ALERT Android, multiple WAPs, and roaming

matthew

Guru
Joined
May 22, 2013
Messages
83
Reaction score
26
I have a customer that wants to run multiple cheap android phones with csipsimple as a cheap mobility solution around his large hotel grounds. He has an existing guest wifi network that he wants to piggy back on, which is provided by a 3rd party and does not connect directly to his own admin network. That means all traffic would route out via the guest internet connection and back in through his admin internet connection. Both are ADSL2+.

- I have misgivings about the ability of csipsimple to roam over wifi. I doubt it could do call handovers cell tower style, and I'm not sure that even availability would be reliable while moving from WAP to WAP.
- How big is the world of hurt I would be entering by taking this on?
- I would love to hear some war stories of others who have dealt with this kind of thing.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Messages
1,398
Reaction score
320
I have never seen current phones operating via wifi that roam properly. They usually hang on to the most distant, original connection even when there is a much stronger one available. It usually takes a power up-down cycle to get them to change. More sophisticated wifi cards have additional setting for this but I haven't seen them work well either. Neither different channel or same channel radio schemes seem to help the situation.

There are other versions of wifi protocol, 802.11k and 802.11r, that will supposedly address this issue:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5535
 

Porch

Guru
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
135
Reaction score
15
Run away from the project.

802.11abgn is not designed for seamless roaming. There is a period of packet loss when moving from AP to AP. Depending on how well the client handles the transfer, you might get a blip, or several seconds of silence.

Now how well this all works, is a function of the client, and the AP. On the AP side, a good simple managed wireless network like Unifi, will see weak signal from the client, and boot them off the network in the hopes that the client will hop to a different AP with a stronger signal. I find this helps out with Apple devices as they tend to hang on to an AP even when the signal so weak it's not usable. But it's still not seamless roaming.

Aruba and Cisco make WAP and controllers that "move" the AP around with the client. So the client never has to transfer to a different AP. As far as it knows, it always has a good signal with the AP. So it's seamless roaming.

However, even with the best gear, you still need a good -70 signal in all locations. I have yet to see a hotel get good coverage in all the rooms. I hate to see what the signal is in the walkways, storage closets, and where all the staff roam.

I won't even go into how bad an idea putting this system on the guest wifi is.

Your best solution might be for IM on the android phones. Use some type of IM/XMPP/Jabber service client to send messages to the staff phones. Many apps will wait till the phone has a wifi connection, then fetch all the waiting messages. For messages like "Toilet in RM256 blocked", this might work for you.
 

atsak

Guru
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
2,381
Reaction score
436
Yes, this requires a SIP DECT roaming solution, not a wifi one, and it isn't a cheap option. AAstra and Panasonic have ones that work (AAstra for sure I have implemented two of those and the roaming is seamless).
 

matthew

Guru
Joined
May 22, 2013
Messages
83
Reaction score
26
Thanks, gentlemen. This gels with my own experiences with wifi.
 

kenn10

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
3,764
Reaction score
2,173
Just to add another thought about this, most Hotel guest networks are dreadful. Unless the provider is going to do QOS for wireless phones, they'd be almost unusable if the guests are using the network.
 

Hyksos

Guru
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
474
Reaction score
70
http://www.engeniustech.com/telephony/long-range-4-lineport4x/299-durafon-pro-pia
Kinda thing...

But in theory this is not impossible. Think of walkie talkie like app for cell phone.
I've used those extensively and some of them are impressive. It's not real time but that's exactly the point they are async so if one is without connection the beep with the message will come in when the phone reconnects and the exchanges accumulate on the screen.
Essentially turning any connected smart phone into an async talkie walkie, not a phone conversation though.

But would I want to be the first one selling this to a major complex... issssh.
 

rjaiswal

Active Member
Joined
May 24, 2013
Messages
438
Reaction score
58
Most hotels that I've worked with use Motorola type radios for inter staff communication. It's very cost effective, because of the range that they can provide.
 

Porch

Guru
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
135
Reaction score
15
I just ran a test using my Android phone and a school I have setup with UniFi in the classrooms and outside. Roaming works surprisingly well, however, I did get transition period of poor audio quality when it hopped WAP. Sometimes, but not all the time, and normally for about 3-5 seconds.
This is a best case setup. I spent a lot of time on this school so it has great wifi coverage in all areas where students roam. And school is out, so the load is light right now. I have yet to see a hotel provide this kind of speed and coverage.
 

matthew

Guru
Joined
May 22, 2013
Messages
83
Reaction score
26
Nor quality access points. Most hotels here are generally offering free wifi access now, as they have to to compete. As it doesn't directly generate revenue, it's being done as cheaply as possible.

I passed on the link to the Apple support article that briankelly63 posted. It put things in terms that most people could understand, and it's from a household name so it adds some weight. I haven't heard back from the customer. I don't envisage them breaking out the cheque book to upgrade the wifi, as the original point was to leverage existing infrastructure.

There's some really good info in this thread. It's interesting to see some of the emerging features in wifi.
 
Get 3CX - Absolutely Free!

Link up your team and customers Phone System Live Chat Video Conferencing

Hosted or Self-managed. Up to 10 users free forever. No credit card. Try risk free.

3CX
A 3CX Account with that email already exists. You will be redirected to the Customer Portal to sign in or reset your password if you've forgotten it.
Top