Reducing signal strength/distance?

I didn't see anything in the manual PDF about reducing the strength of the broadcast signal, in order to minimize the potential number of unintentional recipients. Possible?

open airport utility...
select your base station...
click on the "wireless" tab...
click the "wireless options" button...
reduce the "transmit power" percentage as desired...
click "ok"...
click "update"...

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Closed Network Reduces Signal Strength ?

On my AEBS I am using WPA2 Personal and had closed my network. I noticed that closing the network reduced my signal strength by 20 per cent. Why is there such a significant reduction ?
Since a closed network is still broadcasting and therefore is detectable, is there any point at all in closing your network ?
PowerBook 15.2, 1.33GHz, 1.5G RAM, 60GB Mac OS X (10.4.6) AEBS,AE

...is there any point at all in closing your network ?
No, absolutely no benefit at all.

Reduced signal strength

Hello,
I noticed with my time capsule 2TB that in certain spots in my apartment the signal strength dropped significantly. On my IPhone it went in average down by 2 rings, my iMAC in two rooms away is even loosing sometimes the connection. Does somebody now about this, in case not I think maybe there is an interference, is there a workaround by which I don’t lose speed?
Thanks
Philipp

Two walls will absorb, on average, 40-50% of the wireless signal strength.
If you think the problems are elsewhere, then you are likely picking up wireless interference from another new WiFi network near you, cordless phones, other electronic devices, etc.
See this Apple support document for more details and suggestions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1365

Signal Strength Problems - 1310

I've got a site with six 1310's installed. Prior to Hurricane Katrina we've had no problems with the setup.
Since the hurricane, we've replaced all but two of the units (those two didn't get flooded). On the units that were replaced, we also replaced the antenna's (12dBi omni's) and the cable's (100' ULL).
We are getting really poor signal strength, -85 to -90 dBm. The maximum distance between root and non-root's is about 425 feet with clear line of sight. I don't have a good calculation of Fresnel zone, but since it is 28ft at 2.8 miles, I think I'm clear on this also.
I've two non-roots that are about 200 feet away from root, on start-up they have a signal strength of about -50 dBm, but over 10-15 minutes, they degrade to -85 dBm.
The Cisco engineer I was working with was thrown in the towel, saying he doesn't know anything about antenna's.
I did a site survey and didn't come up with any interference.
Anyone have any clues?
Thanks,
Westley

Thanks for the pictures, it helps a lot to see how things are layed out.
The move to replace 200' of low loss to 100 feet of Ultra low loss was probably a Very Good Thing and should have increased the signal strength considerably.
Grounding is very important, if only for the safety aspects. "Lightning Arrestors" don't stop lightning; they bleed off static electricity and (tend to) reduce the space charge that can accumulate on exposed elements.
It's always a good idea to put in a segment of fiber between the APs and the wired network to prevent the zap from killing the rest of the network (and maybe the phones too ....).
Check the coax for kinks (or places that were kinked), sharp bends, broken jacket, etc. At Gig+ frequencies, any malformed section of cabling an have a significant impact on the propagation of the signal.
Check each connector to make sure there isn't any "stuff" that is causing a casual short between the center conductor and the shield. Look closely, wire fragments from the braid can be pretty hard to see.
Also make sure that the center pin is ~level with the surrounding sleeve. Sometime the center pin is driven back into the connector (i.e., bad termination) and is not making sufficient contact.
The "starts strong and tapers off" symptom can only be something related to power, a failing component, heat (causing a component to break down), or some safety mechanism (i.e., high SWR causing the transmitter to throttle back)....
Try another known good power brick,
Try another antenna (any antenna)
and see if the symptoms change.
Probably the most suspicious places would be the connections around the arrestor, and the connection from the coax to the antenna pigtail.
I looked at the pattern of your new antennas:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless/ps469/prod_installation_guide09186a0080148acf.html
The "E-Plane" drawings are the "side view," the "H-Plane" is the "top view". Imagine the line from the center of the chart to the "90" (bottom) is your mast.
Anyway, the short version is: Check the cable and connections carefully (especially connections and the arrestors).
Second to that, make sure the power supply is stable.
It's not likely to be an IOS issue (but I'm a big fan of staying as current as possible).
Check it out and let us know if you find anything ...
Good Luck
Scott

Wifi signal strength on 2012 Macbook Pro

Well after extensive diagnostic testing with other computers, ipad 2 and 3 generation ipad the Wifi signal strength needs some tweaking on the 2012 13 in macbook pro. The signal and download speed is 1/2 the speed of other devices I own the same distance from my home router. I get 10MB/s typically and my ipad gets close to that using Speedtest.net. When the same distance away from the router on the new 2012 macbook pro I get 3MB/s-4mb/s. Way off from what I should get. I have tried several times at different locations. An older MBP gets similar strength and readings close to 10MB/s.
Is there a tweak or does Apple need to tweak somehow?

