It is often not possible to provide your entire house with a comprehensive WiFi network with one router. With extra equipment you can cover the whole house, but sometimes that doesn't solve your problems. Devices are connecting to the wrong access point. Can you do something about this?
With a combination of multiple access points, repeaters or additional routers, it is generally no problem to get WiFi coverage throughout your home. There is only one problem: instead of one access point, you now use multiple access points. In theory that shouldn't be a problem, your devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, can remember the login details of your access points and connect to the strongest access point themselves. Also read: 10 tips for a faster and better WiFi network.
So there should always be a connection to the strongest access point and devices should switch automatically (called roaming). Unfortunately, in practice it appears that a lot of equipment gets stuck on one access point, even if that has meanwhile become the weakest access point. You can do something about this to a limited extent, but success is unfortunately not always assured. With consumer equipment, the client, i.e. your smartphone, tablet or laptop, makes the choice for an access point.
01 Same SSIDs
The greatest chance of successful operation with multiple access points requires that you configure all access points except the channel exactly the same. Give all access points the same SSID (network name) and network key. Choose different channels where you only choose channels 1, 6 or 11 on the 2.4 GHz band to avoid problems due to overlap. On the 5 GHz band you do not have to take overlap into account and you can choose all options. If possible, also choose the same encryption standard and Wi-Fi standard. If possible, set all access points to only WPA2(AES) and 802.11n. It is not a good idea to use the same SSID on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, as some devices get confused.
If you do not want to be sure that you have done everything to solve your roaming problems, then set all your access points to the same channel as a test. Sometimes clients roam more aggressively and better. The disadvantage is that the access points will influence each other much more strongly, causing the signal quality of your network to deteriorate.
02 Limit transmission strength
You can give your devices a helping hand by lowering the signal strength of your access point. In your router or access point's Wi-Fi settings, look for an option like Transmission Power, Tx power adjustment, Output Power, or Power. You can experiment with the broadcast strength by lowering it on one or more access points. As a result, your smartphone, tablet or laptop may no longer have a connection with the other access point near the better access point, so that there is a much greater chance that a connection will be made to the correct access point.
ASUS Roaming Assistant
Many ASUS routers and other wireless networking devices such as access points and repeaters include a feature called ASUS Roaming assistant. When this function is enabled, a smartphone, tablet or notebook with a low connection strength will be dropped from the access point. Your device will then automatically reconnect to your network and will then grab the access point with the strongest signal. You can find the Roaming assistant in the web interface under wireless on the tab Professional. When you enable the feature, you can specify a value between -90 and -70, with a higher value (closer to -70) for more aggressive roaming. The feature works best if you only use ASUS equipment that supports Roaming assistant.
03 Android lend a hand
Android devices in particular are known for staying connected to the wrong access point for a long time. Fortunately, you can lend Android a hand with the Wifi Roaming Fix app. To use this app, all your access points must be configured in the same way, as we wrote before. Then download the Wifi Roaming Fix app.
Connect your Android device to your wireless network and launch the app. When the app is running, an icon will be shown in the status bar. This allows you to see the MAC address and - more importantly - the channel of the access point you are connected to. This way you know which access point you are connected to, because you have all manually assigned a different channel number. The app doesn't work on all Android devices, but it's definitely worth a try. Unfortunately, there is no such app for iOS.
