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WiFi Strength Signal

borey_chum
New Contributor II
Can you explain why minimum recommended signal test for best use is -65 dbm? what if it goes to -72 dbm?
7 REPLIES 7

manoj_gowrie
New Contributor
Hi, WiFi signal degrades with distance from the AP, -65dbm has become the industry standard as the recommended limit of signal strength/coverage  to ensure that the connection from the device to the AP is still stable, once the signal drops below -65dbm the connection starts becoming unstable, i.e. packet drops, intermittent loss of connection, etc. You will still be able to get a connection at -72dbm but you would see increased latency and potentially packet loss dependent of how much the signal strength fluctuates

john_d
Valued Contributor II
Right, I guess the more cynical answer is that 65dBm has become the industry unspoken standard for the minimum RSSI that a half decent wifi device should be able to hold a connection at. If you fall below there, then you're likely to experience more and more clients that can't hold a signal.

Wifi client antenna / RF design is pretty inconsistent, just like how you have good AP models and crap AP models, the same holds true on the client side. I've had some awesome laptops that can hold a connection down close to -80dBm and pick up wifi where none of my other devices can see wifi, but I've also had the opposite built into gaming consoles where -65dBm was already not enough for Netflix streaming.

robert_lowe_722
Contributor III
I also consider SNR in this scenario. at -65dBm "in a normal operating environment" it is safe to assume that the signal strength is strong enough to not be effected by WIFI & none-WIFI RF noise. Obviously there are instances when the noise floor is much higher and you can still experience issues at -65dBm

borey_chum
New Contributor II
We had test two different device phone of Android. Exact same location, but we got different signal. Can you advice?