BB623 wrote:
yes it got better closer to the router. It's signal strength. Bring back?
I would and keep bringing back until I got one that worked like the other WiFi devices you have.

Bluetooth BToes signal strength?

Hi folks
Is there anyway i can boost my BToes signal strength? I have a internet connected pc up stairs and the Laptop uses the bluetooth to connect to the PC to use the internet. It works great when its in the same room but when downstairs it's very slow :( Even when the laptop is infront of the PC it says the sianl is weak altho it works quiet fast (ping of 40ish) its only if i lift the laptop and have it about 5cm away from the dongle that the strength goes to "Good"
Thanks for any help
Class

You can't boost the power, but check in the specification the power class of your BT device.
Not always are the same (even if the radio block is mostly manufactured with SiliconRadio). Maximum power could be almost 100mW.
Don't expect much more then 10m anyway.
For longer distance use 802.11(g)

Strange signal strength values reported by Airport Utility

I am finding some strange signal strength values displayed by the Airport Utility (under the "Advanced" tab):
Client Signal Noise Rate Type
1 -24 -95 54 802.11b/g iPod Touch
2 -59 -90 130 802.11b/g/n MacBook Pro
3 -24 -95 54 802.11b/g Dell laptop
4 -24 -95 117 802.11b/g/n Airport Express
The four wireless devices are all approximately the same distance (about 4 metres) from my base station (another Airport Express).
What seems odd is that:
- Three of the devices show EXACTLY the same signal strength (-24 dBm signal, -95 dBm noise). The graphs are dead straight lines with no wiggles. If I move the iPod away, for example, to a distance of 10 metres, the figures remain at exactly -24/-95.
- The MacBook Pro values behave in a much more reasonable way. The graph has small random fluctuations (and an occasional large peak). If I move the MacBook further away, the signal level drops, as you would expect.
I should be interested to know why the values displayed by Airport Utility make sense for the MacBook, but appear to be nonsense for the other three devices.

The signal strength values now behave as expected. This was probably a result of a Mac OS X update or Airport firmware update. So, I am marking this issue as answered.

Time Capsule/Airport Signal Strength

I have a Time Capsule serving as cable modem ethernet router for wireless internet connection to my MacBook Pro. It works fine all over the house including upstairs at the other end of the place. When I go outside (comparable overall distance), I lose almost all signal strength. I assume it is a brick and mortar problem. What can I do to boost the signal from the TC so that I can connect outside?

Welcome to the discussions!
Take a look at the AirPort Express to extend your wireless network, and if you elect to go that route, be prepared to experiment with different locations for the Express to optimize the signal strength outside.
If the room adjacent to the outside area has a good signal indoors, that might be a good starting location for the Express.
Use your laptop to get an idea of signal strength as you move around the house. Just hold down the option key while you click on the fan shaped AirPort icon at the top of the screen and look for the Transmit Rate.
You can also download iStumbler, www.istumbler.net to provide even more details about your network in terms of signal strength and noise.

Will signal strength or internet speed suffer when using a Generation 1 Time Capsule and wireless extending a network with a Generation 5 Airport Extreme

I have a wireless network in my home and I have a Time Capsule 1st generation and a Airport Extreme 5th Generation, will this cause my internet to be slow or have glitches with signal strength?

