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Restore wireless connection strength when using Bluetooth
Authored by: mike666 on Aug 22, '05 03:09:06PM
Ok, but Ser. Cooter specifically said it indicated bandwidth usage, not bandwidth availability. For that matter, signal strength and bandwidth availability have always meant pretty much the same thing on the user level - if your signal strength goes down, your ability to effectively use the bandwidth available at your connection rate will drop proportionately. And any drop in that bandwidth availablility is almost certainly going to be due to loss of signal. So the distinction is a subtle one at best if the indicator has indeed changed. I'd just be curious as to the source of the info about this change.

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Restore wireless connection strength when using Bluetooth
Authored by: MattHaffner on Aug 22, '05 03:22:22PM

i'm not a wireless expert, but it's likely that you may be able to transmit at maximum speed (bandwidth) for the protocol without having maximum signal. In addition, transmission speed may not be linear with signal below that point (I honestly have no clue on that one).

Realize that especially with the first point, it's a bit of a "marketing" change by Apple, and why there have been some complaints about it. The metal PB line in particular has been notoriously short-ranged compared to other Apple (and other vender) offerings. By making this change, there's likely (again, I don't know for sure) a band where you have lower than maximum signal, but you can still transmit at maximum throughput. In that band, you still get 4 bars, so that visually, you're happier, even though the ancient iBook next to your PB is actually getting better reception :)

To Apple's defense, bandwidth is what really matters in the end for most end users' application, so the change makes some good sense. Allowing for us to switch between the two (with non-Terminal-based, non-third-party quantitatives as well...) would have been nice though.



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Restore wireless connection strength when using Bluetooth
Authored by: CoolerQ on Aug 22, '05 07:00:08PM

I'll describe how 802.11b works in regards to bandwidth. I don't know how 802.11g works, but I assume it works similarly.

Bandwidth is not related to the signal level per se, it's more related to the signal-to-noise ratio. With enough quality, 802.11b will transmit at 11 Mbps. As the SNR decreases, it will back down to 5.5 Mbps, 2 Mbps, and finally 1 Mbps. These levels are what are represented by bars in the AirPort icon.

Hope this helps,
--Quentin



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