A network includes a plurality of parent nodes to communicate in a wireless network via a wireless network protocol. A network node establishes a network connection to one of the parent nodes of the plurality of parent nodes in response to received beacons from the parent nodes. A signal analyzer in the network node processes a received signal strength of the beacons and the number of beacons received over a given time period from each of the parent nodes. The signal analyzer selects the parent node by analyzing the received signal strength for a number of beacons received from each parent node with respect to a number of expected beacons transmitted from each parent node of the plurality of parent nodes over the given time period.