A method I have discovered of mapping WIFI signal strength...

[MichaelEH]

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I emailed this message to TALKTALK back in January this year but have had no response, and so I thought I would post it here and see if I get any response from the TALKTALK tech department…

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From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To: TALKTALK tech support dept. 

       attn Ralph/Melody/any supervisor who can share this info with TALKTALK Tech Department. 

I just wanted to communicate a small breakthrough which I thought you might want to use with your other customers...and also ask two questions of you - see below in bold.

Context: I have for a few months now been suffering from slow internet speeds to my laptop using WIFI. We confirmed that the incoming line to my property was fine and delivering a healthy 40gbps download speed. But the issues I was having in internet speed seemed therefore to be down to WIFI congestion, within my property. This seemed to be resolved in January with an update of my WIFI router (Sage m com fast 5364) which was given the software update from last November which I had missed. 

The problem of slow (i.e. as slow as less than 1mbps - 5mbps) download speeds seemed to have been conclusively solved, but then, in a few weeks, I started to experience slow internet download speeds once more, I rang TALKTALK engineering once more and was able to confirm that my incoming line speed was good and so the problem must be within my property...this time, shutting down and rebooting my laptop (mac book pro early 2013 retina running OS 10.14.6) seemed to clear the speed issues and I was back up to around the 30mbps down load speed.

Then last night I again started to experience slow download speeds via WIFI at my laptop. I use it two (small) rooms away from my kitchen where the router is sitting, on a worktop. I started to read an article https://uk.pcmag.com/wireless-networking/9609/10-ways-to-boost-your-wi-fi-signal about WIFI speed issues which was very insightful. Having already experimented quite extensively with the position of the WIFI booster you gave me, without being able to attribute any difference in WIFI speed to it, and switching it on and off, I now viewed the article diagram on how the WIFI signal can vary throughout a property. One thing I considered was switching my router to work on 5GHZ frequency, and seeing if, in conjunction with the booster, I could achieve a better WIFI signal at my laptop location compared to the 2.4GHz frequency... So to this end I worked out how to log into my WIFI router software and looked at the software setup. I noted that there were two channels that appeared to be available, but not on the same frequency: one was 2.4GHZ and the other 5GHZ. I could see my router was currently connected to my television via ethernet and wirelessly to my laptop and phone. I decided not to try to change the router settings to make it work on 5GHZ since I was not sure if it was already in a position to choose between the 2.4Ghz(ch11) or 5GHZ(ch36) channels operating on different frequencies. So, I resolved to wait and speak to TALKTALK first. I did however, make a change, setting each channel to "auto", since I wanted to make sure the router was able to choose the best channel and so the 2.4GHZ channel 11 became "auto (current channel 11)" and the 5GHz ch36 became "auto (current ch36)". 

Now, I noticed, on my mobile phone, which was on the desk next to the lap top, the icon for WIFI strength (the little parachute) was showing "poor"...and furthermore, I noticed that I could get an immediate change in reading from the phone, on WIFI signal strength as I moved about the room and between rooms... So now I had the equivalent of a WIFI diagram of my property, or at least a way of mapping that diagram - in my hand...just like a radiation giga counter or an avalanche transceiver...! I worked out that my phone (Android) had a four point scale for WIFI signal strength: 1 poor, 2 fair, 3 good and 4 excellent, each with a little "parachute" icon increasingly full. So now it was a relatively simple task to position the WIFI booster so that, at my computer work station, the WIFI signal strength on my phone was reading "good" rather than "poor" and sure enough, getting a WIFI signal strength of "good" next to my computer resulted in a consistent top download speed via WIFI of 37mbps using the TALKTALK.HELP speed checker on my laptop. 

At this stage I don't know if getting a good WIFI signal is the same thing as eliminating WIFI congestion or if WIFI congestion can still be a problem despite good “signal strength”. From my experience so far, it would seem that the former is true.  So far I have consistently found that having a "good" WIFI signal strength reading on my phone when next to my computer, coincides with a 37mbps(the best I can get) down load speed using the TALKTALK online speed checker(TALKTALK.HELP page). Furthermore, I have at last been able to consistently account for the changes due to my WIFI booster, since in its present position (only about a foot further down the corridor nearer the my laptop than before) if I switch it off, I can see a reduction of WIFI i signal to "fair"/"poor" at my computer, and a corresponding dip in download speeds down to between less than 1mbps to early 20s. Switching the booster back on restores the WIFI signal reading back to "good" and a consistent download speed of 37mbps, after a few minutes of waiting. 

Thus, if eliminating WIFI congestion is the same thing as having a good WIFI signal, I think I have cracked the problem at this point! I seem to have located the best place for the WIFI booster by using my mobile phone readout. I will keep monitoring the situation over the coming weeks and will let you know if this system breaks down. At the moment It is a big relief for me since, as I explained, I rely on a swift internet connection for responding to work requests ahead of competitors. 

Furthermore, I was thinking, you could perhaps use this WIFI signal mapping technique with your other customers, (with for course a small commission for me...no, just kidding!) when looking for the best placement for a WIFI booster unit. Should work for anyone with an android phone...and I am sure apple phones have almost the same thing for measuring WIFI signal strength…

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Best regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In particular with respect to two questions posed above:

1. Does my router switch between channels on difference frequencies (i.e. between 2.4GHZ and a 5GHZ channels) or dos it only switch between channels on the same frequency? (4/4/24 I am now sure that the frequency only changes when the device is close to the router or if you switch 2.4Ghz off and so force the router to work on 5Ghz. I have found that the channel within each frequency is changed from time to time by the router, presumably in response to congestion information)

1. Is having good WIFI signal strength, the same thing as eliminating WIFI congestion...? Or can you still be subject to WIFI congestion problems even if you have a strong WIFI signal? …I refer to this issue in my first post made earlier today