Signal strength/quality

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless (More info?)

at the frequencies used by wireless stuff even moving the antennas a cm or
two can make a huge change in signal strength. moving objects near the
antennas (or even large objects not that far away) by a few cm can change
reflections and hence the signal strength... try just moving an aluminum
soda can around the laptop and watch the signal strength change, the same
can be seen sometimes by the position of your body around a laptop depending
on the direction and distance to the access point. for instance i can
change my signal meter from 4/5 down to 2/5 bars by moving my feet about
10cm.

"Lunaray" <yar@nehalemtelNOT.net> wrote in message
news:11fdu7smatlc38a@corp.supernews.com...
> Windows XP Home (both desktop & laptop) and Linksys router/wireless
> adapter!
>
> My signal fluctuates between 55% & 80% (strength & quality), what might be
> causing this fluctuation? This is based on my laptop being in the same
> room/same position, as it is most of the time! I live alone and nobody
> else is using my network!
>
> Thanks all!
> Ray
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless (More info?)

Dave wrote:
> at the frequencies used by wireless stuff even moving the antennas a cm or
> two can make a huge change in signal strength. moving objects near the
> antennas (or even large objects not that far away) by a few cm can change
> reflections and hence the signal strength... try just moving an aluminum
> soda can around the laptop and watch the signal strength change, the same
> can be seen sometimes by the position of your body around a laptop depending
> on the direction and distance to the access point. for instance i can
> change my signal meter from 4/5 down to 2/5 bars by moving my feet about
> 10cm.
>
> "Lunaray" <yar@nehalemtelNOT.net> wrote in message
> news:11fdu7smatlc38a@corp.supernews.com...
>
>>Windows XP Home (both desktop & laptop) and Linksys router/wireless
>>adapter!
>>
>>My signal fluctuates between 55% & 80% (strength & quality), what might be
>>causing this fluctuation? This is based on my laptop being in the same
>>room/same position, as it is most of the time! I live alone and nobody
>>else is using my network!
>>
>>Thanks all!
>>Ray
>>
>
>
>
The good news is that at 13% you should be able to make use of your
wireless connection. Granted it mabe slow due to coms packet loss but
the signal meter software that comes with most cards is WAY short on the
accuracy thingy. :-) I would heartly suggest that you pickup a download
of netstumbler and see what it is showing you with an active ping going.
You can move around and even take your laptop for a short walk to see
what the actual usability is and compare the results with the signal
strength values shown by the software that came with your card. Also
this will show you the difference between noise and signal which is a
BIGGIE. Well I hope this sheds some new light.

h,w,h 2 U
Health Wealth and Happiness 2 u.