While dBm is an absolute index, the RSSI is a relative one. The dBm is a power ratio of the measured power as references to one mW (milliwatt). The more your RSSI nears the value of -100, the closer you get to not having any signal whatsoever.Įven though RSSI and dBm are different units of measurement they both indicate the signal strength. At this signal strength level, you are guaranteed to encounter frequent connection drops and issues with lost data packets. Most people would find an RSSI of -90 unacceptable for anything beyond the least bandwidth-intensive tasks.

Sending emails or browsing the web shouldn’t be a problem, but don’t expect to enjoy online games or high-definition video streaming without major issues. When your RSSI drops to -80, it’s highly likely that your download and upload speeds will suffer considerably, and your latency with them.

From time to time, you may notice that a video is buffering a bit longer than usual or that a file taking a while to download, but that should be the extend of your problems.

With an RSSI of -70, you should be able to enjoy most online activities without any major slowdowns and connection drops.

While not perfect, an RSSI value of -60 is still very good, and most people who don’t know what RSSI is would never guess that their signal strength could be any better. If you manage to achieve an RSSI value of -50, you should have absolutely no trouble enjoying your internet connection to its full potential. This is the highest signal strength level that can be achieved in real-world conditions.

Rssi wifi