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Bind clients to a single Access Point

Peter Mueller

Hi,

 

I used to have a Sophos AP100 connected to a Sophos XG running the latest firmware. In order to improve my Wifi coverage I added an AP50 access point via ethernet cable sitting in another room.

It uses the same SSID which is connected to a VLAN.

Basically it improves my coverage in case my clients use the nearest AP to connect. However, often the client devices choose the "wrong" access point. The one which is further away and where the signal is even worse. I can see the bad signal strength in XG UI under "wireless client list" as well as on the client devices itself. I can't find a reason or pattern why this happens. Even if I switch the client off and on they choose the bad AP most of the times.

Dynamic channel and fast transition is switched off. Switching it on makes things even worse.

 

As a workaround, is there an option to bind specific clients to one access point or prevent it from connecting to the other? 

I know there is a mac filtering option, however this is being set up for wireless network and in my case the network and SSID is the same on both APs.

 

thx & Best

Pete



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  • +1

    In case of Wireless, the Client is responsible for connecting to a AP. So if you have multiple APs in Range with the same strength, the client tries to figure out, which AP he should connect to.

    There are certain techniques to "force a client to connecting to another AP", but Sophos does not implement those. 

  • 0 in reply to LuCar Toni

    It may be that the APs are too close to each other but unfortunately there is no other way to locate them. 

    I guess a workaround could be to set up a second wireless network with a different SSID connecting to the same VLAN. So that the SSIDs on both APs are different. This way I could "force" the clients to the right APs.

    Or am I missing something important here?

  • 0 in reply to LuCar Toni

    to follow up on this. I tested this setup and using two different SSID as a workaround does work. I also found a good spot to place the second AP in order to extend the coverage.

    However, this second AP is currently connected via cable through the hall way and I am looking for better solution without cabling. A Mesh network would be an option but the AP100 does not support mesh in the 5GHz band and my clients use 2.4GHz only.

     

    Is it correct, that the mesh frequency being used for the access points to communicate with each other can not be used for connecting clients?

     

    If so, what options do I have to realize mesh and use 2.4GHz for client connections?

    1. get two sophos APX (most likely APX120). Connect one APX directly to XG, use it at root AP with 5GHz mesh frequency. Use the other APX as mesh AP. While still using the AP100 it can serve the 5GHz clients.

    2. replace AP100 with APX530 and have another APX120 to connect as mesh AP on 5GHz - this way I guess, I'm loosing the 5GHz band for client connections.

    3. use powerline adapters to get a "LAN" connection to the the AP55.

     

    do these options work and make sense?

    are there any other possibilities I haven't mentioned?

     

    Best

    Pete

  • 0 in reply to Peter Mueller

    Mesh will use one band of your Access Point. 

    Either you use 2.4 for Mesh and 5 for the Clients or vise versa.

    Some APX could use dual 5 ghz (for example APX320). So you could use 5 ghz for mesh and client. 

  • 0 in reply to LuCar Toni

    APX320 seems to be the only APX which is capable of dual use for 5GHz. But that could be an option.

     

    thx