SteamDeck WLAN Roaming?

[Talonachris]

Hey :)

I have some AVM Fritz! Routers and Repeaters running and have the problem, that wlan roaming is not working. It is sticking to the same router even if another is right next to it. The WiFi has the same name and is running the Fritz Mesh. It happens in both the LED and OLED Deck. Even if I am restarting the deck it will still stick to the far away one

Does anyone know how to fix this?

[Mahjik]

Someone mentioned in another thread that their Deck would not connect to their repeaters.

I have a mesh network with 3 Access Points (APs). My deck will connect to the closest one when it establishes it's initial connection but will not change APs as I walk around my house. I do have to shut off the wifi, and then turn it back on for it to figure out the closest AP.

If you truly have repeaters and not access points, that could be the problem. FWIW, repeaters are not the best things for networks. They cause a lot of chatter and actually do slow down your network.

[Talonachris]

The repeaters are all connected over lan and do their full gigabit so this is not a problem :)

The strange thing is even after restarting the deck it just connects to the repeater that is at the moment the most far away one.

The Fritz mesh system normally chooses by itself which access point it uses for the devices. Btw same thing with the Nintendo switch for some reason…

[Mahjik]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von SeeEmAge:

The repeaters are all connected over lan and do their full gigabit so this is not a problem :)

It's not about their connection speed. Repeaters do what they say, double all the network traffic to "repeat" it. A sizeable portion (will be reported as half on the internet, but it's not likely exactly half) will be used for use repeating/forwarding packets. Most of those may not even be intended for clients of the repeater. Search the web for "Are wifi repeaters bad".

That being said, not sure why those devices are only connecting to one of the repeaters. In the other thread I mentioned, his Deck wouldn't connect to his repeater at all. It would likely take a lot more information about the setup but even then, may not lead to a good answer.

[hompen]

Hi :)

I don't think mahjik fully understands the problem apart from repeaters bad. SeeEmAge mentioned that his repeaters are connected via LAN, so "double all the network traffic" can be ruled out as a problem here.

Apart from that, I have the same problem.

I have a Fritzbox 7590AX and a Fritz!Repeater 6000, both connected via Mesh. The Steam Deck automatically connects to the repeater even when I'm sitting next to the router, i.e. far away from the repeater. That's why I've always had relatively poor WLAN reception. Normally in a mesh, the Mesh Master should push the Steam Deck to the device with the best reception. However, this doesn't seem to work with the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, I can't say whether the problem is with the Steam Deck or the Fritzbox. It would be nice if others with a Mesh could confirm that it works / doesn't work for them, then I could write to AVM directly.

I was able to remedy this by switching off the repeater so that the Steam Deck had to connect to the router when reconnecting. As I don't normally walk around the house with the Steam Deck, this workaround is ok for me but still not ideal.

Greets hompen

[Talonachris]

Hey hompen :) you spoke all out what I wanted to say :) my English is not the best and can’t really tell what I mean…

[Mahjik]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von hompen:

I don't think mahjik fully understands the problem apart from repeaters bad. SeeEmAge mentioned that his repeaters are connected via LAN, so "double all the network traffic" can be ruled out as a problem here.

I never said that was the problem. I just noted that "repeaters", not "access points" are a bad way to extend wifi. That as nothing to do with how Fritz does it's steering.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von hompen:

I have a Fritzbox 7590AX and a Fritz!Repeater 6000, both connected via Mesh. The Steam Deck automatically connects to the repeater even when I'm sitting next to the router, i.e. far away from the repeater. That's why I've always had relatively poor WLAN reception. Normally in a mesh, the Mesh Master should push the Steam Deck to the device with the best reception. However, this doesn't seem to work with the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, I can't say whether the problem is with the Steam Deck or the Fritzbox. It would be nice if others with a Mesh could confirm that it works / doesn't work for them, then I could write to AVM directly.

