Device not always connecting to strongest wifi

[sjinsi]

I have noticed that my device (e.g. iPhone) does not always automatically connect to the nearest (and usually the best) WiFi point.

Often, when moving around in my house, my phone continues connected to the original WiFi point it was connected to, even if I have moved to a room that has another WiFi point closer and also a much stronger WiFi signal.

I sometimes force to connect to the closer WiFi point by disabling WiFi on my phone and enabling it again.

It also happens with my laptop regularly, moving from 1 room to the other.

I thought that one of the advantages of the mess system was that the system automatically identifies the best WiFi point to connect to.

Sundeep

[MichaelP · Accepted solution]

Hello @sjinsi 

So, it's probably important to understand that your Living Room secondary access point is connecting to the Den primary access point via a hidden 5GHz WiFi mesh connection. This uses the same radio that 5GHz WiFi clients use, and therefore it uses the same 5GHz channel. The point is, that for clients connected to the Living Room secondary, their traffic is going over that 5GHz channel twice. So, if a client device can get a solid connection directly to the primary (Den, for you), it will perform better than connecting to a nearby wireless secondary (e.g., your Living Room access point). Where the wireless secondary helps most is providing coverage for more distant clients, effectively expanding the reliable coverage area. The point being, it probably makes more sense for your device to stay connected to the Den as long as it has a strong connection even when it's closer to the Living Room access point. But, if you move further away, it should switch.

Yes, the Google Home app still has a bug on iOS that fails to show the right name of the access point a device is connected to. I really hope they fix that soon.

If you have the latest version of the Google Home app, in the "Info" tab for a device, there should be a link at the bottom to test the first-hop WiFi performance of that device.

[sjinsi]

Sorry, I mistakenly said "....mess system....", while I should have said "....mesh system ....." in the final line of my message.

[MichaelP]

Hello @sjinsi 

WiFi devices decide which access point (and which band – 2.4GHz or 5GHz) to connect to, and when to switch between them. Some devices do a better job of this than others. Google/Nest WiFi does provide some extra information in the form of 802.11k and 802.11v that can help client devices make much better decisions and be much more proactive about making a switch. But, not all devices support those specifications, so they are on their own (and, again, some devices do a better job of this than others – a device that doesn't support 802.11k and 802.11v could easily end up getting "stuck" to an access point and band that still works, even when a better option is nearby).

All of that said, Apple devices do support 802.11k and 802.11v, and in my experience, they do a great job of handing off between access points and between bands. WiFi is not like a cellular network, though – it may take a minute or two for a device to switch. In a cellular network, it has to be prepared to handle devices moving at high speeds – it's unlikely you'll be moving from one part of your house to another at 100 miles per hour. So, if you're expecting it to hand off with in a few seconds of crossing some threshold, that's not going to happen. It should still happen automatically though (at least on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple laptop).

[sjinsi]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your reply.

I did some testing at home, with following results (all done using the Google Wifi App):

1. Switching from 1 to another WiFi access point is done within 1 min, if the "previous" access point signal is significantly weaker than the "new" access point signal.
2. Switching from 1 to another WiFi access point does not happen (I waited for 10 min), if the signals are comparable between the access points.
   • Although I moved from our Den (main access point, connected to the router by Ethernet), to our Living room (2nd access point, connected via WiFi to the Den access point), and sitting closer to the Living room access point than the Den access point, even after 10 min, I continued to be connected to Den.
   • Only manually switching off/on WiFi, would connect me to the Living room access point.

I did all the tests using the Google WiFi App, which I know is in phase out.

However, Google Home does not show to what access point a device is connected to.

Neither could I find a "Wifi test", as available in the Google WiFi App.

Will Google Home still be updated with these features?

Sundeep

[WarpedTrekker]

Google Home does show what point it is connecting to. Select the device, then go to Info tab and scroll to the bottom. It will list either "Router" or the name of the point.

[MichaelP]

That only works reliably on the Android version of the Google Home apps. Some (at least – perhaps all) iOS versions do not accurately show the name of the access point. This is a known bug.

[sjinsi]

I use iOS and it just shows: "Google WiFi Router", not the name of the point.

In line with what you commented, does not work yet on iOS.

Do you recognize what I described on the automatic switching between access points?

In other words, there will not be an automatic switch, in case the closest access point has less signal strength than the original access point, as long as the difference is little with the original access point?

Sundeep

[MichaelP · Accepted solution]

Hello @sjinsi 

So, it's probably important to understand that your Living Room secondary access point is connecting to the Den primary access point via a hidden 5GHz WiFi mesh connection. This uses the same radio that 5GHz WiFi clients use, and therefore it uses the same 5GHz channel. The point is, that for clients connected to the Living Room secondary, their traffic is going over that 5GHz channel twice. So, if a client device can get a solid connection directly to the primary (Den, for you), it will perform better than connecting to a nearby wireless secondary (e.g., your Living Room access point). Where the wireless secondary helps most is providing coverage for more distant clients, effectively expanding the reliable coverage area. The point being, it probably makes more sense for your device to stay connected to the Den as long as it has a strong connection even when it's closer to the Living Room access point. But, if you move further away, it should switch.

Yes, the Google Home app still has a bug on iOS that fails to show the right name of the access point a device is connected to. I really hope they fix that soon.

If you have the latest version of the Google Home app, in the "Info" tab for a device, there should be a link at the bottom to test the first-hop WiFi performance of that device.

[sjinsi · Accepted solution]

Michael,

Thanks for the quick and clear explanation.

And, indeed, I did find the WiFi test function in the Google Home App.

Thanks for the support!

Sundeep

[GarrettDS]

Hey folks, 

It looks like we have come to a solution so I'm going to be locking this thread. Huge shoutout and thank you to MichaelP for the help here. If you have any other concerns or questions, please feel free to create a new thread. 

Have a great day. 

Garrett DS

[WarpedTrekker]

I've had this issue with my Nest cameras. They will sometimes want to always connect to the router, which is way far away, instead of connecting the to the nearest point. This has been going on for awhile, and the cameras keep dropping connections. I tried rebooting them but no change.