Roaming is defined as the transfer of a WLAN client to another AP once the connection to the access point used so far can no longer be kept alive. To allow roaming, at least one additional AP must be within range of the client, it must provide a network with an identical SSID and matching radio and encryption settings.
Under normal circumstances the WLAN client would only log onto another AP if the connection to the AP used until to that point was lost completely (hard roaming). Soft roaming on the other hand enables the client to use scan information to roam to the strongest AP. With the background scanning function, the device in client mode can gather information on other available APs prior to the connection being lost. In this case the client is not switched to another AP once the existing connection has been lost completely, but rather when another AP within its range has a stronger signal.
- To enable soft roaming, navigate to and enable soft roaming for the selected interface. If necessary, enter settings for the other parameters such as the threshold values and signal levels.
- To configure background scanning in LANconfig, go to the 'Radio' tab under the physical WLAN settings for the relevant WLAN interface.
- Enter the background scan interval as the time in which the device regularly searches the currently unused frequencies of the active band for available APs. To achieve fast roaming the scan time is set, for example, to 260 seconds (2.4 GHz) or 720 seconds (5 GHz).