In the Fritz Mesh setups, their router controls the "steering", not the connecting device itself. With that, there is some logic in the Fritz steering that isn't working as expected.

https://en.avm.de/service/knowledge-base/dok/FRITZ-Box-7590/3515_What-is-Mesh-Wi-Fi-steering-and-how-does-it-work/

My bet, there is an issue in the way the Fritz router does steering that doesn't work with certain OS's due to support of how they are doing the steering (and you see some of that at the bottom of their page).

[Mahjik]

BTW, search the internet for "802.11v linux" and you'll see a lot of posts around this.

[Mahjik]

https://forum.openwrt.org/t/fast-roaming-802-11r-not-working-on-every-device/148727/9

[hompen]

Hi Mahjik,

thanks for your reply. The link to the AVM KB was very helpful. checked this in the Fritzbox web interface. The Steam Deck is listed with the properties 11k and 11v. This means that it should theoretically be capable of Mesh Wi-Fi steering. I'll try to report this to AVM, but I'm not very hopeful. But it's worth a try.

[BremerButjer]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von hompen:

Hi :)

I don't think mahjik fully understands the problem apart from repeaters bad. SeeEmAge mentioned that his repeaters are connected via LAN, so "double all the network traffic" can be ruled out as a problem here.

Apart from that, I have the same problem.

I have a Fritzbox 7590AX and a Fritz!Repeater 6000, both connected via Mesh. The Steam Deck automatically connects to the repeater even when I'm sitting next to the router, i.e. far away from the repeater. That's why I've always had relatively poor WLAN reception. Normally in a mesh, the Mesh Master should push the Steam Deck to the device with the best reception. However, this doesn't seem to work with the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, I can't say whether the problem is with the Steam Deck or the Fritzbox. It would be nice if others with a Mesh could confirm that it works / doesn't work for them, then I could write to AVM directly.

I was able to remedy this by switching off the repeater so that the Steam Deck had to connect to the router when reconnecting. As I don't normally walk around the house with the Steam Deck, this workaround is ok for me but still not ideal.

Greets hompen

Exactly the same here.
hope there will be a solution soon

[Boonhemian Rhapsody]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von hompen:

Hi Mahjik,

thanks for your reply. The link to the AVM KB was very helpful. checked this in the Fritzbox web interface. The Steam Deck is listed with the properties 11k and 11v. This means that it should theoretically be capable of Mesh Wi-Fi steering. I'll try to report this to AVM, but I'm not very hopeful. But it's worth a try.

Did you ever hear back from AVM?

[PhatRhino]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von hompen:

Hi :)

I don't think mahjik fully understands the problem apart from repeaters bad. SeeEmAge mentioned that his repeaters are connected via LAN, so "double all the network traffic" can be ruled out as a problem here.

Apart from that, I have the same problem.

I have a Fritzbox 7590AX and a Fritz!Repeater 6000, both connected via Mesh. The Steam Deck automatically connects to the repeater even when I'm sitting next to the router, i.e. far away from the repeater. That's why I've always had relatively poor WLAN reception. Normally in a mesh, the Mesh Master should push the Steam Deck to the device with the best reception. However, this doesn't seem to work with the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, I can't say whether the problem is with the Steam Deck or the Fritzbox. It would be nice if others with a Mesh could confirm that it works / doesn't work for them, then I could write to AVM directly.

I was able to remedy this by switching off the repeater so that the Steam Deck had to connect to the router when reconnecting. As I don't normally walk around the house with the Steam Deck, this workaround is ok for me but still not ideal.

Greets hompen

Same here... My Setup:
- FRITZ!Box 7590 AX (Mesh Master)
- FRITZ!Repeater 2400 (Mesh Repeater)
Network Settings are synced automatically between the devices.

Steam Deck Infos:
WiFi Power Management: disabled
OS Update Channel: Main
OS Build: 20240104.1000

I have also initiated a support request with AVM and will provide you with an update as soon as I receive further information.

[arcoder]

Hello, same issue here with steam deck oled, did you solve it?

[Boonhemian Rhapsody]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von arcoder:

Hello, same issue here with steam deck oled, did you solve it?

Mot Yet unfortunately

[KnobiWanPenobi]

I have the same problem. For now I disabled WLan steering by giving the repeater its own SSID.
I also sent a feedback to AVM.