What is Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)?

The Received Signal Strength Indicator, or RSSI, is like how loud your favorite song plays on your headphones, it tells you how strong a signal is.

Imagine you're talking to your friend across the room in a quiet house. You can hear them clearly. But if you go to a noisy park with lots of people talking, you have to shout to be heard. That’s like RSSI, it shows how well a phone or device can hear the signal from a Wi-Fi router or cell tower.

Think of RSSI as a meter that goes up and down like a seesaw. When you're close to the router, it's high, like when your friend is right next to you in the quiet room. But if you move far away or there are lots of walls and people around, the signal gets weaker, and the RSSI number goes down, just like trying to talk over a loud crowd.

If the RSSI is low, your phone might drop calls or slow down your internet. It's like trying to hear your friend in the park, you can still talk, but it’s harder and not as clear. A strong RSSI, on the other hand, means you're getting a good signal, just like being right next to your friend in that quiet room!