Smart Hub SH32B (Model F5394-P) and 802.11r (Fast Roaming)

[Rusty_Wingnut]

Hi All,

I have an EE Smart Hub SH32B (Model F5394-P with Wi-Fi 6) and I want to know if it supports 802.11r (Fast Roaming)? If so, does it support it by default or do I have to find and change a setting somewhere?

Context: I have a Devolo Wi-Fi 6 Repeater and Access Point and both have Mesh WiFi support for seamless roaming with compatible routers. They also have the option to turn on Fast Roaming (802.11r), but again dependant on the router supporting this.

Any guidance, knowledge or actual experience would be great to know.

[XRaySpeX]

No, the EE SH+ supports IEEE 802.11ax.

[Rusty_Wingnut]

My understanding is 802.12ax relates to speed and efficiency, whereas 802.11r relates to faster roaming (ie. hand over to different Access Points as you move around). They are separate, but complementary standards that do different jobs. They operate in different parts of the Wi-Fi stack: 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) and 802.11r (Fast roaming).  So technically, having ax capability doesn’t mean it has r.

Update: I have just been doing some online research and discovered that mesh capabilities is proprietary between different access point manufacturers, and therefore not normally interoperable between different manufacturers. Sadly this means that (probably) my EE router mesh capabilities will not work with Devolo (or any other manufacturers APs). Using the same SSID and p/w between them will still enable reasonable quick transfer of clients over to different APs; but just not as efficiently as Mesh.

So I guess all that makes my enquiry about 802.11r a moot point! Still, hopefully the above might be of interest to others. And of course someone might have further info or even discovered differently?!

[XRaySpeX]

Certainly the EE SH+ router will only work/mesh WiFi-like with its own companion Smart WiFi + extenders. So your Fast Roaming capability is a non-starter.