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Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?

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Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?

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Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
2022-01-12 17:42:53
Model: EAP245  
Hardware Version: V3
Firmware Version: EAP245(US)_V3_5.0.4 Build 20211021

I saw a post from a user on Reddit where the tool WifiInfoView was reporting that their EAP setup wasn't showing that 802.11k was supported.  I tried to verify this by capturing beacon frames from my SSID using wireshark.  I observed that I do in fact see ".... ..1. = Neighbor Report: Enabled" under "Tag: RM Enabled Capabilities (5 octets)" which implies that it is enabled, however I found a few documents online that suggest that in additiont to the above, 802.11k also requires Country and Power Constraint elements in addition to RM Enabled Capabilities.  I don't see Country and Power Constraint elements.  Can I get confirmation that the TP-link implimentation of 802.11k is working correctly?  Are those two elements required for 802.11k to work?

 

Setup:

 

2 x EAP245 5.0.4

1 x EAP225-outdoor 5.0.5

1 x EAP235-wall (broadcasts seperate SSID not part of above test) 3.1.0
OC200 running 5.0.29

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#1
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Re:Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
2022-01-13 10:13:40

Dear @mackworth,

 

mackworth wrote

I observed that I do in fact see ".... ..1. = Neighbor Report: Enabled" under "Tag: RM Enabled Capabilities (5 octets)" which implies that it is enabled, however I found a few documents online that suggest that in additiont to the above, 802.11k also requires Country and Power Constraint elements in addition to RM Enabled Capabilities.  I don't see Country and Power Constraint elements. 

 

To confirm, have you enabled the Fast Roaming feature on the OC200?


I have all the three elements by capturing the packets from the SSID via Wireshark, see screenshot as below.

Note: Using EAP225-Outdoor v1 firmware 5.0.7 managed by Controller v5.0.29 (Windows), with Fast Roaming enabled.

 

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Re:Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
2022-01-13 13:44:15

@Fae 

 

This is what I see with it enabled:

 

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#3
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Re:Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
2022-01-19 14:32:52

@Fae Just wanted to ping you.  Does this look ok?

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#4
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Re:Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
2022-02-24 01:37:23 - last edited 2022-02-24 01:42:34

Dear @mackworth,

 

mackworth wrote

@Fae Just wanted to ping you.  Does this look ok?

 

however I found a few documents online that suggest that in additiont to the above, 802.11k also requires Country and Power Constraint elements in addition to RM Enabled Capabilities.  I don't see Country and Power Constraint elements.  Can I get confirmation that the TP-link implimentation of 802.11k is working correctly?  Are those two elements required for 802.11k to work?

 

Sorry for my delayed response. It takes some time to confirm the information with the R&D team.


Regarding the different test results between us that I get all the three elements while you only have one, it's because we are using different versions of products for testing. To be specific, your EAP is US version running with the official firmware, while mine is EU version running with a non-official firmware that I didn't notice before. Generally speaking, EAP EU version (with DFS supported) will carry the Power Constraint element, and EAP with official firmware won't carry the Country element.

 

In fact, the 802.11k protocol itself contains many function points. For example, we can also see Link Measurement and Neighbor Report in RM Enabled Capabilities. At present, the Omada Fast Roaming feature realizes the interaction of Radio Measurement through some function points of 802.11K protocol. Therefore, it doesn't necessarily carry the information of Country and Power Constraint in the Beacon for 802.11k to work, that is, missing those two elements won't prevent the Fast Roaming feature from taking effect. Please do not worry about it.

>> Omada EAP Firmware Trial Available Here << *Try filtering posts on each forum by Label of [Early Access]*
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#5
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Re:Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
2022-02-24 14:41:01

  @Fae Thank you for the follow up.  Any idea why tools like Netmonster on Android and WiFiInfoView on Windows don't show  802.11k support for EAP devices?

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#6
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Re:Incomplete 802.11k information in Beacon Frame?
2022-02-24 22:24:33 - last edited 2022-02-24 22:38:56

  @mackworth 

 

It seems those tools do not show k and v information which I guess is because that information is not part of a standard beacon that information is only transmitted during a connection.

 

 

But 802.11r on the other hand should show in a standard beacon and those tools do report that correctly except in this case the reporting that the aps are not broadcasting 802.11r.

 

So I was mistaken about the k and v they may or may not be working no real way to know for myself unfortunately but I do even know that 802.11r is not on my EAP660

 

Edit: Actually just notice Netmonster is able to report "Connected Devices" and "Channel Untilization" on APs from other brands which im betting is obtianed from the 802.11k reports from the AP, I can not see that info on my EAP660

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#7
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