Light, Sound, and Wi-Fi
Upon connecting to the Wi-Fi network after checking in to your hotel, you are disappointed by the extremely low signal strength in your room. Just as you finish releasing a sigh of dismay, the phone rings. It is the front desk, checking in to make sure that you are settling in well and letting you know not to hesitate to get in touch if there were anything they can do to make your stay more enjoyable. You express your dissatisfaction with the Wi-Fi and she really isn’t sure what to say except that it is working great for her.
Wi-Fi really isn’t all that different from things most of us easily take for granted every day like light and sound which can be affected by a few different things:
Distance
It is a beautiful and crisp fall evening when you pull your new car up to the edge of a vast empty field. You get out in a hurry and look back with pride at the bright gleam of the lights and listen to the purr of the engine. You embark on a relaxing stroll out into the field and ponder the universe. After some time you realize that the sound of the engine is now quite faint. You turn around to head back and your headlights are also noticeably dimmer now that you’re some distance away. There is no doubt in your mind that if you had kept going, there would be some point were you wouldn’t be able to hear the engine anymore above the sound of wind and chirping crickets, and some point further still where you wouldn’t be able to see your headlights either.
Your new car happens to be a BMW for which you’re taking European Delivery and so it is parked it at the edge of a field in Germany. Your foreign travel warranted the hotel room and the rental of a pocket Wi-Fi hotspot which you happened to leave in the car in your haste. Your signal strength was great during your drive around Europe with the hotspot by your side, but now that you’re standing in the middle of a field quite a ways from your new car and the hotspot, you pull out your smartphone and see just one bar of Wi-Fi signal strength. Just like the gleam of your headlights and the purr of your engine, your Wi-Fi signal has diminished as well. The further away you go, the weaker your signal will become until at some point you will have no reception at all.
Noise
The sounds of the wind and crickets contribute to the noise floor that would eventually drown out the rumble of your engine. The noise floor is relatively low in the middle of the field where you would be able to whisper sweet nothings to your significant other beside you.
Once you return to the bustling city, however, a whisper likely wouldn’t suffice.
Some awareness of your environment can help your Wi-Fi as well. For example, if you’re having issues, you may need to reduce your distance from your access point (AP) by repositioning the AP or increasing its transmit power, how “loud” it is “speaking”.
Obstructions
You’re back home in the city now and you awaken well refreshed as the Sunday sunrise fills the room through your windows. You turn on the radio at your bedside then head out of your room and make a left down the hallway, on the way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. It is of no surprise to you that the hallway is quite a bit darker than your bedroom was, not to mention the volume of the music quickly dropped off as well. Of course, you don’t give it a second thought.
After you’re through in the bathroom, you make your way about your apartment and again, it is of no surprise to you that the amount of natural light from various windows, as well as the sound of your radio, is constantly changing. You arrive in the kitchen where your Wi-Fi router happens to be, have a seat at the table, and pull out your smartphone to read the latest article from your favorite blog: Wait, but Wi-Fi?
A few more bars, you notice happily! Your reception was only acceptable in the bedroom. Like the sunlight pouring in through your windows and the music streaming from your bedside, the Wi-Fi must also contend with walls, furniture, and other various tools, toys, and decor. Speaking of obstructions and knick-knacks, the latest blog article you’re reading happens to point out that you might want to consider improving your Wi-Fi router placement to improve performance. Maybe the bottom tier of the shelf behind toaster isn’t the ideal place for it. Higher up in a more central and unobstructed location of your space would probably be a better choice. After the move, you’re thrilled to see much better reception throughout your entire apartment!
Though you now have great reception, performance still isn’t what you’d have hoped for…
Interference
You pull open the sheer curtains and gaze thoughtfully out the window as you enjoy the much clearer view.
You decide to go for a drive, but instead of taking your new BMW, you opt for your older, nostalgic Japanese roadster. Lacking the creature comforts of your BMW, you plug in your Bluetooth receiver / FM transmitter so you can enjoy some music on your jaunt. With the top down and wind rustling your hair, you crank up the music due to that increased noise floor you read about earlier.
As you pull up next to a fellow road-goer, your music goes haywire. It isn’t a big deal though, you simply switch to a different channel on your FM transmitter and on your car stereo and you’re jamming to Chopin once again.
Back at home and seated on your couch, you decide to continue that blog article you started reading earlier. As it turn out, Wi-Fi is susceptible to interference similar to how your sheer curtain affects the light coming through and your visibility looking out of your window, as well as how your music was interrupted by that fellow road-goer.
Wi-Fi operates on channels just like your FM radio does. Your neighbors are each just as likely to be using their own Wi-Fi networks and who knows what channels they might be using? With a little more reading and research, you find that, as of this writing, there are two available frequency bands that are typically referred to as 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 2.4GHz band tends to be quite saturated and with overlapping channels, only 3 of which don’t overlap. The 5GHz band has many more available channels and none of them overlap. There are also tools out there that you can indicate what other Wi-Fi networks are in range and what channels they’re using. With just a little bit of knowledge and effort, you are able to log in to your Wi-Fi router and configure it to use channels that your neighbors aren’t and your connectivity is performing up to par.
