A smart antenna steering algorithm performs a periodic re-scan at an end of a sustained use period and before a next sustained use period. During a sustained use period, a re-scan of the other antenna beams is not performed. The periodic re-scan is performed on alternate antenna beams that were selected when the preferred antenna beam was selected. The steering algorithm monitors a quality metric of the alternate antenna beams as well as a quality metric for the preferred antenna beam. If the quality metric of the preferred antenna beam is less than the quality metrics of anyone of the alternate antenna beams, then the alternate antenna beam corresponding to the quality metric having a higher value is selected for the next sustained use period.