topic Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices in Access Points - Indoor and Outdoor

Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

david_fawcett_e — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 19:24:31 GMT

Hi. I’m new to Ruckus and don’t know to much. I have 3 R550’s running Unleashed in a 3500sq foot home. I setup Unleashed as Mesh, not sure if that was a mistake. All 3 R550’s are hardwired to the router. About 1/3 of my devices show a poor signal all the time. Most are Apple devices that never seem to be connected to the closest access point. I’m trying to determine if adding a controller would help at all. I’m read that a controller would add Fast Roaming 802.11r that apple devices support. Thank you for any help!

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

craig_knights_7 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 19:47:54 GMT

I think the mesh is a mistake, if they're wired, they dont need to mesh, but I don't think that's the problem. Check that you have set the wireless regulatory region correctly. Can you set the BSS min rate on Unleashed? Turn it up some so that the low speed clients are forced to reconnect to a closer AP. Never used unleashed, but have an installation of 60 AP's in a very roamy environment.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

DarrelRhodes — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 21:06:00 GMT

Hi David,

As Craig mentioned; don't have Mesh enabled if you don't require that functionality (you don't if all the APs are hard-wired to the network).

Also check you are running the latest version of Unleashed 200.9.

Providing you've correctly configured the master AP, having a controller won't make any different to the output power of the APs and Unleashed already has a controller anyway, it's one of your APs!

Unleashed can be configured in the GUI to enable 802.11k which might help. I don't believe .11r would be a huge help unless all your devices are consistently roaming?

Unfortunately BSS MIN-RATE cannot currently be configured on Unleashed.

I'd recommend doing some testing with a single AP and single client to see what settings are helping/hindering. Unleashed documentation is avilable on the Ruckus Support Site here: https://docs.ruckuswireless.com/unleashed/200.9/

HTH,

Darrel.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

syamantakomer — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 14:55:11 GMT

Hi David,

Do you see low signal strength only on Unleashed GUI or client devices also shows low signal and poor performance?

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

david_fawcett_e — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 19:45:15 GMT

Thank you all for the help! I will try to make the changes you suggested. I will start with turning off the mesh. Would I need to factory reset all access points in order to do that? I am running the latest version of Unleashed. I had my Savant smart home integrator, who uses Unleashed himself check out the configuration/settings, and all he found abnormal was the mesh being on. I’ve noticed the low signal strength on both the Unleashed GUI and on the apple devices with poor performance. It’s usually corrected by turning WiFi off then back on, but that’s a pain to do several times a day, and it returns when I change rooms. Thank you so much for the help! I really appreciate it!

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

david_fawcett_e — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 19:47:09 GMT

Hi. Thank you for the response. I am noticing the low signal strength on Unleashed GUI and on the devices as poor performance.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

b8 — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 23:13:58 GMT

when you say low signal strength, what actually is it reading? Apple clients hang onto signals until RSSI exceeds -70 dBm so this may be resolved by tuning your APs 2.4 and 5ghz transmit powers appropriately. The desire to migrate is primarily driven by the client so adding a controller probably wouldn't help in this case.
You can use something like netspot to do a quick home site survey to get a better idea of how your multiple APs are working together to optimize signal levels to promote migration.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

sunny_gupta — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 21:21:05 GMT

I might also suggest you use only 5GHz band. i.e. configure SSID to only use 5G rather then both radios.

At a minimum disable 1 or 2 of the 2.4GHz radios. too much interference and overlapping coverage.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

syamantakomer — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 12:25:06 GMT

Hi David,

Do you have any other AP model on the same network?

Just curious to know if issue is happening on all the AP models or specific to R550.

There is one known issue related to R550 (and some ax APs) where we have seen the issue. A fix is in work and will be available on upcoming 200.10 version.

I don't have a timeline for the upcoming version but it should be available between Feb mid to March 1st week, if there are no additional roadblocks in between.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

david_fawcett_e — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:08:32 GMT

Thank you Craig for the response. Are you using a Ruckus controller of some kind? Any trouble with apple devices? Thank you

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

david_fawcett_e — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:14:33 GMT

I don’t have any other AP models. Just the 3 R550s. That’s good to know that there is an issue and maybe I have it setup properly. Would a controller help me with the roaming issue with apple devices that support Fast Roaming 802.11r now? If so can you tell me which one? Thank you for helping me!

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

david_fawcett_e — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:18:29 GMT

Thank you! I’ll give that a try. I must have some overlapping in 2.4GHz going on, but would like to keep some going for devices that don’t support 5.0.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

paul_cremor — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 10:16:48 GMT

I believe you do need to reset the system if you wish to remove Mesh. Certainly with Zone Director controlled networks you couldn't turn mesh on/off.

If it is just apple devices that are having the issue, this is probably where they are holding on to a weak wifi signal even if you are closer to another AP providing a better signal.

You can change the smart roam setting that will tell the system to release apple devices if the signal drops to a certain level. There is some info here about it but when these problems occur is always seems to be apple devices.

Roaming with ruckus in large concrete home | ServeTheHome Forums

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

fredrik_kenmo — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:51:39 GMT

Very useful thread - thanks! I can second many of the observations in my install where r510 where replaced with r550s. One r510 was damaged and refresh was decided. Post install, intermittent connectivity issues and attempts to find a way back to expected and previous wi-fi experience has (so far) only improved not resolved issues. One remaining (potential) factor could be 2.4GHz overlap, will give that a try as well!

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

fredrik_kenmo — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 21:15:56 GMT

@syamantak_omer is there a way to be accepted for a beta-release of the 200.10 version you mention? Or is timelime more definitive now? In my recent posts I have outline weird connectivity issue after replacing r510 with r550s in a three AP-install.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

syamantakomer — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 21:25:55 GMT

Hi Fredrik,

I will check if a clear or tentative timeline is available.

I don't think there is any beta program for end customers under Unleashed but I will check.

@tony_heung any idea?

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

fredrik_kenmo — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 21:28:34 GMT

Great! Much appreciated! In the meantime will of course keep on trying to figure out if something else is at play - or at least narrow down the issues at hand.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

tony_heung — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 22:21:14 GMT

200.10 beta is not open to public domain.

200.10 official release is scheduled for Q1'21.

ax bugs and a number of performance fixes would also be available in a patch for 200.9 branch however no firm date for the patch release so far.

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

fredrik_kenmo — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 18:36:00 GMT

Thanks Tony! Will keep my eyes open for both 200.9 patch and official 200.10 release. Could an educated guess be to expect a 200.9 patch early March and full 200.10 release towards end of Q1 🙂

Re: Poor signal to 1/3 of devices

tony_heung — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 20:35:03 GMT

You are welcome. We don't provide release date in the public domain but we do share the details with our authorized partners.