Enterprise Wifi - Roaming not agressive

[Long Syntax]

With the addition of Enterprise WiFi via EAP in windows phone 8.1, I've been able to take advantage of connecting to my company's wifi. This has helped me not use my data plan while I'm at work, so I'm very thankful for this addition. One issue, or maybe not an issue but an observation, is that my L920 seems to hold onto a given access point even when the signal drops to one bar -- even though there is an access point with a perfectly good signal close by. It seems that the roaming sensitivity or aggressiveness might be set at a relatively low value. I can correct this by shutting off the wifi and then turning it back on, at which point it connects to an access point with a hot signal. I should note that the phone does eventually roam and switch access points on its own after a while, but only after maybe 5 to 10 minutes. I suspect that this may have to do with the OEM firmware and once the latest and greatest firmware is released this situation will get better.

Has anyone else run into roaming issues with WP8.1 and wi-fi?

 

[Laceym]

I've suspected that I have this issue. Where I work, we have very large wifi footprint with many access points. I have noticed that I can stand right next to the access point and only have one little bar. I also suspect this is hurting my battery life (dunno, battery life sucks so maybe something else). Turning off and on wifi gets me back to full strength.

 

[Long Syntax]

I guess we'll have to wait for the cyan firmware when the 8.1 OS is officially released.

 

[pdelvo]

The same at my university. Here you have litteratly at any given time 5 access points in visible range. But I think the reson is, that the phone does not want to drop the connection because it would mean that a download is interupted, an app might stop loading assets or simular. "Roaming" over wlan is not at a point where it works very well and very complicated

 

[Long Syntax]

I appreciate your input, however my iPhone 4s negotiates roaming just fine in the same building. I hope this is something that's resolved with firmware.

 

[bobdonkey]

Yes I have this issue as well with 8.1 on a Lumia 925. Was this actually any better in 8.0?

 

[Long Syntax]

Bobdonkey - EAP has only been available since 8.1DP, so I hadn't had a chance to evaluate roaming prior to the DP release.

 

[danwanna]

I have the same issue with standard WPA2 Personal AES at my house..It was much better before WP8.1 and I'm hopeful it will be something they fix with the final release.

 

[Long Syntax]

I'm not having issues with personal security protocols or encryption standards. The specific issue I am describing is Wi-Fi roaming from one access point to another.

Connecting to my Wi-Fi router at home has been unaffected by the 8.1 DP release.

 

[danwanna]

I have multiple access points at my house (it is a large ranch) and ended up placing one near each end to maximize coverage on my property as well. They are Ubiquity commercial grade APs but I'm only running WPA2 personal on them.

I rolled back to W8 and took the Verizon firmware update before reinstalling W8.1 tonight and my initial testing seems to show improvement.

 

[James8561]

yea this is a huge problem for me when I'm at my university and cause my battery life to be noticeably worse compared to at home with only one AP.
hopefully they'll expose a settings to increase roaming aggressiveness. I know that roaming is fine on w8.1 just bad on wp8.1

 

[danwanna]

The firmware update from Verizon has made a huge improvement in my WiFi stability. I'm not sure exactly what changed but hand-offs between APs are now working and I have a connection in places where I previously ended up with either no bars or limited while other devices were fine.

I know that doesn't help non-Icon users, but to me it seems like the issue was on the firmware side of the phone and not the OS.

 

[Long Syntax]

Hopefully a firmware update resolves the AP stickiness. I haven't had time to test with the updated 8.1 bits yet - maybe some improvement there, we'll see.

 

[JONA1970]

Last Windows Phone 8.1 DP update doesn't solve this issue

 

[Long Syntax]

Agreed, the OS update doesn't solve the issue - I thought that was a long shot anyway.

Still crossing fingers that the cyan firmware addresses the issue.

 

[tgr42]

I have this exact problem at my office with a Lumia 1020 (8.1 DP) and regular wifi. I practically always have 1 bar until I manually turn wifi off and on. It's annoying.

 

[Chalex4]

I have a Lumia 920 and also have this issue on WP8.1 Update 1. Cyan isn't yet available for me - has it fixed the problem?

 

[Chalex4]

Just upgraded my 920 to Cyan - still have the issue. In addition, I occasionally get "no internet access".
​
Seem to always be able to fix both issues by disconnecting/reconnecting to the network.

Anyone else still experiencing these issues? Is there a permanent fix? Roaming needs to be more aggressive for sure.

 

[MartinAdam]

I believe that the "no connection" problem may be caused by the fact, that the phone is sticking with very low signal access point (at least I made such observation)
Basically, I have exactly the same problem - at work and at home as well (have 2 access points - house and garden). In wp8 I "solved" this by setting the phone to disable WiFi in lock screen (so background tasks were using 3G access). Unfortunately there is no such setting in wp8.1 anymore, neither is there a possibility to set roaming "aggressiveness".
Not sure how I will solve this. In worst case I will have to disable WiFi altogether to have continuous and RELIABLE internet access (even though slow)

 

[Qtweeder]

i have the same issue on my 920, sticks to a weak hotspot downstairs, when there is one right next to it with full bars!

i can only presume they have chosen low aggressiveness to minimize scanning/hopping for the sake of battery life, but ironically as some users have pointed out the way it is now, can be worse for battery by trying to get throughput from low/non existent SSID