Common Roaming Problems
This section will cover some of the most common problems you may experience on your devices if they are not roaming correctly.
Aggressive Roaming
Some devices (particularly Apple products) have a setting known as “aggressive roaming.”
While it is normal for devices to switch between access points or networks if the signal quality changes, they will usually only do so after a major drop in the signal quality from the original access point. Devices with aggressive roaming turned on will switch between access points when there is any drop in signal quality, even a small one.
While this function is useful when used as intended, it will likely cause problems if used on MVNU’s network, because MVNU uses a mesh network.
For example, most home networks use only 1 access point, commonly known as a router. When you leave your home, and the signal quality from your router drops, it is useful for your device to switch to a better network as soon as you are close to one. But in an environment with many different access points, such as a college campus, small changes in signal quality are common and are caused by a variety of different things. If your device is trying to switch to a different network or access point every time the signal changes even slightly, you will likely switch networks every few minutes, making basically impossible to maintain a stable internet connection.
If you are experiencing this problem, it will probably appear that your device is losing or dropping the Wi-Fi signal every few minutes, despite not visibly changing to another network. You will probably experience this issue on campus but won’t notice it when you leave. You are far more likely to experience this issue on an apple device such as an iPhone or MacBook.
Fortunately, aggressive roaming is, in most cases, a configurable setting and can be turned off. If you need assistance fixing this issue, please contact signal team at wifi@mvnu.edu or by texting (740)-324-5545.
Sticky Connections
While switching too often between networks can cause connection problems, not switching often enough can also cause problems. Some devices will not switch to a new network or access point even when the signal quality from the one they are connected to has become so poor that it is unusable. We refer to this issue as having a “sticky” connection.
If you are experiencing this problem, you may notice that you lose the Wi-Fi signal in certain buildings or certain areas on campus, even when those areas have adequate Wi-Fi coverage. If you are experiencing “dead zones” where others do not have connection issues, a sticky connection is a likely culprit.
Like aggressive roaming, sticky connections are often caused by a problem with the device’s settings rather than a problem with the network itself. If you are experiencing these issues, please contact signal team at wifi@mvnu.edu or by texting (740)-324-5545.
Network Switching (aka forget MVNU-guest)
While roaming is mainly used to switch between different access points, it is also used to switch between networks, which can cause connection problems on campus.
As mentioned in the sections above, most home Wi-Fi networks have a single access point. When you leave your home and your device roams to another access point, it is also roaming to another network. This will not cause problems at home because your home router only broadcasts one network, so your device will not switch between networks while you are at home.
On the other hand, every access point at MVNU broadcasts several different networks at the same time. MVNU-student, MVNU-employee, MVNU-devices, and MVNU-guest are all broadcast simultaneously by most of the access points on campus.
Devices can “remember” familiar Wi-Fi networks that you have connected to before and will connect automatically to them; this is why you don’t have to manually connect to the Wi-Fi every time you leave campus and then come back. If a device remembers multiple networks, it will usually select whichever network has the strongest signal and connect to that one. If the signal strength changes, and the signal from another network is now stronger, your device will switch to that other network.
If your device remembers multiple networks on campus, for example both MVNU-student and MVNU-guest, it will automatically connect to whichever network has better signal strength. But signal strength is not the only thing that determines the quality of your internet connection. Networks at MVNU run at different speeds, and MVNU-guest is by far the slowest. If your device is switching to MVNU-guest from MVNU-student, your internet connection will be slower regardless of the increase in signal quality.
Also, due to the fact that signal strength from different networks tends to have small fluctuations frequently throughout the day, switching between different networks will cause frequent interruptions in your internet connection.
If you are experiencing this issue, you will likely notice frequent interruptions or “dropping” in your internet connection. You may notice that your internet connection suddenly slows. If you are taking a test on Moodle or another online program, you may receive an error message stating that a network change has been detected, or that your connection has been interrupted. When you go into your Wi-Fi menu, you will notice that your device is remembering multiple networks.
The simplest solution to this issue is to forget all networks except the one that you wish to stay connected to. Due to its low bandwidth and slow speeds, we recommend that all students and employees forget MVNU-guest. If you think that you are experiencing this issue and need help fixing it, please contact Signal Team at wifi@mvnu.edu or by texting (740)-324-5545.