WIFI calling when roaming

mikeset116
Comes here often

WIFI calling when roaming

Hey, I'm not sure how to start a thread so I decided to message you.

 

I have a large home property with a combined total of  30 MR52 & MR84. My main issue is Wifi calling especially when roaming throughout the house and property. I changed to the 802.11r adaptive combined with WPA2, PSK. This has not really seemed to help much with wifi calling.

 

My band selection is Dual with a minimum bitrate of 12

Also below are my RF profiles
 
Basic Indoor Profile
DEFAULT INDOOR
Applied to 25 APs. Overrides applied to 25/25 of these APs.
2.4 GHZ
Channel assignmentAuto
AutoPower max30
AutoPower min5
Min. bitrate11
5 GHZ
Channel assignmentAuto
AutoPower max30
AutoPower min8
Min. bitrate12
Channel width40
 
Basic Outdoor Profile
DEFAULT OUTDOOR
Applied to 15 APs. Overrides applied to 15/15 of these APs.
2.4 GHZ
Channel assignmentAuto
AutoPower max30
AutoPower min5
Min. bitrate11
5 GHZ
Channel assignmentAuto
AutoPower max30
AutoPower min8
Min. bitrate12
Channel width40
 
Firmware MR 25.13
 
 
I also noticed a lot of errors
 
Client failed during the authentication step.type='WPA-PSK auth fail' associated='false' radio='1' vap='0'
20 REPLIES 20
CarolineS
Community Manager
Community Manager

[MOD NOTE: Created a new thread for you!]

Caroline S | Community Manager, Cisco Meraki
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NolanHerring
Kind of a big deal

Off the cuff, few things I would do.

 

  • Upgrade to 27.6 firmware
  • Your TX power levels are defaulted, I would look at making sure the power level on each AP is where it should be. This of course requires survey work to know. Relying on Meraki AutoTX/RRM is not a good idea
  • I would make your SSID's 5GHz only and 2.4GHz only. Dual-Band can cause issues with voice. Make sure your voice clients are only connected to the 5GHz one.
  • I would also set your minimum data rate on 5GHz to 6Mbps
  • Set your channel width to 20MHz on 5GHz
  • Make sure you don't have RXSOP enabled
  • 802.11r will only help iOS devices (FYI), not sure what clients your using
  • You need to be 100% certain that the AP ports are configured correctly. They need to be on the same VLAN for the SSID the clients are using, otherwise you'll never get fast roaming if your swapping L3 domains.

 

Now of course, you could have the perfect configuration and still have issues if your actual wireless (RF) design is not adequate. No config can fix that. You have to ensure proper overlap from one AP cell to the next to ensure proper and seamless roaming for the client from AP1 to AP2 etc.  This goes back to making sure the wireless design was done properly with a site survey etc.

Nolan Herring | nolanwifi.com
TwitterLinkedIn

im thinking of a 15 min power to 30 max

 

My users only know one SSID so I need Dual band because of legacy clients. I have Dual band with steering on. I can maybe user Dual band operation.

 

I don't have RXSOP

 

802.11r because its mainly a apple userbase

 

Its bridged using VLAN tagging 

 

Ive been told to drop my min bit rate from 12 to 6 for both 2.4 and 5GHZ?

cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

@mikeset116 don't use band steering, it causes devices to jump about between 2.4GHz and 5GHz, for voice we use 5GHz only to ensure smaller cells with less variable coverage within a cell.

mikeset116
Comes here often

I cant take 2.4 off because of legacy devices on the SSID. Can I use Dual band without steering instead. WIll this work better than my current setup ?

cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

@mikeset116 yes keeping both but turning off band steering should improve things

mikeset116
Comes here often

should i then change the minum bit rate from 12 to 6 , this will be for the same SSID 5 and 2,4 GHZ


@mikeset116 wrote:

should i then change the minum bit rate from 12 to 6 , this will be for the same SSID 5 and 2,4 GHZ


For 2.4GHz, unless you need 802.11b support (only you will know this), then set it to 12Mbps to cut-off/disable those slow 802.11b rates.

 

For 5GHz you can set to 6Mbps without any issue.

Nolan Herring | nolanwifi.com
TwitterLinkedIn

I created a new SSID that 5ghz only ,6bit minimum bit rate. Bridged mode 802.11r. With default indoor and outdoor profiles. I left my old SSID with the 2.4 and 5ghz lowered bit rate to 6. should I keep it like this ? would it be a problem.

Also upgraded the firmware like you suggested.

