Roaming & Band Steering

Roaming is the process by which a wireless client seamlessly transitions from one access point to another as it moves through a space, without dropping its network connection. In enterprise environments, fast roaming protocols like 802.11r (Fast BSS Transition) allow clients to re-authenticate quickly as they move between APs, which is critical for real-time applications like voice and video. Band steering is a related technique where the wireless controller or AP encourages dual-band capable devices to connect on the less congested 5 GHz band rather than the 2.4 GHz band, improving overall network performance by distributing clients more evenly across available spectrum.