Method of evaulating the quality of a channel operable by a wifi access point for establishing a wifi connection with a communication device, corresponding device, computer program product and computer-readable carrier medium

A communication device connected to a WiFi access point on a given WiFi channel, called a current channel (CC), within a predetermined WiFi frequency band, wherein the communication device comprises at least one processor configured for computing a score representative of a channel quality for at least one WiFi channel, called a scanned channel (SC), within the predetermined WiFi frequency band, by:

• obtaining a scanned channel bandwidth and a maximum effective isotropic radiated power associated with the scanned channel;
• determining a number of neighboring access points operating in the scanned channel;
• estimating a neighbor airtime occupancy for the scanned channel;
• and
• computing the score representative of a channel quality for the scanned channel (SC), as a function of:
• the obtained bandwidth;
• the obtained maximum effective isotropic radiated power,
• the determined number of neighboring access points;
• and
• the estimated neighbor airtime occupancy.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a set of programming instructions that, when executed by a computer, performs the steps of a method for evaluating the quality of a channel operable by a WiFi access point for establishing a WiFi connection with a communication device, the communication device being connected to the access point on a given WiFi channel, called a current channel (CC), within a predetermined WiFi frequency band, the method being implemented by the communication device, wherein the method comprises a first phase for computing a score representative of a channel quality for at least one WiFi channel, called a scanned channel (SC), within the predetermined WiFi frequency band, the first phase comprising at least one iteration of:

• obtaining a scanned channel bandwidth and a maximum effective isotropic radiated power associated with the scanned channel;
• determining a number of neighboring access points operating in the scanned channel;
• estimating a neighbor airtime occupancy for the scanned channel;
• and
• computing the score representative of a channel quality for the scanned channel (SC), as a function of:
• the obtained bandwidth;
• the obtained maximum effective isotropic radiated power;
• the determined number of neighboring access points;
• and
• the estimated neighbor airtime occupancy.