RSSI guide
Quick answer: for most homes, aim for about -67 dBm or better in the places you care about (office, bedrooms, living room). Worse than about -72 dBm often behaves like a dead zone.
RSSI is a rough measurement of Wi‑Fi signal strength. It’s usually shown as a negative number (dBm). Closer to 0 is stronger. This is the fastest way to stop guessing about dead zones.
Quick targets
| RSSI | What it feels like | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| -45 to -60 | Strong, stable | You’re good |
| -60 to -67 | Usually fine (Zoom/streaming) | Minor tweaks only |
| -67 to -72 | Borderline | Reposition node or add backhaul |
| -72 to -80 | Unstable / dead zone | Backhaul or another node |
Why RSSI can be misleading
- Interference can ruin performance even with decent RSSI.
- 5 GHz drops faster through walls than 2.4 GHz.
- Backhaul matters: a node with good RSSI but bad backhaul is still flaky.