NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
WN203 RSSI values
Does anyone out there know what the scale is for the RSSI and SNR happens to be for the WN203 (version 1 I suspect)?
I have a client with a RSSI and SNR showing as 28 to 30 (varies during the day) but I am not sure whether this is good or bad on this extender. I thought the value for RSSI was supposed to be a negative number but I guess Netgear omitted the minus sign on this unit's admin pages. Also, I was under the impression that the closer to zero, the better the signal strength, but on this model I am not sure. I wish the user manual had more information on this but ifi it does, I am unable to find it.
I have been having intermittent problems with the particular client mentioned above but I can't tell if it is a signal strength issue or something else. I am hoping that someone can clarify Netgear's scale for the WN203 (what is good vs. what is bad) so I can move on in diagnosing the problem.
3 Replies
DDTex wrote:
... on this extender.
FWIW, The WN203 is a wireless access point, not an extender.
wrote:
I thought the value for RSSI was supposed to be a negative number but I guess Netgear omitted the minus sign on this unit's admin pages. Also, I was under the impression that the closer to zero, the better the signal strength, but on this model I am not sure.
The ambiguity here is baked into 802.11 wifi.
RSSI is relative, and has arbitrary units. Different radios report different units. Larger numbers mean always mean higher signal strength. If the range is negative, that means numbers closer to zero have better signal strength (since zero is larger than any negative number).
Also, RSSI is measured in the receiver's radio, so if you are seeing these numbers in a client device, you'd need to look into the client's wifi chipset (not the WN203). Numbers displayed in the AP's web ui are measured by the AP itself.
Are you seeing these reported in the WN203, or somewhere else? I agree some more details in the WN203 documention would be useful.
Are you seeing performance issues?
I am aware that the WN203 is an access point. I appreciate any useful feedback but unless someone has some inside information regarding how this "Access Point" determines signal strength, it leaves me in the dark about WHERE the issue lies.
The values I reported ARE from the WN203 but are related to the remote device's connection to the AP. The problem with whether this is a negative number or not is because the documentation on the AP doesn't say whether a minus sign is implied or not.
And, as I mentioned, I am trying to determine whether the signal (RSSI) is where my problem lies or whether it is something else causing dropouts and lost connections. (e.g. interferance from some other source).
So I am hoping someone at Netgear will see and respond to this for everyone's benefit.
DDTex wrote:
I am aware that the WN203 is an access point.
You are posting in the wrong forum area - this really should be posted in the business wireless area: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Business-Wireless/bd-p/business-wireless-for-business
I can move it for you, let me know if you'd like me to do that.
DDTex wrote:
The values I reported ARE from the WN203 but are related to the remote device's connection to the AP. The problem with whether this is a negative number or not is because the documentation on the AP doesn't say whether a minus sign is implied or not.
Netgear will need to respond on that, but I believe they will say that they are using a positive range with no implied minus sign.
I have a WAC505, and when I connect my Galaxy S7 in the same room I see an RSSI of 43. When I move the phone to the other side of the house the RSSI drops to 8. You have a different AP of course, but you can easily try this yourself, and check that the larger positive numbers are higher signal strengths. It will also get you another data point on the usual RSSI value.
