802.11r - Which authentication method to use

[HarryCarter]

Hello 

I was trying to improve the roaming on one of our SSID's (mobile POS tablets dropping connection as they roam around), enabling 802.11r protocol would help with this. However, the combo of that and WPA2 is unsafe.

Which authentication method is best to utilize the 802.11r benefits? 

Thanks in advance.

[m841]

I guess the first thing is, do your devices support .1r?

[Adam2104]

802.11r is unsafe when paired with WPA2 PSK (pre-shared-key). WPA2 Enterprise is safe to use with 802.11r, at least that's my understanding.

[cmr]

We found that 802.11r didn't help much, making sure that a device can see two other APs as it leaves the coverage of one worked better for us.  It also helps with location tracking accuracy if you are interested in that.  The other thing to be aware of is radio power levels, smaller devices often cannot raise their power level above ~17dBm so to ensure that the AP can hear them when they can hear the AP you should keep maximum power restricted to this or below. 

[Adam2104]

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@cmr wrote:

The other thing to be aware of is radio power levels, smaller devices often cannot raise their power level above ~17dBm so to ensure that the AP can hear them when they can hear the AP you should keep maximum power restricted to this or below. 

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This. I've had really good luck with balancing the AP transmit level to the approximate level of my wireless devices. I run 15dbm on my MR42s and devices roam just fine from device to device. I'd work on surveying the AP power levels and coverage before bothering with 802.11r.