Wireless signal fluctuates a lot.

I'm having issues with my G4 mini. The wireless signal keeps fluctuating up and down. It is connected to the internet via my Airport Express. My G4 Powerbook has no problems with the connection and always shows full siganl so I don't know what to do. Checking the speed on my mini shows a connection of about 2-10mbps but on my Powerbook the speed is about 48mbps. Please help me. I assume if there is a problem with my aiport on the mini it would either work or wouldn't, not half half.

Speed is related to signal strength so the fact the speed seems rather low would also suggest the signal really is fluctuating, not just appears to be.
There can be many reasons for variable signal, and sadly no one single one of them is certain to be a culprit. You may be suffering from interference caused by household devices such as cordless phones or microwave ovens, or even nearby wifi systems on the same or adjacent channels. Often switching channels using your Airport Admin Utility could help.
However, much can also be due to precise positioning of components, and the location of structures which can either directly impact the transmitted signal (such as duct work) or on signals being bounced around the area causing what is known as 'mulipath'. It's also possible for a number of outside influences, such as local paging systems or other radio devices, to create interference by intermodulation distortion. None of these things you can see or hear, but all can dramatically impact on signal strength from moment to moment.
And of course yes, it's possible for there to be a hardware issue resulting in poor or variable reception - typically that would be a damaged antenna inside the system, or one that is not fully connected to the airport card. In the latter instance, often the earth braid isn't firmly connected, allowing any stray RF (radio frequency) source to distort and adversely affect signal.
The first thing I would do is move the Airport Express base station and the mini around a little to see if you can get a better, more stable, signal with one or both in slightly different locations. To help in this, I'd suggest you download a copy of AP Grapher from http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/apgrapher/ and watch for other wifi signals being listed and their relative strengths. This will tell you whether you might have an interfering wifi in your area. Also with your own wifi selected, watch the signal levels. Look to position the system and/or AE base station where it shows noise as consistently lowest and com quality as consistently high.

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