[Ti] signal strength discrepancy

[Kynan Shook]

luke <etyrnal at ameritech.net> writes:
> why is it that the internet connect menu think that i have a strong
> signal (~ 80%) and MacStumbler & iStumbler both think my signal is only
> 30??
> which one is right??

MacStumbler is reading the strength value reported by the card; AFAIK, 
there are no units, and no minimum/maximum on the scale.  It's just a 
number, and is only useful for comparing one network to another.  30 
does not mean 30%.
The AirPort menu (at least in OS X) I believe shows you fairly 
accurately what speed your wireless connection is running at; to 
increase the maximum distance, your speed drops as you get further 
away.  4 bars=11 Mbps, 3 bars=5.5 Mbps, 2 bars=2 Mbps, 1 bar=1Mbps.  If 
you're always at 4 (or 3) bars, you can sacrifice range to (possibly) 
get slightly better speeds by changing the multicast rate to 11 (or 
5.5) Mbps.  If you want a little more range, you can drop the multicast 
rate to 1 Mbps, but your wireless network will probably run slower.
HTH,


Kynan Shook
kshook at mac.com
http://homepage.mac.com/kshook/index.html