Does anyone know if Snap has an official set of recommended configuration settings for their access points? It seems that I get different answers depending on who I talk to. Like band steering, fast roaming, and if to use two SSIDs or one.

I think it depends. We have been dealing with this recently on a job that doesnt have great cell coverage and they want WiFi calling.

We have multiple AP's on the job. ELAN TSTATS dont seem to care for roaming and or band steering. I think HR remotes also may be problematic.

But roaming and band steering seem to provide a better WiFi calling experience.

They have always told me to use 1 SSID for both 2.4 and 5g. But recently I had someone with tech support tell me to use two SSIDs and disable band steering but use fast roaming. Then there is the issue that for fast roaming to work, how much signal from other access points does an access point need to see?

I have a client for whom we installed 4 Araknis APs and they have horrible experience with Wi-Fi calling. She uses iPhone. He uses a Samsung Galaxy. I originally had it set up as a single SSID, band steering and fast roaming on. After they complained, I started reading around and decided to try separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5. I turned off both band steering and fast roaming. I had good results with my phone walking around the property on a call and not getting disconnected. They are saying it is still pretty sketchy and seemingly getting gradually worse.

At this point, i an not sure if it's something I need to change in the Araknis 110 router or what. They use AT&T cell service which has mediocre signal at their home. Maybe I should just try a cell booster instead of fighting the wifi calling issues.

We had another job with similar issues and we ended up swapping from Araknis to pakedge. Client said the wifi calling was great after the switch. Who knows. Other clients with Araknis WAPs do not complain so I don't know if they are just not using WiFi calling or what.

It would be useful for manufacturers to publish known issues, fixes, workarounds, and "if you use wifi calling on iOS devices, just shop elsewhere" warnings and white papers for at least dealers.

Interesting...I have issues constantly with WiFi calling on my Araknis WiFi network. I thought it was an Apple thing as I have other iPhone issues that aren't tied to WiFi. I have problems with:

- Wrong voice mail coming up after I listen to one message. I'll play a message, play a second message and instead of playing the correct message the old message plays, even if I have deleted it.

- People not being able to hear me.

Both these problems go away when I switch back to the LTE network. Are you seeing the same kinds of problems? I may try swapping my network and I'll report in if things are better/worse.

So far I have had the best luck with one SSID (not counting a guest network), Band Steering enabled but not Fast Roaming. Behavior is that you stay on 5GHz unless the device doesn't support it, or are out of range. The client device will manage switching between APs. Some client devices like to hold onto poor connections, but if you use Fast Roaming instead, it will forcibly disconnect you which will create a brief interruption. If you let the client device manage the connection, there doesn't seem to be an interruption. If the AP density is too high with Fast Roaming on, the client device will constantly be getting dejected from various APs which will create issues especially on WiFi calling.

Another thing to look at is radio transmit power under advanced wireless. The default setting is Full Power, but sometimes it helps to turn it down so that your client device is not always trying to connect (or maintain a connection) to an AP that could be out of it's own range.

As you can see, there is a lot to go wrong, and that's why I have found physical location to be more important than any particular setting.

I’m pretty disappointed that we’ve not had any replies from someone at Snap on this. They used to be very good about monitoring the forums and supporting their products.

Digestion period is normally a few days, I have faith they’ll bite.

Wi-Fi deployment depends on the environment, type of devices, network traffic, and internet speed. but here are some general guideline that I would recommend:

Fast Roaming: In general fast roaming, which normally is a combination of 802.11r/v/k, helps with having better Wi-Fi experience. For best roaming result, always Run a site survey on both channels (if both are being used) and ensure adequate Wi-Fi overlap.
»»Look for the signal strength between one Access Point and another via MAC address (BSSID), and/or SSID.
»»The best range for roaming functionality between access points is -70 dB to -77 dB.

The only time you may need to disable fast roaming is when you are troubleshooting your network. Most new wireless client devices support fast roaming, and there should be no problem with them. However, time to time there is one device in the network that does not support fast roaming that may or may not result in Wi-Fi issue. Best way to troubleshoot this is to disable fast roaming and try again.

Wi-Fi Calling: First make sure IPSec Passthrough is enabled on the router. This is required so the phone can create a tunnel to the carrier server and start Wi-Fi calling. Next ensure the carrier settings on the phones are up-to-date. Sometime the service providers require an update in the phone setting, specially when there is a major SW update on the phones. If you still have an issue with Wi-Fi calling, try disabling Band Steering as your next troubleshooting steps. In some cases this may help.

One SSID or more? Based on consumer wifi surveys, the best wifi experience is when you connect your devices to the network once and then forget about them. Mostly this is achieved by having one single SSID for the entire network, so users don't need to switch networks. But sometimes you may prefer connecting certain devices to a separate SSID for various reasons such as guest Wi-Fi, connecting wifi cameras, or connecting remote controls. That's when multiple SSIDs are useful.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for this help. Just to be clear, you are saying that we should not set up separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5g bands? Someone with your support told us we should use separate SSIDs.

It's a great step for troubleshooting for sure. OR if you have a network where all your mobile devices support 5GHz + you have done a site survey to ensure full 5GHz wifi coverage, and you want to make sure none of the mobile devices decide to connect to 2.4GHz. However in this network topology, if you connect your mobile devices to both 5GHz and 24.GHz, depending on your smart device it may be more difficult for the device to jump from one band two another causing "sticky client issue".

On a non Araknis router, is there a typical location for this IPSec option?

Thanks.

VPN settings.

For Araknis Routers this setting is actually under Settings > Firewall on the router.
For other routers the settings can vary. Some have it on always with no control. Some it will be in the Firewall or VPN settings of the router. There are some (ISP provided) that do not have it on and you cannot turn it on. One of the biggest reasons for bridged modem/router combos or providing your own standalone modem.

The next thing to remember with Wi-Fi calling is it can all be different for every phone and cell provider. They want to make sure your phone can complete a phone call and it will use the best option to do so. Most often it will trust the cell signal to do this even when Wi-Fi calling is showing active on your phone.

The best way to test Wi-Fi calling for the customer is to actually turn off cell service on the phone. You can accomplish this in a few different ways. I usually just recommend enabling airplane mode and then turn Wi-Fi back on. Walk around while on a phone call. This is a great way to test Wi-Fi calling but also overall Wi-Fi coverage. Mainly because this is a real-time test(no buffering). You will quickly identify roaming or dead-zones.

As Nima mentioned make sure your phones are up to date on all software releases. I just received a recent update for my Google Pixel 3a and I noticed that I have new icon when my phone is using Wi-Fi calling. Also remember that Wi-Fi calling only supports phones calls at this time, it does not help with text messaging(I see that misconception quite often).

Another thing that might cause you problems.... Voice Mail. Apparently that doesn't work on WiFi Calling right now either (at least thru Verizon where I am). Because Voice Mail has become an app for some carriers and requires the voice mail be 'downloaded', WiFi calling can screw that up.

The problem I personally am running into - Since the last Android update: WiFi calling has been turned on in my phone and the option to turn it on & off has been removed (WTF!).
While on WiFi, I will get a notification saying I have a voice mail. But when I go to voice mail, it says it can not download it. I have to actually turn off my WiFi to connect back to 4GLTE, to hear my voice mail.
Again, this is with Verizon on an Android phone after the latest updates. And it is PISSING me off.

No settings in the router is going to fix the above problem either. This is one time the Apple fan boys can have a good laugh at us :(