I’ve got a Wi-Fi extender that I use when I’m working out back, but my phone will randomly connect to it when I’m in the house and would prefer it connect to the home Wi-Fi.
is there any way yet to tell my phone to prioritize a network?
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Sounds like you need to enable 802.1r for fast roaming between APs on both access points and then make sure the SSIDs are the same.
Also, you can improve things by splitting your 2.4ghz, 5ghz, and 6ghz (if applicable) onto separate SSIDs, with your phone connected to the 5ghz band. Since it has lower range, it will likely roam better because the signal from one to the other will be more “apparent” to your devices.
I have the 5 and 2.4 split. I can’t give the extender the same SSID because I need my backyard security cameras to connect only to that one
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I don’t think the extender gives me the ability to split anything.
Not sure what kind of Extender it is, but if it can run OpenWRT, you can flash it to that and have more control.
Question here, why do the cameras I need to only connect to that one? Using an extender won’t create a truly separate net, some might create a NAT to look separate but you can still connect from the extenders net to the host net.
WiFi continually beacons out to try and find previously connected networks and will select for the best signal from an AP it can reach. Extenders can be a trick if you’re sitting in the ‘crossover’ space between the extender and the back haul it connects to.
What you might try instead is one of those distributed AP systems like Unifi or similar where all the APs are controlled by a switch and work in unison. The one I have at least has an ability to disconnect someone if they drop below a certain level and migrate them to another AP without breaking the session states.
The other option that I can think of is just turning off the auto connect for the extender net and only using that manually.
^ the answer. any purpose built mesh system should stream your access seamlessly, extenders won’t.
Most unifi / inter communicating aps that hand off clients to each other using a controller are not mesh systems. Mesh means aps talk to each other wirelessly to pass traffic as a backbone, not to specifically perform client handoff (although it may do that as well as a separate feature)
Unifi does both. They have Mesh systems which also can be managed through the centralized router and can pass you off the mesh system onto other APs seamlessly.
You’re right they do. But just to clarify the difference based on what the poster was asking
I gotcha!
So this generally happens because there’s too much overlap between the APs, try reducing transmit power on the 2.4ghz radio on the extender.
Also making sure that fast roaming is enabled on both APs should help.
You can also try enabling minimum RSSI on the extender 2.4ghz radio if it supports that.
it’s annoying when people downvote you but don’t tell me why
Same, if I’m wrong about something I’d love to hear what it is.
and it doesn’t help OP to downvote other people’s comments if they’re wrong without explaining why lol
If you aren’t using a purpose built mesh system, there’s your answer (apologies for the addition cost for having to buy a mesh system)
A mesh system isn’t, strictly speaking, needed, but turning that extender into a first-class participant in the network is. Swapping the extender for anything that can broadcast an ssid (Access point or any home router) and extending the wired network to it (cat5/6 across the attic/crawlspace ftw) would also resolve the problem, albeit exchanging the cost savings of not buying a full mesh system for labor installing the new wire.
I totally agree we should have the ability to tell it what to use, and it should make a concerted effort to those in order.
Funny how many responses you’re getting to the effect of explaining why your phone is doing what it’s doing, which is not at all what you asked. People feel the absolute need to spew, regardless of whether they actually have anything to contribute. Or, they’re bots guessing at what you wanted lol.
So okay all the must-say-somethings, shoot your load and leave lol. We’ll be sure to downvote appropriately. The standard routine continues.
at least they’re being polite about it.
That’s true :)
Usually this is handled by the access points. If you’re running dual band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) you will get worse strength out of 5, typically, since it doesn’t go as far or penetrate as well as 2.4. The access points will try to kick a client to another, better quality access point if they’re smart enough. This is generally how business access points work. You might want to see if whatever ones you’re using support this. Also it’s best if they are both the same SSID, in case they are not.
Wtf I have exactly the same problem. Right down to the security cameras. Lol
Afaik this is a host “problem”, not client. If you have a Asus mesh, you can set some rssi level at when the host will disconnect the client so the client will connect on the other AP.
Else the client will happily stay on the weaker host. On
With Unifi APs you can set the minimum RSI on the individual devices which makes them kick the device off and then the device will generally attempt to connect to the AP with the best signal. This is an advanced setup and some devices might not like getting kicked off though.
If the extender has a different SSID, you can disable auto connect for that access point.
having to manually connect to it is the same amount of work is manually disconnecting from it so that wouldn’t save me any labor
I’m still waiting for operating systems to have the ability via ui buttons to prioritize ethernet over wifi. I’m sure there’s a bunch of Linux terminal stuff you can do instead but meh.
At least on my KDE Plasma you can assign a priority number to every single connection, using the UI itself, no terminal fiddling. For example, if you know one that you ALWAYS want to connect to, you can assign it a very high value, etc.
