Summary: Which Wi-Fi metrics are worth tracking and what can you do with those metrics?<br> This episode was sponsored by Metageek<br> <br> Useful Wi-Fi Metrics To Track<br> Today’s Wi-Fi networks are the main point of access to network resources and have become mission critical service to employees. To monitor the Wi-Fi network, which metrics should you track to show the Wi-Fi network is performing optimally? We list our six useful Wi-Fi metrics worth tracking.<br> RSSI<br> <br> * Most looked at metric<br> * Determines the strength of the signal<br> * Good to get both from AP and client perspective. Client may hear AP loudly but not the other way around<br> <br> SNR<br> <br> * Indication of signal quality<br> * Difference between the signal and noise<br> * Example: concert, kids talking over parents<br> <br> Channel Utilization<br> <br> * How busy the channel is<br> * Both 802.11 and non-802.11 traffic<br> * Congestion and capacity<br> * If youre seeing high channel utilization you may need to add more capacity<br> * Tells us if CCI is an issue<br> <br> Data rate<br> <br> * Especially useful on the client side<br> * Tells us how well the client is able to decode the Rx signal<br> * Tells us how the driver is handling data rates<br> <br> Retry Rate<br> <br> * Does it correlate with high channel utilization<br> * Are basic data rates too high<br> * If you’re seeing too high (10-15%) retry rate look into lowering data rates, look at potential interference, maybe even hidden nodes or devices with bad drivers<br> <br> Association Time<br> <br> * Why would it take a long time to associate<br> * Bandsteering could cause long association times because of delayed probe responses<br> * Are devices scanning DFS channels<br> * Can client and AP hear each other<br> <br>
