What causes changes in Airport signal?

[About2SwitchOvr]

I just recently bought the airport express (wall outlet w/airtunes capability).
I have my powerbook about 20 ft away, and it seems as if SOMETIMES, it's at FULL level, and on other times (like now).. It drops down a bar or two..

This all happens when NOTHING changes (ie, no movement of the laptop, electronics, nothing...)

Does this happen to anyone else as well?

[katie ta achoo]

I just recently bought the airport express (wall outlet w/airtunes capability).
I have my powerbook about 20 ft away, and it seems as if SOMETIMES, it's at FULL level, and on other times (like now).. It drops down a bar or two..

This all happens when NOTHING changes (ie, no movement of the laptop, electronics, nothing...)

Does this happen to anyone else as well?


Are you turning on a microwave, answering the phone, turning on a TV or radio?

Whenever ANY of those happen in my house, my connection goes the crap. Maybe that is it?

[About2SwitchOvr]

Are you turning on a microwave, answering the phone, turning on a TV or radio?

Whenever ANY of those happen in my house, my connection goes the crap. Maybe that is it?


That's what I thought too, but it's next to the tv (brand new JVC 26" LCD :P), but the tv is on usually... so i don't think the tv is making any difference...
I never really ran into this problem with any other wireless routers.. maybe i should just go back to Netgear??

[katie ta achoo]

That's what I thought too, but it's next to the tv (brand new JVC 26" LCD :P), but the tv is on usually... so i don't think the tv is making any difference...
I never really ran into this problem with any other wireless routers.. maybe i should just go back to Netgear??


Oh yea... it could ALSO be an airport base station thingiee.

Ask the genius bar, if one is close enough. Make a day of it! :) Mine acts up sometimes.. maybe you are missing an airport update?

[Leareth]

mine does it all the time too.
And there is no interference from TV,phone or microwave when it does it.
I have all the updates but it still does it randomly... :confused:

[yenko]

I just recently bought the airport express (wall outlet w/airtunes capability).
I have my powerbook about 20 ft away, and it seems as if SOMETIMES, it's at FULL level, and on other times (like now).. It drops down a bar or two..

This all happens when NOTHING changes (ie, no movement of the laptop, electronics, nothing...)

Does this happen to anyone else as well?

Got a cordless phone in the 2.4 Ghz range. :eek:

[puckhead193]

mine does that too, very annoying. What i hate the most is when i'm like 1 foot away from the base station is goes down to like 1 bar.....

[TheMonarch]

This is exactly the reason I still have a 900mhz cordless phone. Why would phones need to go up to 5.4 ghz? Why bother with 2.4 for that matter? Is there somthing I'm missing? I mean, Its a phone :confused:


And BTW, I get NO issues :)

[mad jew]

Are we talking about the icon in the menu bar or the reception because I was under the impression that a Tiger update (or maybe just Tiger since inception) uses the menu bar icon as a measure of throughput, not reception. Someone leap in and correct me when I get it wrong, but it only goes down if you're using it (transferring information between the computer and the station), right? I mean, if you're not using it, the bars are generally all filled in unless you are very far away.

[TheMonarch]

Are we talking about the icon in the menu bar or the reception because I was under the impression that a Tiger update (or maybe just Tiger since inception) uses the menu bar icon as a measure of throughput, not reception. Someone leap in and correct me when I get it wrong, but it only goes down if you're using it (transferring information between the computer and the station), right? I mean, if you're not using it, the bars are generally all filled in unless you are very far away.

I'm not sure either...

BTW, my wireless router is 12ft away in the other room...

[mad jew]

Yeah, blaskillet4, that's definately the reception level but the actual icon in the menu bar isn't reception from memory. :confused:

[TheMonarch]

I'm confused. In the picture, I had full signal in the menu bar, but when I opened internet connect, It also displayed full strength, so I'm assuming it means reception, and not throughput... BUT the air traffic control says otherwise... I'm confused :confused: :confused: :confused:

Look:

[yenko]

Are we talking about the icon in the menu bar or the reception because I was under the impression that a Tiger update (or maybe just Tiger since inception) uses the menu bar icon as a measure of throughput, not reception. Someone leap in and correct me when I get it wrong, but it only goes down if you're using it (transferring information between the computer and the station), right? I mean, if you're not using it, the bars are generally all filled in unless you are very far away.

Close, mad jew but close only counts in "horseshoes"..........












and hand grenades. :D

Methinks it actually measures signal level. :o

[mad jew]

Dang! You and your hand grenades! :eek:


Methinks it actually measures signal level. :o


You're probably right. I haven't found anything at Apple.com to prove or disprove anything though. :o

[tdhurst]

So, does the fact you have less reception bars actually AFFECT anything? Does it lose signal, download slower or anything similar?

I mean, my icon fluctuates all the time, but it makes zero difference concerning my connection. Maybe some people should stop worrying about things that don't really matter...

And yes, I also remember there being an update about the airport icon measuring throughput, not actual signal strength. It seems when I updated to Tiger that I recall there being some sort of change, but my brain is too shot to remember.

[TheMonarch]

So, does the fact you have less reception bars actually AFFECT anything? Does it lose signal, download slower or anything similar?

I mean, my icon fluctuates all the time, but it makes zero difference concerning my connection. Maybe some people should stop worrying about things that don't really matter...

And yes, I also remember there being an update about the airport icon measuring throughput, not actual signal strength. It seems when I updated to Tiger that I recall there being some sort of change, but my brain is too shot to remember.

Well it doesn't matter depending on what you're doing. For internet, I'm sure it doesn't matter because your connection is probably slower. But I have a home network, and I constantly copy Gigabytes at a time over wireless. Sure it might not be as fast as wired, but at least I don't have to get up my lazy ass :cool:

[yenko]

Many factors affect the signal strength (you should read the fine print the FCC issues with it.......fun reading :D ) and yes, sometimes it does fluctuate.

However, if it's not affecting whatever you're using it for, i.e. air tunes, web browsing, I wouldn't worry about it too much! :)

[ammon]

Because there are always things that interfere with signal, it is best to run cables where possible. That is the only 100% method I have ever discovered!

Don't forget, even your neighbor's 2.4GHz phone could be effecting it.

PS Panasonic makes a nice 5.8 GHz phone. I love mine!