The performance of a WiFi wireless network connection depends in part on signal strength. Between a computer and access point, the wireless signal strength in each direction determines the total amount of network bandwidth available along that connection.
To determine the signal strength of your WiFi connection at any given point in time, you can use one or more of the following methods:
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Operating system utility – Microsoft Windows (and other network operating systems) contain a built in utility to monitor wireless network connection status. In the Network Connections section of Control Panel, opening the Status window of the Wireless Network Connection icon reveals a Signal Strength meter. This meter shows up to five green bars representing the current strength on a quality scale from “Very Low” (1 bar) to “Excellent” (5 bars).
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Wireless adapter utility – Some manufacturers of wireless network hardware and/or notebook computers (e.g., Linksys, IBM) provide software applications along with the hardware that also monitor wireless signal strength.
These applications often report signal strength and quality based on a percentage from 0-100%.
For example, a connection with an Excellent / 5 bars rating in Windows XP may show in IBM ThinkVantage Access Connections as Excellent with a percentage rating anywhere between 80-100%. These percentages are based on actual radio signal levels maintained by the wireless network adapter, in decibels (dB). -
WiFi locator devices – Resembling a keychain, a WiFi locator device is designed to detect signal strength of nearby wireless access points. Most WiFi locators use a set of between four and six LEDs to indicate signal strength in units of “bars” similar to the Microsoft Windows utility. Unlike the above methods, WiFi locator devices do not measure the strength of your actual connection, they only predict the strength of a connection.
Note that different tools in the above categories will sometimes report slightly different results. For example, one wireles adapter utility may show a signal strength of “82%” and another “80%” for the same connection, or one WiFi locator may show three bars out of five while another shows four bars out of five. These variations are generally caused by small differences in how the utilities collect samples and the timing they use to average them together to report an overall rating.
Bradley Mitchell
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