An apparatus and method of determining link qualities of a plurality of links between an access point and a plurality of client devices is disclosed. The method includes detecting all client devices associated with the access point. A list of the associated client devices is generated. The access point transmits keep alive packets according to the list. The access point counts responds to the keep alive packets from each of the client devices. The access point estimates a link quality between the access point and each client device based on the counted responses. An apparatus and method of determining link qualities of a plurality of links between an access node of a wireless mesh network and a plurality of client devices is also disclosed. The method includes detecting all client devices associated with the access node. A list of the associated client devices is generated. The access node transmits keep alive packets to each of the associated client devices according to the list. The access point counts responds to the keep alive packets from each of the client devices. The access point estimates a link quality between the access point and each client device based on the counted responses.