Antenna steering for an access point based upon control frames

A method for operating an access point in a wireless local area network (WLAN) is provided. The access point includes a directional antenna for communicating with at least one remote station in a forward link based upon an exchange of packet data comprising a plurality of control frames and a data frame. The directional antenna includes a plurality of antenna patterns. The method includes receiving a first control frame via a first antenna pattern of the directional antenna from the remote station, transmitting a first data frame to the remote station, and receiving a second control frame via a second antenna pattern of the directional antenna from the remote station. A signal quality of the first control frame received via the first antenna pattern and a signal quality of the second control frame received via the second antenna pattern are measured. The respective measured signal qualities associated with the first and second antenna patterns are compared.