We've gone over this in the other thread.
If the Time Capsule will be connecting using wireless only, everything depends on the quality of the connection between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule.
The quality of the connection will be affected by the distance that the Time Capsule is located from the AirPort Extreme and any obstructions in the signal path.
If you have a ceiling between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule, then you should expect the signal arriving at the Time Capsule to have lost 30-40% of its bandwidth (speed). So, the Time Capsule can only repeat the weaker signal that it receives.
Other walls or other obstructions like heavy furniture, large mirrors, etc will also affect the wireless signal as well as cordless phones and other wireless networks around you.
If you are lucky enough to have line-of-sight between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule, then the wireless connection between those devices can work quite well. Few of us have this luxury, and must settle for significant compromises in performance.
If the wireless connection between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule does the job for you reliably, then you can leave things as is. If you are not getting the reliable performance that you need, then you will need to establish a wired Ethernet connection between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule.
As you might imagine, there is virtually no signal loss in a wire, even up to 300+ feet or 100 meters.

Problems with poor wifi signal strength, need help?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated? This is a lengthy explanation. Thanks in advance.
I have a 3rd generation Airport Extreme wirelessly bridged to a 4th generation Time Capsule. I have noticed only mild increase in signal strength. Surprisingly I have only 1 – 2 bars of signal strength when standing next to the bridged Airport Extreme. There are areas of the house that continue to have very weak coverage ranging from 0 – 2 bars depending on the day and others that continue to have no wifi coverage.
The house has Cat 5 cable in all rooms. Most rooms only have a phone jack wired to the end of the Cat 5 cable but two rooms have data ports. All the wires (phone and data) run to the same junction box and are connected to, what appears to be, a simple parallel bridge. (There are a couple unused access points on the bridge. A few years back, I ran an additional line for a phone by simply pressing the colored wire into the corresponding site and the phone works fine)
It was suggested to plug the two routers directly into the data ports rather than have them communicate wirelessly. When doing this, I had no signal at the other end and the phone stopped working.
What is the best way to fix the weak wifi signal problem?
1.     Do I need to tweak my current wireless set up? (FYI, In the Airport Utility, both devices are listed and have green dots)
2.     Do I need to buy an additional Airport Extreme to bridge to the Time Capsule to cover the current dead areas? (unless there is something I should do different in the set up, hesitant to do this, since I have only seen a marginal boost with my current bridge)
3.     Would it be better to use the existing cat 5 cable and create a functional “hard wired” network that I can use to connect the two wireless routers? (If this is the answer, is this something relatively simple that I can do myself or should I hire a professional?)
Thanks again.

The house has Cat 5 cable in all rooms. Most rooms only have a phone jack wired to the end of the Cat 5 cable but two rooms have data ports. All the wires (phone and data) run to the same junction box and are connected to, what appears to be, a simple parallel bridge. (There are a couple unused access points on the bridge. A few years back, I ran an additional line for a phone by simply pressing the colored wire into the corresponding site and the phone works fine)
It was typical awhile back, where you have "whole-house" Ethernet running back to a patch panel to use the cable runs for both data and phone service. This works fine as long as you only wanted 100 Mbps Ethernet (or Fast Ethernet) connections for data. Gigabit Ethernet requires all of the twisted pairs in the CAT-5 cable and cannot share any of those pairs for phone lines.
So any wall outlet that is wired for both phone & data will not provide Gigabit Ethernet ... unless there are at least two CAT-5 cables going to that outlet. I am only mentioning this as to the potential for reduced bandwidth on some of your connections as all of your AirPort base stations are Gigabit capable.
As far as "weak" signals, I am assuming that you have configured all of your AirPort base stations for a roaming and NOT an extended wireless network ... correct? Even if you already have, please review the following Apple Support article to make sure you didn't miss anything. Please post back your results.

WRT54GX2 0 Poor signal strength

Had to replace router. Had a WRT54Gv1 that went bad.
Bought a WRT54GX2 for additional range and
- placed router in same place as old one
- didn't alter ANYTHING regarding location, cables, etc.
Signal strength is significantly lower / less.
Any suggestions?
Regards,
-jP

Are you then saying that with everything else staying the same that replacing an old linksys G router with the new SRX wireless router will not improve the strength?
The effect is minimal, it will not improve strength as it will only function as a G router when you are using a G card. The SRX effect will only work with an SRX adapter.
I was hoping to provide great distance and speed from what we have without going out and buy another adapter for my laptop. My wife has a new laptop with wireless built in...will that have to be changed to a plugin SRX card to get benefit?
If you want the SRX range to work, you need an SRX card. The G card will work still but it will work on G speeds only. If that would be the case then yes, you would need to have an SRX card for it to take effect.
Also what about using expanders with the new SRX stuff?
It will work with the range expanders...not much of a conflict with them...but the expander is expensive than the card...your call...
"Sometimes your knight in shining armor is just a retard in tin foil.."-ARCHANGEL_06

Airport Extreme signal strength problem

My airport extreme's signal is very weak by the time it gets to the other end of my house, and a couple of computers at that end have been using my neighbor's unsecured wifi for their internet connection. How can I extend or strengthen the broadcast? Is there a setting in the airport utility app? The computers affected are windows xp computers. My iMac and Vista pc are connected via the ethernet cable, so they're not using wifi.

