wi-fi signal explained?

[shawdreamer]

right I have a Sky supplied wireless router (not 100% but I believe it to be a Sagem)

 

anyway, without getting to technical can someone give me a general description of what Im looking at when I check the signal strength from any given access point (my office, sons pc, my lappy/android etc) via wi-fi

 

in general dumber than dumb laymans terms would be helpful.

 

I assume the vertical bars (similar to your average phone signal display) typically represent the signal strength received from my router.

 

but then....... wtf is all the often varying dBn reading stuff about?

 

I only ask cos even tho everything else on my wireless network seems happy enough to function in a relative stable way via wireless despite the dBn range fluctuating the missus's Galaxy S is constantly loosing its wireless connection when any particularly large fluctuation occurs in this dBn rate reading.......almost like it upsets her androids link when it happens.

 

Ive googled the issue and tried all the suggestions given on multiple forums (from handset settings, auto sync disabling to router channel changes) but still the problem persists, Samsung Helpline gave it a good 45 minutes on the phone tryin to sort the problem but also couldn't understand why as all the settings in that particular handset were correct and perfectly viable to use with my router and sky wireless in general.

 

all I can think of now is the seeming link between the large up & downs in dBn rate that can nearly always be witnessed just before her connection go's dead...... could it be the cause or could it just be an effect of her connection loss?.........fecked if I know as I don't exactly know what the rate represents in the first place.

 

help appreciated in advance lads.

[shawdreamer]

cack.... cant anyone just tell me what this dBn measurement indicates?

 

is it maybe better when it reads higher?

 

or maybe a lower reading?

 

can anyone atall give me a straight answer?

[caled]

Simply, its the strength of the wifi signal.

 

Confusingly enough, the readings are all in minus figures, meaning a value of -20 is a better, stronger signal than -80.

 

To get massive fluctuations in the strength of your wifi signal to me either indicates you've either got a dying router (less likely) or are suffering from interference (from any device in the 2.4GHz spectrum, e.g. wireless phones, tv signal transmitters etc). Does the cordless landline phone ring just before the signal drops? Or do you have those tv/sky wireless repeater units? Ive known them to cause havoc before. I'd imagine the reason for the phone dropping the signal is that it may have a smaller, more shielded radio than a laptop (which commonly house the radios wrapping round the screen).

 

inSSIDer will scan for wifi networks in the local environment, for example I was having issues with a weak signal on channels 1, 6 & 7, this program shows that those channels are flooded with wifi signals and so I switched to the entirely empty channel 12, and have had no issues since.

[shawdreamer]

Least that'll let me now find the best channel... I've been playing hit and hope till now.

 

Must be her handset though as the that's seemingly the only common factor with the issue, hopefully the best channel choice will minimize it and stop her whining though.

 

 

 

 

...doubt it tho.

[stoo2000]

I had similar issues with an HTC Desire, replaced router, perfect.

 

You could use this app on the phone: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.f...c.wifi.analyzer

 

I presume inSSIDer does a similar thing.

[shawdreamer]

I had similar issues with an HTC Desire, replaced router, perfect.

 

You could use this app on the phone: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.f...c.wifi.analyzer

 

I presume inSSIDer does a similar thing.

 

cheers stoo, gave that a try, found the signal tester particularly handy as discovered nextdoors virgin media signal is strongest at the wall directly behind my own router, tho my sky routers signal is stronger on closer inspection the dBn rates of both his and mine seem to fluctuate together so maybe that's half the issue right there.

 

I think Ill reposition my router tomorrow across the room so its on the wall side that has a couple of farmers living the other side of it.... their so backward they struggle with texting and probably think a "router" is one of those fancy doodads that tells ya which way to go to get to the next field in your combine harvester.