 

I still notice Client failed during the authentication step.type='WPA-PSK auth fail' stall_client_skip='false' associated='false' radio='1' vap='0' errors

 

Also I put my phone on airplane mode and did a few wifi calls and noticed it still drops 

 

Just to confirm are you using an iPhone to test with?


For the sake of testing, I would try with 802.11r disabled and see if it makes any difference, or fully on.

 

Your on the right path, using a 'test SSID' will allow you to figure out where the trouble areas are on your own. 

 

I'm going to assume the port configurations for each AP are correct, and all on the same L2 network. So assuming that, what I would do is have this new SSID only broadcast on AP's with tags, and then pick two AP's near each other and just walk back and forth and confirm if roaming is having an issue or not.

 

I would tune your power levels, or at least see where Meraki is having them land on. You want it to be around 11 - 17dBm range, so if you have AP's at 5dBm or 30dBm then that's not good. This allows for proper TX power matching between clients and APs (again this also comes down to the RF design).

 

Another thing to consider (not sure what country your in) is if your using DFS channels (UNII-2 and UNII-2e), which has impact on roaming. Clients are not allowed to actively scan and probe on DFS, they can only listen for beacons, so its takes longer for them to discover if there is an AP on a DFS channel for it to roam to, which means a delay in the roaming etc. 802.11k is supposed to help with this but its not perfect, so its something to consider.

 

If all configurations are good, and your still having issues, its going to come down to the RF design which is a physical thing and these forums won't really be able to assist you with other than recommend you have an outside source perform a survey and come up with better AP locations.

 

Have a look at this guide here (although I recommend ignoring the SSID bandwidth limiting they suggest):

https://documentation.meraki.com/Architectures_and_Best_Practices/Cisco_Meraki_Best_Practice_Design/...

 

This link here is about Cisco WLCs, but they go over some RF design stuff that is worth a review:

https://mrncciew.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/brkewn-2000-voice-over-wifi-best-practices.pdf

 

Nolan Herring | nolanwifi.com
TwitterLinkedIn

Yes iphone 12 latest firmware

 

I just tried it without 802.11r it still wasn't good.

 

My APS are 17 to 25 range for the 5ghz signal. 

 

Im am in USA flordia, it Is on a beach not to far from a airport .

 

Channel planning

mikeset116_0-1614702187189.png

 

Are you testing between just two specific APs?

 

I wouldn't let the power go over 17dBm personally, but again this comes down to the design that was done. You'll run into power mismatch issues with power levels being too high (client can hear AP well, but AP can't hear client well scenario).

 

Looks like your using the older version of the radio settings page, I would personally use the new version if I were you. You'll want to turn client balancing OFF as well, that prevents clients from joining an AP if the AP things it already has too many which = bad for voice.

Nolan Herring | nolanwifi.com
TwitterLinkedIn

no im doing all APS one SSID , I have the power on AUTO. i will try auto balance off . ALso i changed to 20 mHZ

cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

@mikeset116 reduce the max power, for some phones 17dB is as much as they can transmit.  If that leaves blackspots try steps down from your current max of 25 to find the best compomise.

I tried creating a new 5GHZ only SSID and still same results today I got these errors with dropped calls

I literally just got on site and tried making one call

 

 

5GHZDHCP

Client made a request to the DHCP server, but it did not respond.type='NO DHCP response' associated='true' radio='1' vap='6'

5GHZDHCP

Client made a request to the DHCP server, but it did not respond.type='NO DHCP response' associated='true' radio='1' vap='6'

5GHZAuthentication

Client failed during the authentication step.type='WPA-PSK auth fail' associated='true' radio='1' vap='6'

5GHZAssociation

Client attempted to associate 4 times on the 5 GHz band.type='Association attempts' num='4' associated='true' radio='1' vap='6'

5GHZDNS

Client made a request to the DNS server, but it did not respond.type='NO DNS response' associated='true' radio='1' vap='6'

cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

@mikeset116 are you still on 25.13, or have you upgraded the APs to 27.6?

mikeset116
Comes here often

27.6

NolanHerring
Kind of a big deal

The better option is as follows:

 

You will need to contact Meraki support and ask them to enable the feature/option to configure an SSID as 2.4GHz only.

 

When you have that turned on, then create a new SSID and make it 2.4GHz only. Those legacy devices will then need to connect to this new SSID.

 

Then make the existing SSID that you have now, 5GHz only

 

Done and done


You still have 2.4GHz support, but on a dedicated SSID. This might require more effort on your end as you'll need to reconfigure those devices to connect to this new SSID, but in my opinion its worth it.

Nolan Herring | nolanwifi.com
TwitterLinkedIn
PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Are you using bridge mode on the SSID?  You need this to make roaming work without dropping a call.

its bridged 

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