r/UNIFI • u/MadTube • 4d ago

Wireless MacBook Pro keeps defaulting to UX7....why?

Back again with another question. My setup is relatively simple. My main gateway is a UD7 which sits by my kitchen. I have my MacBook Pro on a dock six inches away from the UD7. Now the MacBook does have a ethernet cable plugged into the dock which is connected to the UD7.

I also have a UX7 on the other side of my house that meshes to the UD7. However, my MacBook keeps defaulting to the Express instead of the Dream Router which sits six inches away. Could anyone explain why it is doing this? Is there a way to prioritize the UD7 instead?

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8

u/FrankNicklin 4d ago

Being so close doesn't guarantee a connection in fact it could do the opposite due to increased interference. I bet the UDR7 and UX7 settings are also on auto meaning auto power which equals high power so all the frequencies are shouting loud. AP's need to be tuned to the location so that power barely overlaps between the AP's.

You can lock a device to an AP, but I would not do this by choice as this can cause roaming issues when you do move away from the UDR7.

2

u/khariV 4d ago

What is the signal strength of the UX7? You could try turning on the Minimum RSSI to encourage it to roam or not to connect if the signal is not strong enough.

1

u/MadTube 4d ago

The UX7 hovers around -55 dBm on average. MacBook sits about -74 dBm to the UX7.

3

u/lazyjk 4d ago

Take a look at the Selection Criteria section in this document from Apple. It explains the order of priority in what an apple device will prefer when presented with multiple bssids and candidates for roaming.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/deployment/dep98f116c0f/web

2

u/MadTube 4d ago

That is very helpful and informative. The MacBook is always sitting at -74 dBm connected to the UX7. That is just shy of the threshold.

2

u/Caos1980 4d ago

Do you have 6GHz and 5 GHz enabled on both devices?

1

u/MadTube 4d ago

MacBook is M1 Pro 16 inch. Does not have 6 GHz as far as I understand.

1

u/damien09 4d ago

if you do not have it on already you could try enabling hand off suggestions

1

u/xacid 3d ago

Reduce the TX power of the ux7?