Galaxy A41 does not switch between mesh wifi access points

[flyinglizard]

I have a TP-Link Deco M5 mesh WiFi network with 3 access points on different floors. Most of my devices, including two Galaxy A3 2017 phones, switch to the nearest access point when moved between floors/rooms. 

My new Galaxy A41 refuses to switch.

The following document on WiFi roaming suggests that a Samsung device should trigger a roaming scan if WiFi signal strength falls below -75 dBm:

https://docs.samsungknox.com/admin/knox-platform-for-enterprise/kbas/kba-115013403768.htm

But when the WiFi strength on my A41 falls to -80 dBm and download speed falls from 40 Mbps to under 10 Mbps, it still sticks to the most remote AP. 

To be fair, the range of WiFi connection on A41 seems to be somewhat better than on my older devices. Can this be preventing it from switching because it thinks that the connection is still good enough? Surely a nearby connection of -55 dBm and 40 Mbps download should be preferred to the remote AP with -80 dBm and 10 Mbps download?

Is anyone having similar issues? Does it make sense to raise a support case with Samsung?

[flyinglizard]

Apparently Samsung never gave this fix a priority. This model will soon become obsolete. Makes me question whether to trust Samsung again.

[felixauger]

I have had the same problem with an A32 5G. What a mistake to try Samsung again.

[felixauger]

Have you tried looking at the randomised MAC feature on the device to see if switching that to Phone MAC changes anything? 

[flyinglizard]

Yes, I have when I just discovered the issue - disabling it didn't help.

[A32je]

I have some issue with my recently bought (3 pcs!!!) of A32 4G.

My A51 4G does not seem to have these issues...

[gracklepod]

I have that issue with a new A13 5G I just bought.  It stays frozen to a single node in my mesh network.  A side by side comparison of the A13 5G vs a Samsung Galaxy S7 and  Moto G fast showed the S7 and Moto have no problem switching to a better node as I move from  one end of my home to the other once signal gets low and poor but the A13 5G is stuck even when signal is down to hovering between one bar and zero bars..  It simply will not change and with my Knox no longer available, there seems to be no way to change the wifi roaming threshold...  I wonder if all  A series with Mediatek chipset does not wifi roam?

Disappointing.  

[Xamxungas]

I have this exact same problem on a Galaxy s10+ !

[Barry G]

Had this problem with my A41, very frustrating but found that turning off FAST ROAMING option on Deco cured the problem. Ref Enhanced Roaming Algorithm (samsungknox.com)

Try it out and good luck.

[flyinglizard]

@Barry G, I'm pretty sure I tried it when I still hoped to find a fix for this and it did not work. Maybe it improved with later updates. In any case, I have plenty of other devices on this network and it would be a shame to disable Fast Roaming for everything just because of this one unfortunate phone. 

[appleseed]

Same issue here. I have 3 Deco X20 configured in access point. 

When I move from one area to another, my A52s picks up the new access point but I lose the internet connection (says connected without internet) and I have an exclamation mark next to the signal icon on the phone. 

I have to turn the wifi on the phone off and on and it will work again. 

So I have a mesh network but I have to manually turn wifi off and on each time I connect to a new access point (this beats the point of having a mesh network.)

I've tried the following without success:

- use the Deco Guest network

- turn off beam forming

- turn off fast roaming

- reboot the AP

- rebuild the network

Note that the mesh works flawlessly with my Lenovo laptop, amazon tablet, xiaomi phone, google phone...

I have the issue only the Samsung A52S 5G 

I've noticed that when the A52 switches to a new AP, it looses the IPv6 DNS server address (I'm using the "net analyser" app).

Seems to be a bug on Samsung.