I'm not really a networking guy, but I need to solve a problem with some WiFi-only iPad 2s that I intend to deploy at work. I just installed six wireless access points (Cisco E2000s) throughout the building. The APs are configured with DD-WRT according to the specs in the DD-WRT documentation.
All of the APs have the same SSID and the same key. They use three different channels, and I tried not to position two APs with the same channel near each other.
I think I have decent coverage throughout the whole building, but there's still a problem. When I walk around with an iPad, I go through periods when the signal is really weak, and the connection is degraded. What I think is happening is this: the iPad stays connected to a given AP, until the signal gets so weak that the connection is dropped altogether. At that point, the iPad looks for another, stronger signal to connect to. As I walk further away from that new AP, the signal is again degraded, and the cycle continues.
Is there anything I can do to force the iPads to drop a connection before it gets very weak? Seems like this is a problem that has already been solved somewhere by someone.
There aren't many parameters to change on the iPads, but maybe there is something I can do on the APs? Should I be using a different configuration from the one I actually used? If not, are there any settings that can be tweaked?
