Selecting access point based on mesh network resource utilization metric

A method, comprising:

• determining, by a first access point of a wireless mesh network comprising an ingress device, a first network path to the ingress device;
• determining a first value of a network resource utilization metric characterizing data frame transmission along the first network path;
• receiving, by the first access point, a beacon frame transmitted by a second access point of the wireless mesh network, wherein the beacon frame includes a second value of the network resource utilization metric characterizing data frame transmission along a second network path between the ingress device and the second access point;
• receiving, by the first access point, a first association request transmitted by a mesh network device to the second access point, wherein the first association request comprises a content identifier of a requested digital content item;
• determining that the first value exceeds the second value;
• notifying the second access point of the first value;
• and
• fetching the requested digital content item from a content distribution node.

A method, comprising:

• determining, by an access point of a wireless mesh network comprising an ingress device, a network path from the access point to the ingress device;
• determining a first value of a network resource utilization metric reflecting a characteristic of data frame transmission along the network path;
• receiving, from a mesh network device of the wireless mesh network, an association request including a second value for the network resource utilization metric and a content identifier of a requested digital content item;
• determining that the second value is less than or equal to the first value;
• and
• transmitting, to the mesh network device, an association response including a status code indicative of acceptance of the association request;
• and
• fetching the requested digital content item from a content distribution node.