RSSI reading comparisons

[philip_francis1]

Hello, when looking at the RSSI readings for clients in Smartzone I notice they appear a lot worse than when actually on site using a tool such as INSSIDER to show RSSI levels.

For example, the Smartzone client RSSI level might show -75dbM, however when using INSSIDER on the local laptop the RSSI is much better at -60dbM.

My question is how reliable/accurate are the SmartZone RSSI levels shown for clients ?

What could be causing these differences ?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @philip_francis_3lh2kfry55kua,

The RSSI value presented in SZ is the value reported by Clients to AP at any given distance. Try moving the spectrum analyzer (Inssider) close to AP in question and check if the RSSI value approximates. We can't expect the same value, as the client reported RSSI value would differ from Vendor to Vendor. 

You could run below command from AP CLI for current RSS Value.

get station <WLAN_ID> info

Regards,

Parikshith

[philip_francis1]

@parikshith_nagaraj_aa0004 

Thank you. I have run the AP command 'get station <WLAN ID> info' and these RSSI values match exactly the INSSIDER values from the local laptop.

Therefore I want to understand why the SmartZone client RSSI values are so much higher than the values from the AP CLI and INSSIDER.

Thank you,

[Anonymous]

@philip_francis_3lh2kfry55kua it takes some time for the AP to report client values to SZ. If the client is frequently roaming between APs we could expect value mismatch. Another possibility is the RSSI value is state in SZ.  

Regards,

Parikshith 

[jamie_walmsley]

The value shown on the SZ is what the AP is hearing the client at. Inssidr is showing it from  the client perspective 

depending on the configured AP tx power the AP is likely to be transmitting at a much higher power level than what the client device is TXing at, which could be contributing to why the values are so different. (Although the AP will have a better receive sensitivity and a higher gain antenna usually)