I have noticed that the "i" products do not like wi-fi roaming at all. They will stick to the last access point until they loose the signal completely - they will not join the next AP even if it is next to them at full signal. Even an AMX touchpanel works better on this.

We set up roaming using the same SSID for each AP and we choose different channels (1,6,11) for overlapping APs - I think this is the "standard" method.

I have 2 x Netgear WG102 in my house and this is very frustrtating. I just brought the ipad from the bedroom to the living room and it insists to stay connected to the bedroom AP even though there is only 1 bar in connection and even internet data barely passes through and it refuses to connect to the living room AP which is 2m away from me. The WG102 has been an excellent AP for us so far, we even managed to make AMX panels roam "though it". I have houses with 6-8 of these APs and laptops roam very well. I know managed wifi is the answer but it does not suit all projects (budget) and the same with Luxul (strategic location and sometimes it can not cover big areas).

Is there anything that can be done other other than managed wi-fi?

I don't know if the "i" products support this but my laptop wifi card has settings for roaming aggressiveness. These can be changed to cause more or less frequent checks for signal strength and therefore WAP associations.

Update: after a little reading I found others with the same issue. One fix suggested by Apple is to force the device to renew it's DHCP lease.

[Link: makeuseof.com]

This is exactly what they dont have and it also seems the wifi chip is a little weak in general.


Good link, thanks! Unfortuanately no real automatic solution. What I and my customers do is to switch the wi-fi off and then on at the device and then it will connect to the strongest signal/closest AP.

I've found this to not be true with iPhones and iPads. We use Pakedge WAP's exclusively and the devices jump over quite quickly. Of course as you mention, virtual cell and a controller is the ideal solution.

Might be worth checking out these:
[Link: remotecentral.com]

I've had 2 of their Nanostations running outdoors for a couple of years without a problem.

I've found putting it to sleep (power button on top), then sliding to unlock again will help it regain latest signal.

it does seem to work ok with airport extremes though.

I've always setup APs with the same SSID, security type, and password, and I've found iDevices roam very will. I've done it with tons of different APs and they have worked well with all of them.

Tell us more since it seems you are a minority on this.

 I only have two projects right now that have multiple WAP's. One is all Ruckus and the other is Ubiquiti Picostations...neither have controllers. Both clients are Iphone and iPad users and both seem to do just fine. 

The Ubiquiti job hangs on a little longer if I remember right, but that's because the AP's really aren't that far away, but the house structure seems to create terrible coverage. A normal house this size, I would have put a singel AP on the second floor and been done with it. 

What have you done for experimenting with different distances between AP's to see where the breakaway point is?

I use an Apple Airport Extreme upstairs with an Airport Express in extender mode in the basement. All 3 iPhones and an iPad jump fine between the two AP's.

i usually have 3-4 airports in a medium size house. 1 per floor staggered between the front and back of the house. they are all hard wired back to rack or main router. i never do wireless extending as i don't believe in it.

and we only use extremes. never the express.

Yes, mine are hardwired as well. May not have used the correct term.

The Express seems to work fine in the basement, but I understand that in a client's house, fine may not be good enough.

The Airports work well enough that both my iMac and wife's Mini are not hardwired even though the wires are there and were used on the PC's that were there before. I do like the fact that I can give guests WiFi and have them isolated from my network (think idiot B-I-L). I know some other routers now have this as well.

To be honest I am very surprised by some posts in this thread from people that are saying that the "i" products roam very well in their projects. Even apple admitted the ipad wifi problems and I have validated my own findings with other pros.

So for people that managed the roaming can you expand? APs of use? Do you use the same channel or not? Do you have more than 2 APs in the succesful projects and are you sure the device roams i.e there is overlap of wifi signal from AP to AP and not looses signal as you walk and then reconnects to the next AP? Also how many projects have you seen succesful roaming?

I always try to make sure the APs signals overlap. I use Cisco WAP4410Ns in most projects, if not then we use the Netgear WG103. To be honest, I have had a few problems with the iPad 1st gen. Sometimes it doesn't like to roam. It shows full signal but internet doesn't work! iPhone has always worked great as has the iPad 2. Most amount of APs I have used in a house where an iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 were used was 5.

More questions:

I have played a bit more with my ipad/iphone at home. The worst thing of all is that you can not really know if these devices changed access point because there is no indication on what wifi channel they are. Your only indication is the 3 level :) wifi strength bar which even in laptops it not very accurate. Worst of all apple disabled the wifi card API and so there are no apps available to tell you on which wifi channel you are. Some apps do exist but the "i" device must be jailbrocken to use them.

The only half-way I have found to see if I am indeed roaming and changing channels is having the APs' client list open and see if they change but in most APs this is not very dynamic and hence does not work well. Am I missing something, is there a way to test roaming on the ipad/iphone?

P.S. On laptops I test this using inssider, and you can very clearly see when you changed channel and hence AP.