Welcome to the discussion area!
Wireless signal strength dissipates quite quickly with distance and any obstructions such as walls or ceilings will make this effect even more noticeable.
If you have a newer dual band AirPort Extreme and you want to extend both bands for greater wireless coverage using wireless only, then you'll need to look at another dual band AirPort Extreme.
The AirPort Express can also be configured to extend your wireless network, but it will only extend one band.
The extending device would normally be located at approximately 1/2 to 2/3 of the distance between your main router and the area that needs more wireless coverage.
Post back if you decide to add an extending device to your network and you need help with configuration details.

Very weird signal strength problem

Hello everybody, I have a rather unique problem with a linksys range expander. I have successfully set one up at my home and am presently trying to set one up for a friend. I set everything up in every possible way I knew how (I had a lot of experience after trying to set up my own)and I believe the range expander is set up correctly however in Wireless connection status it is still showing the signal as very low. BUT if I click view wireless networks, it shows the network as having excellent signal strength! I know that distance is not an issue as the adapter and range expander in my house is set up at more than twice the distance of my friends and it still receives excellent signal. Thus I'm inclined to think that something else is causing this problem, since I also have tried moving the range expander in case something was blocking it, to no effect. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if anyone has any ideas for a fix? Thanks!

If the Range Extender is showing two blue lights & from the wired computer you are able to ping 192.168.1.240........ we can assume that range extender is working fine ......
Let me know on wireless computer which utility you are using?
Message Edited by oook on 11-14-2007 04:31 PM

Loss of AP signal strength after upgrading to Clean Air on 5508's.

After upgrading three 5508's (which support 150 AP's) from WLC/WCS version 6.0.182.0 to version 7.0.98.0, our users complained about low signal strength. Our pre-upgrade RSSI benchmarks confirmed a decrease of -10dB to -20dB signal strength across all AP's, effectively causing wireless networking to be unusable in key areas.
After confirming our Global signal strength settings in WCS and WLC's were still at the same settings they were at prior to upgrading, we contacted our VAR for advice.
He suggested that perhaps the upgrade caused all AP's to run at a lower signal strength. He was right.
At his recommendation, we reconfigured the WCS to set two AP's to use Individual mode instead of Global mode. This is found in Radios/802.11b/g/n/Tx Power Level Assignment. Setting them to level 2 resulted in an average -15dB increase of RSSI, solving our problems in the test environment. In one case we saw an increase of -30 dB for one AP.
The signal strength loss due to the upgrade was not expected, based on the upgrade documentation. Now we must change the settings manually on the remaining 148 AP's.
I'd like to hear from anyone else who has experienced a decrease in signal strength after upgrading to Clean Air 7. If you have information from Cisco that documents this problem, I'd REALLY like to read it.
Hoping this may help you,
RS

Hi Rick,
this is not "expected" or "on purpose". It just happens that improving the RRM algorithm makes things better for 90% of the people but maybe worse for 10% of the people.
This is why you can set the Tx power treshold on the RRM or set the overal RRM algorithm sensitivity.
If you put the Tx power treshold to a louder number (=closer to 0) then the APs will reduce less their power level.
Hope this helps.
Nicolas
===
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Battery , time , signal strength bar is not getting displayed in home screen , these will be displayed only when i click on any app. Can u let me know the setting change ?

Battery , time , signal strength bar is not getting displayed in home screen , these will be displayed only when i click on any app. Can u let me know the setting change ?

Did you check the Zoom setting?
Have you tried a reset (reboot)? Hold HOME and SLEEP until an Apple logo appears.
If it isn't Zoom and a reboot doesn't help try Settings/General/Reset - Reset all settings

Reducing signal strength/distance?

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