy the latest and greatest model, you can get a good AC Ubiquiti UniFi access point for £70 or so.

Right, thanks. That sounds like the kind of thing they need. I'll mention it to them.

I've also noticed that FTTP at 150Mb/s has just been made available to them... which will take my doubts about their dodgy internet out of the equation.

arciere wrote: »

In regards to RADIUS, if you want to use it (although it won't help with the WiFi issues), double check that the router can do RADIUS, it's possible that you can only specify the address of a RADIUS server, not that the router can do RADIUS

Yes -- it's one of a few models with a RADIUS server built-in (hence why I was so eager to give it a go!) Still... no need, and I don't want to mess anything up now. :-)

grumpycrab

I'd really advise binning the tp-link access points and powerline adapters. Your "big house" friends would be much better off (well, they can afford Sky Q with a decent mesh kit.
I was going to suggest expanding the Sky Q mesh kit and getting Sky to set it all up but the Q hub sounds a bit poor (and Sky support poor?) so I'd suggest a decent non-Sky mesh kit - plug it into the Sky hub and switch the hub's wifi off.

arciere

that wrote: »

if you are not 'meshed', every time you roam from one area to another you may get a new ip, but your live connection session will be broken and possibly lost, so if on skype etc and even after connecting again your connection will be terminated as she is currently experiencing.

Nonsense. You get the same IP address until your lease expires, as I explained earlier. Can you imagine in a corporate environment (where you don't use mesh) getting a different IP address every time you walk through the office?

What does "live connection session" mean? Surely you know that when you connect to a website on the internet, what counts is your public IP address, not your internal one (which the websites don't know).
What you define "session", in many cases is just a token saved in a cookie on your computer with an expiration time, nothing to do with your private address.

All the Ubiquiti systems I have installed were never mesh (you can't use mesh in a corporate building!). And if you have a choice, AVOID mesh as it's pretty much never the best solution (although probably the easiest to set up).