WiFi SSID and roaming

[Vieri]

Hi,

I've noticed a rather annoying behavior on behalf of several client computers connecting via WiFi (Linux and Windows alike).

I configured several Access Points with the same SSID so as to allow "seamless" roaming. However, no matter how I configure the clients (eg. agfressive roaming decision, etc.) there are cases where they keep connecting to an AP farther away than a closer one with stronger signal. This of course is an issue because the Tx/Rx rates are lower. Even if I reboot or restart the NIC drivers, they always reconnect to the AP farther away. If I change the SSID name on the closer AP then I can tell the clients to connect to it, and that works just fine (great Tx/Rx). So it's not like there's a radio issue here...

So, only when the SSID is identical do the clients connect to the weaker AP...

How can I make sure a client always connects to the "closest" SSID with strongest signal?

Thanks

[EDIT]
WiFi analyzers such as Vistumbler actually show that the AP farther away has a better signal.
Is there client software for both Windows and Linux that can actively scan during an established connection and flip to the best signal asap (or that an admin user can define a signal threshold in order to decide how "aggressive" it should be)?
Native supplicants don't seem to have this feature.

[audiodef]

I wonder if how you set up your APs makes a difference. Are they bridges? I usually set up a bridge on secondary routers and don't even give the AP an SSID - it just carries the name over from the primary.
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[Vieri]

AFAIK APs must all have the same SSID and security settings for "fast roaming" to take place. However, my post is not just about fast roaming, but also has to do with clients trying to cling to a weak signal when there's a stronger one nearby. I noticed yesterday that the latest OpenWRT has an option under the LUCI web UI which allows the AP to send dissociation messages when there are problems or delays with ACK packets. How does that AP know that the client is near another AP.., I don't know... It probably can't because I don't think they're "talking" to each other in any way. So this feature might have unwanted effects, but I haven't tried it out yet.

Ubiquiti's zero handoff strategy used to be to set all the AP devices at the same frequency (same channel), as if it were one big AP. That had a few drawbacks when many clients tried to connect.

Now, the UniFi firmware has a new implementation for fast roaming that I've yet to try.

So I guess I can't do much on the client's side (ie. Gentoo laptops), and should focus on AP firmware only.

Thanks

[mir3x]

If by any chance all your routers are Asus you can try their mesh network functionality.
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