Wi-Fi & connectivity

[Schiffy]

I have 3 Unifi access points setup in my house, one on each level. I have AC-LR's upstairs and in the basement and on the main level I have an AC-Pro. In the basement I have a Roku Streaming Stick 3500X in the basement about 25 feet from the AC-LR in the basement.

The problem I'm having is that the 3500X keeps connecting to the upstairs AC-LR (the furthest from the unit) and the one with the weakest signal. I have each of the 3 APs set on different non-overlapping channels with both 2.4G & 5G radios. It doesn't matter whether I connect to the 2.4G or 5G radios; it keeps connecting to the same AP. If I disconnect the two furthest APs, the 3500X connects to the correct one, but then reconnects to the furthest one whenever I reconnect the them.

I've done network resets and factory resets on the 3500X, but the same thing keeps happening. I've also tried going into the secret menu and playing around with the WiFi settings but nothing seems to resolve it.

All of the other devices in the house connect to the closest AP. I've even connected a Fire Stick in the same location and it connects to the correct AP.

Has anyone else had this same problem or have any suggestions as to how to fix it?

[atc98092]

Just a guess, but the 3500 is getting old (released March 2014) and might simply be failing. Not that it seems logical, but I don't have a better explanation. My devices always connect to the last AP they connected to, but I also use a different SSID on each access point, and for each band as well. So I always know exactly where they are connecting. 

Just a thought: is the firmware the same version on all your Unifi units? Perhaps there's something different between the basement unit and the others, either firmware or a setting of some kind. 

[RokuTannerD]

@Schiffy  One suggestion to try here. In Settings>System>Advanced system settings use the option for 'Network connection reset' to reset the network settings entirely, then try connecting to your network again and see if your device selects the closest AP. In theory, it should connect to the AP with the highest received signal strength. 

Keep us posted from there! 

Thanks,

Tanner

[FX4_New]

Just a note, I am experiencing what appears to be a similar problem. It's driving me nuts trying to troubleshoot this problem. It is only happening on the Streaming Stick +, two of them. The very first one setup is working fine. Two regular streaming sticks are working fine. I'm not certain this is the same problem but I am investigating. 

[SpinCharm]

Sounds similar to the problem experienced here  in this forum.  I suspect the Roku doesn't have wifi roaming capability (802.11v/k/r).

[FX4_New]

It’s not my problem, the two misbehaving Rokus connect fine on a hard reset, get everything setup then upon power down or reboot they won’t connect again. I have two doing exactly the same thing. I have a third that works exactly as it should. I’m sure if I dig into it more that one is probably a different hardware revision. 

[atc98092]

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@SpinCharm wrote:

Sounds similar to the problem experienced here  in this forum.  I suspect the Roku doesn't have wifi roaming capability (802.11v/k/r).

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If that requires support for one of those particular flavors of 802.11, then you're correct. Roku devices support 802.11 b/g/n, and some of the dual channel models support .a and .ac. 

[SpinCharm]

No, sorry, I was responding to the op (@shiffy)'s issue.

802.11v/r/k are roaming protocols that are in addition to, or on top of, 802.11ac/n/a/b etc.  A typical example of roaming is when you're using wifi in a big department store and you wander around.  If your phone and the WiFi network support roaming, then you will automatically be disconnected from a weak access point and connected to a stronger one as you move around. 

Both the wifi network and your device have to support it.  If either one doesn't, then you will stay connected to the first access point regardless of where you are in the store, and if you wander too far away, your signal will get worse and worse.

If the Roku doesn't support roaming, then when you reboot your WiFi network/router/access points, chances are the router or primary WiFi box is the first box that starts up, and therefore the one that the Roku connects to, regardless of any closer or strong signal WiFi boxes that subsequently come online.

[Schiffy]

Thanks but that’s not the cause. I did a factory reset on the Roku while the 2 distant APs were disconnected, leaving only the closest one on while setting the Roku Stick back up. After I put the other ones back online, the Roku connects to the furthest on.

I even created a 2nd WiFi network that was only active on the closest AP and that didn’t seem to work either.

The Roku remote has a full stength connection (which I think might use a WiDi-type connection), making me think the Roku dedicates the strongest channel to the remote and the weakest channel for the internet connection. I don’t know enough about networking to be sure, but thats just my novice observation. 

[PhantomQuad]

Hi there, just wanted to share my findings after experiencing the exact same issue but with 2 x Unifi AP's

I found that to Roku would not detect the 5GHz signal from the AP that was 1 meter away because of the channel that AP was using for 5GHz... It was using channel 120(DFS) there was no issue after forcing it to use channel 40. I haven't played around with this much because I'm happy it works now but I suspect the Roku may have issues detecting the channels that are (DFS) Dynamic Frequency Selection.

Hope this helps as I was sure my AP was faulty before figuring this out 🙂