• SonicOS8
• About Access Points
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  • Provisioning Overview
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    • General Settings for Provisioning Profiles
    • 5GHz/2.4GHz Radio Basic Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Radio Settings
      • Wireless Security
      • Protected Management Frames (PMF Option)
      • About Local Radius Servers and EAP Authentication Balancing
      • Configuring Radius Server Settings
      • ACL Enforcement
      • Remote MAC Address Access Control Settings
    • 5GHz/2.4GHz Radio Advanced Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Configuring the RSSI Threshold
      • Configuring IEEE802.11r Settings for Secure Fast Roaming
      • Configuring IEEE802.11k Settings for Dynamic Radio Management
      • Configuring IEEE802.11v Settings for Dynamic Environment Management
    • Sensor Settings for WIDP in Provisioning Profiles
    • Mesh Network Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Setting Up a Mesh Network
      • Enabling a Multi-hop Mesh Network
      • Active/Active Clustering Full Mesh
    • 3G/4G/LTE WWAN Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Manually Configuring the 3G/4G/LTE WWAN Profile
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  • Before Configuring VAPs
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• RF Monitoring
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  • 802.11 General Frame Setting
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  • Adding a Threat Station to the Watch List
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    • Using Sensor ID to Determine RF Threat Location
    • Using RSSI to Determine RF Threat Proximity
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    • Understanding the RF Score
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    • Configuring WMM
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• Bluetooth LE Devices
  • Viewing BLE Scanned Data
• Radio Management
  • Configuring Radio Management
  • Configuring Dynamic Channel Selection Settings
• SonicWall Support
  • About This Document

Configuring the RSSI Threshold

In areas large enough to require multiple access points to provide good WiFi coverage across the whole area, you would expect a WiFi client to detect and move to the closest access point. Unfortunately, many WiFi clients tend to hang on to the original access point they associated with, rather than moving to a nearby access point that would generally be a better choice for them. This is referred to as sticky behavior and results in a low RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) and a high SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio). The farther away from the original access point the client moves, the weaker its RSSI gets and the worse its SNR gets. Retransmissions occur, dynamic rate-shifting happens, and the client communicates at a much lower data-rate. A lower data-rate consumes more air-time to transfer the same information, resulting in higher channel utilization. Ideally, the client would roam to the closest access point, and the resulting RF space would be better for everyone.

RSSI thresholds are supported. When the client reaches a certain RSSI level from the perspective of the access point, the access point disassociates from the client and the client then associates to a closer access point. The RSSI threshold is configurable.

RSSI measurements represent the relative quality of a received signal on a device after any possible loss at the antenna and cable level. The higher the RSSI value, the stronger the signal. When measured in negative numbers, the number that is closer to zero usually means better signal. As an example, -50 dBm is a pretty good signal, -75 dBm is fairly reasonable, and -100 dBm is no signal at all.