WiFi Roaming issues on the S21 Ultra using 6GHz bandwidth.

[WIFI Roaming]

Hello, 

I got a problem about the S21 Ultra device, which dosen't work WiFi roaming on 6GHz.

As know, For Wi-Fi Roaming funtionality, the S21 Ultra should support 802.11r, 11k, 11v. 

While doing a Wi-Fi roaming test between APs almost one month, have reached to a conclusion says it woks well in 2.4GHz and 5GHz bandwidth  , but in 6GHz 

After engineering , some says it seems like the device dosen't support some funtionalities related 802.1x authenticastion and WPA3 secutity protocol in the 6GHz BW.   

For your understanding, my test environment as below.

: S21 Ultra supports 6GHz a.k.a WiFi 6E, Access Point supports Wi-Fi 6E

Please advise on how to solve this problem.

[moneylessbrim]

I don't think your issue is related to the 6GHz band, but it's actually caused by a lack of support for 802.11r on WPA3 networks. I have a Samsung S20 FE, and it doesn't roam with 802.11r on my WPA3-personal network with two routers (5GHz network). However, everything works as it should when the network runs WPA2-personal security.

I really doubt that Samsung engineers visit this forum, so could you please report your issue in the Samsung members app? I've sent in a report about mine, and the more reports they get about it the more likely we'll see a fix.

[WIFI Roaming]

Yes

Thanks for your comment.

While I have been testing from the irregular network connecting and dropping issue over 6Ghz  bandwidth,

I'm going to send an official letter on this issue to Samsung Electronics and  Government organization, The Ministry of Science and ICT both.

[moneylessbrim]

I heard back from Samsung and they confirmed that 802.11r is not supported for WPA3 networks at this time, but that it will be enabled in the future. I assume this will happen once the device gets Android 12, which I believe the S21 Ultra has. Have you updated to see if the issue is resolved?

[RobertEnger]

I have an S22ultra with Android 12 and latest patches (as of Aug 26, 2022).

Roaming onto 6Ghz doesn't work reliably.

I have Asus AXE-16000.  I run it in AP mode.  It supports multiple radio bands simultaneously.  S22u grabs the 5Ghz band.  It ignores 6Ghz.  AND it ignores fact that 6Ghz channel is 160Mhz, while 5Ghz channel is only 80Mhz.

I also have an older Netgear R7800 in another part of the house.  Dumb S22u will hold onto the 5Ghz 802.11AC well below -75, even when I am sitting on top of the Asus 6E AP.

Android roaming (and esp the Samsung implemantation) is primitive.  It squanders capability of ISP and home LAN.  It is a major disservice to users.

THERE IS REAL IMPACT.  I have 2Gbps FTTH ISP.  I forfeit benefit of that high ISP capability when S22u stays associated with a geographically distant AP which forces operation at low MCS.  Ditto when S22u ignores nice plump 160Mhz channel and insists on associating with narrower 80Mhz ch.

And I am a comparative Luddite.  AT&T customers can get 5Gbps FTTH.  and some municipal systems offer 10Gbps ISP service.

I have 6A wiring and 10G ethernet switches and router infrastructure, and 10G NICs in hardwired PCs.  But my super expensive S22u 1TB phone fails miserably at leverging the 10gbps LAN and 2Gbps FTTH  connection.  

I contacted support.  They said they will open ticket to "appropriate teams" to review situation with eye towards enhancing wifi roaming, esp for 6Ghz.

[moneylessbrim]

Have you gotten the One UI 5 update for your S22 Ultra yet? If so, have the roaming issues been fixed?

[RobertEnger]

hi:

My S22ultra is stuck on Android 12,   One UI 4.1.

Attempts to request automatic update say that "Your software is up to date."

There seem to be some reports that installation of (either 13 or UI 5?) are debilitating S22ultras.  One person reported that they had to return the phone to the factory.

As of this time, my condition persists.  The S22ultra IGNORES 6GHZ CHANNELS.

I have tried 2 configs to no avail:

• giving the 6Ghz channel its own SSID and listing that FIRST in the phone
• using the SAME SSID for the 5ghz and 6ghz radios.

The only way to get the S22ultra onto 6Ghz is to keep it as a separate SSID, and then manually connect to it in the UI.

Regardless of which configuration (described above) is in use, when you walk into the house, or move between areas in the house, it will find the 5Ghz channel and use that.  (5Ghz is not so hot for me, as we have neighbors that have active 5Ghz equipment; I seem to be the only 6Ghz base station, as far as WifiAnalyzer can spot; 6Ghz would be good for me, if the S22u would autonomously find it and use it.)

Android (and Samsung) support for Wifi is just not very good.  

They spend all their time making the phone glitzy, but not much making it technically superior.

I keep my phone in a  gigantic (ugly) battery case, and even leave the plastic on the screen for protection.  Glitz means nothing to me.  PERFORMANCE IS WHAT I HOPE FOR.  RF and Software.  What a strange world.  Samsung is famous for high performance SSD and other semiconductors.  But their phones are just sold as tarted-up fashion accessories (like Apple).  Maybe time to give up and buy phones that focus on technical superiority.  (e.g. Wifi roaming that works, Cellular-RF that does its best to compensate for the inadequacies of the wireless provider networks, even POP-UP/Fold-Out external antennas.  I'd rather do that than find I have no-service, or feeble, ultra-slow service in bad-signal areas).   Give me better technology that works in real-world (bad signal) environments.  NOT GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM ART PIECES.