The dBm and RSSI numbers don't mean much if you can't somehow relate them to a performance metric - the most relevant being 'bytes / sec'. Or, we and our neighbor or the business next door have our access points configured to use channel 11? Is this good? Bad? Doesn't matter? Ultimately, the bottom line and what we care about most is throughput - that is, how many bytes-per-sec can be transferred from one node on the wireless network to another. Or, our RF spectrum analyzer displays a -74 dBm interference peak in the middle of channel 6. Our wireless network adapter may report the beacon strength of our access point to be -53 dBm or -65 dBm or -73 dBm or. But what do these really mean? How do these translate in terms of the performance of your wireless network? Tools that are typically used to troubleshoot wireless networks report signal strengths of RF interference or beacons from an access point in units of dBm or RSSI (relative signal strength indication). Also, because WiFi networks are sensitive to RF interference from other wireless devices, they are more difficult to troubleshoot and transient changes in the local environment may affect their performance. We focus strictly on 802.11 (WiFi) networks because analysis tools are relatively scarce or, when available, tend to be rather expensive and overly complex to use. This is true for both wired and wireless networks. In order to test and troubleshoot networks we need tools that allow us to generate network traffic and analyze the network's throughput performance.
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