To make sure that all users in your environment receive a strong wireless signal, consider these guidelines when you install your WatchGuard APs.
Signal Strength
The signal strength is the wireless signal power level received by the wireless client.
- Strong signal strength results in more reliable connections and higher speeds.
- Signal strength is represented in -dBm format (0 to -100). This is the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt.
- The closer the value is to 0, the stronger the signal. For example, -41dBm is better signal strength than -61dBm.
Noise Level
The noise level indicates the amount of background noise in your environment.
- If the noise level is too high, it can result in degraded strength and performance for your wireless signal strength.
- Noise level is measured in -dBm format (0 to -100). This is the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt.
- The closer the value to 0, the greater the noise level.
- Negative values indicate less background noise. For example, -96dBm is a lower noise level than
-20dBm.
Signal to Noise Ratio
The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is the power ratio between the signal strength and the noise level.
- This value is represented in decibels (dB).
- In general, you should have a minimum of +25dB signal-to-noise ratio. Lower values than +25dB result in poor performance and speeds.
For example:
- If you have a -41dBm signal strength, and a -50dBm noise level, this results in a poor signal-to-noise ratio of +9dB.
- If you have a -41dBm signal strength, and a -96dBm noise level, this results in an excellent signal-to-noise ratio of +55dB.